Entitlement vs. obligation of responsibility

Something I'm noticing more and more these days is the fact that we as Americans feel entitled to certain rights and priviledges, which I don't have a problem with. The problem occurs when you don't mix any sense of responsilibity into that entitlement. For example, we are entitled to have a safe place to live. But does this mean we should build the biggest house on the block, which will not only waste land space and building materials, but also energy to heat and cool? Also, we feel we are entitled to cars that get us safely back and forth to wherever we need to go. Do we not also have a responsibility to buy vehicles that use less gas, and to maintain that vehicle so that it releases the least amount of exhaust into the air? And what about recycling, and water conservation - small things requiring little effort, but that could make a big difference?

Which leads me to the money issue. I know that income makes a difference. I will even come clean at this point. With a child on the way and two big dogs, we needed something bigger than our Honda Civic. I will admit that we ended up buying a small SUV after realizing that station wagon prices had exploded to a range higher than our budget. But I feel really guilty driving my car on ozone-level warning days. And if a person is working two jobs just to make sure his or her family has food on the table, pollution or urban sprawl probably does not rate very high on your list of priorities. I'm not talking about those people. I'm talking about people who are making a pretty good living and SHOULD be thinking about these things. Why don't more people think less of "me, myself and I", and more about their communities and the greater good of everyone? I understand that America was built on individualism and the "pulling yourself up by your own bootstraps" mentality. But I wish I could talk to the founding fathers and ask if the "pursuit of inalienable rights" meant that you could forego any sense of community and step on anybody and everybody just to reach this goal. Somehow I doubt it. And I also don't think they meant for us to make sure we had the biggest and best compared to all of our neighbors. But how do you change this mindset? How do you make people see the bigger picture? I just don't have an answer for that one.