What is the "tipping point" for consumers on major trends?

I think environmentally conscious products and ways of life will take awhile longer to catch on than most things, mostly because of how we have become so accustomed to our ways of life that don’t consider the environment. It’s a shame, but we have built our society in such a way that we didn’t consider the environment and now we’re stuck in those patterns.

Most everything comes down to $$$.

When it becomes more cost effective to the consumer, they will become greener.

Seat belt use became the norm when it became the law and you could get a fine if you didn’t comply.

going green is nothing new – hippies were advocates of it with communes.

I’ve been green for a long, long time. Once it’s learned, it’s hard to go back to polluting ways.

As far as seatbelts? not all states have laws for adults and you will find a lot people still don’t wear them even if they know the benefits.

It’s hard to say how long it takes for everyone to jump on the bandwagon. I remember wind energy and solar energy were hot items in the ‘70’s, but they were put on the back burner during the ‘80’s and became unpopular in the ‘90’s. Example: Cape Cod doesn’t like the idea of wind energy because it will obstruct the view. Kinda’ funny if you consider they would be on the horizon if seen at all from land and are not much different than a ship’s mast as far as views go.

Smoking in public became a no-no just a couple of decades ago. Now there are laws in some towns that restrict smoking in your car. In the ‘50’s, smoking was every where. I watch the show, “Mad Men” and smoking looks so out of place now. It doesn’t take long at all.

For green products, I think they need to be as good, as cheap and as easy to get as traditional products. Competition will help that along, as will more people being willing to go out of their way or pay a little more for the green product.