Champagne Socialism: Hypocritical Acts and the Environment

The term "champagne socialist" is a United Kingdom colloquialism used to describe an individual who outwardly vocalizes support for socialist ideals, or a certain ideology, but leads a lifestyle in complete disregard or contrast to those ideals. Hypocrisy is the first thought to come to mind, but simply referring to a group as hypocritical is not enough to demonstrate a true lack of adherence to ideals or principles, one must show it. American environmentalism, and to a lesser extent, world environmentalism movements are an entirely new subculture to the "champagne socialist" idea of living, in that one can actually outwardly attempt to live an environmentally friendly life, while realistically making little change.