If you want to be in the picture, if you want to have a voice, then use your voice, act and stop complaining, says Moriarty.

Question: Who is responsible for the environment?

Jim Moriarty: I think we are all responsible for the environment in all of our various roles. So I’m a dad. I’m responsible for the environment with my children, educating them, having them understand this is a dolphin, this is a starfish, these are coastal issues, this is pollution, this is what you should do about it, etc., but I’m also responsible in my professional life, whatever that is, to get engaged, etc., and I’m also responsible for holding my government to task for their environmental regulations and procedures, etc. It’s not enough and it’s unacceptable for us to just say, “Oh, that’s their issue. Oh, the state’ll take care of that. Oh, my county government, that’s their problem.” That’s lame and this essentially just takes you back and in a way it just takes you out of the picture. If you want to be in the picture, if you want to have a voice, take the voice and act and stop complaining. I believe that individuals can change the world. In fact, I believe that individuals do change the world every single day. I believe that every one of our individual choices collectively moves the network. It shifts value, it shifts culture, and so in that sense individuals, the ones that are buying Pepsi products or Coke products or whatever our consuming habits are, the ones that are spending this much on electricity because they didn’t buy double-pane windows, etc., all of our habits shift society. So absolutely I believe that the individual has that power.

Recorded on: 9/27/07