Disclaimer: I haven't read this BA issue. But I think what happens across the country does matter.
The anthropologist Margaret Mead once said, "Be the change that you want to see in the world." If you decide it (whatever "it" is) is something you want in your community, then you can talk about it and get people to change their ways. It is entirely up to us to decide which restaurant gets our money and for what reasons. Furthermore, economic pressure can be very persuasive for a small business like a restaurant.
Social movements need a lot of press and exposure before everyone starts thinking in that way. Most of us here--like yourself, Melissa--are probably already well-educated in environmental matters and so it seems like all the coverage is "cramming it down our throats." We probably all recycle and have compost heaps, and we have several Swappers who participate in food co-ops, supporting organic farms which are more environmentally friendly.
All this coverage is sort of like overcorrecting when making a course correction--you have to make a big swing in the opposite direction before the course settles down in the middle again. This process can be tiresome for the rest of us ("Good GRIEF," we say, "not another article about green lightbulbs!"), but it's necessary to get real change enacted. It's no different than any other social issue like civil rights or women's suffrage.
And when it gets too much, just think about the lowly journalist who has to make changing your lightbulbs sound compelling and exciting!
