Are Consumer-Driven Sustainability Efforts Effective?

Conscious of their environmental impact, consumers in the United States and United Kingdom are increasingly choosing sustainable brands. Corporations like Starbucks, American Airlines, and Marriott Hotels are among many now banning plastic straws, an initiative against single-use plastics that cities like Seattle and New York have also enacted or proposed. With national legislature on environmental crisis stalling and global initiatives coming undone, should the onus of environmental change fall to the consumer level? We polled Best Lawyers listed attorneys in Environmental Law to weigh in.

Are consumer-driven sustainability efforts effective?

Who should lead the sustainability movement?

Agree or disagree: The straw ban and initiatives on a similar scale will effectively reduce waste.

Based on these responses, it's clear that our surveyed environmental lawyers feel some optimism about the current consumer-driven sustainability trend. Respondents overwhelmingly indicated that such measures are effective; highlighted business leaders as those best suited to tackle these next steps; and agreed that banning single-use plastics will make an impact on waste reduction. With the pressure to find solutions to climate change mounting, individual efforts to combat a global issue are not going unnoticed.