Fondueset, I Apologise if my post seemed targeted at you, personally. And thank you for clarifying the intention of your post. (Wow, I didn't know I was that touchy:hmm)
What I was (ineptly) trying to do was shift from discussing the cause, which is apparenlty an endlessly circular argument, to solutions. (IMHO) One of the greatest stumbling blocks to progress (other than congress), is an inability to cooperate amongst interested parties.
Though picking up other's trash is simplistic, and obviously not a complete solution, I must say that it does help in the local sense, the beach (river, lake, etc.) is noticeably cleaner (especially when done in a large group, such as Surfrider and other group's clean up efforts), and this also raises public awareness, which is dismally low in Los Angeles, despite all of the patchouli doused neo-hippies in the area (no offense to patchouli doused neo-hippies intended). The local surfers at my beach have been pressuring our Lifeguards and Park Rangers to begin to writing littering tickets (at USD $1000 per violation). Since my local beach is a state beach, our success would affect all of California. This would seriously curtail the rampant littering problems in California's State Park System.
Granted, beach cleanups, and steep littering fines do not address Global Worming directly. But, the overall hope is that in making small gains and raising awareness among larger segments of our local communities, we will begin to eliminate the causes - before we eliminate ourselves.
Though they are not perfect, Surfrider Foundation is a great example of a grassroots organization that works towards forcing a change for the better. Along with the coastal clean up get togethers they organize, they are also responsible for the largest environment based fine and change of practice lawsuit in the U.S.:
1998 -- L-P (owning a paper mill in Humbolt, California) pleaded guilty to fraud and environmental charges in federal court and agreed to pay $37 million in fines and other costs, including $5.5 million for violations of the federal Clean Air Act, the largest fine in U.S. history.
North Coast Journal - JULY 1998: COVER STORY SIDEBAR
They were also required to change over to non-chlorine methods.
More seriously, T2K neglected to point out that these same people also produce more greenhouse gasses (methane) than the average human, only a little bit less than their bovine food source.
I was listening to a lecture on natural selection and fossil genes, 
