Finding someone who did not fully agree with my views on environment and climate change was not a difficult task. My roommate Jill who I consider to be an average American is my best source for debate. She is middle class, well educated and not a business or SIS major! She always questions what I say which in turn encourages me to question what I have learned. In particular I feel strongly about the negative impacts of coal extraction and burning. Although she understands the environmental degradation to an extent she still falls back on the common notion that "but we need coal." This response use to make me flip shit as I couldn't fathom the idea that people actually believed that! But this approach only feeds aversion to environmental efforts, not to mention this is a common response to steering away from coal useage.
I now listen to Jill and use her as my gauge bouncing my usually more extreme views off of "average Americans." Money is, no matter what anyone says, is what drives the world and this is the approach environmentalism has to proceed with.