Whose universe is it anyway?

Should we act responsibly? Do we have any duty towards our society? Or should we act responsibly only when pushed to the extremes? I would like to discuss this issue in the context of growing problem of environmental pollution and conservation of energy. Should one always act in the best interest of oneself or should one act ethically. It is clearly an issue of tragedy of the commons where one person benefits by defecting, given others donot. If everyone defects, in our case, starts polluting the environment beyond what the environment can handle, then we all are at a disadvantage. It is in the collective interest of the society to conserve energy and reduce all types of pollution.

I completely agree that we cannot go back to the pre-historic ages. But we certainly can do our bit which will keep the environment liveable for a longer period of time. It is not that it is difficult to cut down on our daily consumption of energy or to alter some of our day to day habits. I think it is just a question of attitude. We just donot want to think about such things as cutting down on plastic bags, using a hand kerchief instead of a paper, turning off the lights that are not required etc. We just want to be in our own shell and turn a blind eye towards these small issue which could result in big change.

To tackle the electricity shortage problem, in India, authorities have already asked everyone to reduce their electricity consumption or else they are thinking of disconnecting cable television late night and also cutting on the late night movie shows at the theaters. This might be a little authoritative not necessarily the best way, but just an indication of the seriousness.

What does it take to print/copy on both sides of a paper(left to me I would print 4 pages on 2 sides given it is legible) ? Not even 1 extra second. But no one seems to care about it, thinking (probably not thinking at all) that how is it going to make any difference to anything. Would people stop polluting and start conserving energy when government levies a high tax on the usage?

Pollution generated in US can affect people in Bangladesh. Every year we hear about floods in Bangladesh and poor villagers getting affected, this is because of the overall increase in greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. Since no one person or country can be singled out for such calamities we just go about our "normal and routine" day to day activities. Developed countries should set an example for the rest of the world to follow. I just hope that people would start becoming more thoughful and own up the responsibility.