Does "saving the world" really demand anything?

In today's discussion environmentalists and green party members are often seen as people who are restraining and limiting citizens' personal freedom and freedom of choice. This is exactly how the opposing groups or rival parties do want to present us. And it is very easy. You just have to ask "Do you wan to forbid nuclear power/private motoring/meat production/etc?" When the answer is yes, there's an individual who's working against our free will. Yes, our. Mine too.

My family hasn't dropped the meat eating to minimum, the use of private cars to a situations only when necessary and to save electricity where ever we can because someone told us to. We don't eat organic food because someone forbade the use of pesticides and fertilizers in the food we eat. We do those things because of the desire to breathe healthy air, to eat clean food and to preserve the healthy environment for the future generations. And I am actually getting something in here - not losing. 

It's always fun when people see me ordering meat or buying some far imported fruits and ask me that "Hey, I thought you were green?" Yes, I am, but do I look like a monk? If I'd believe the extreme asceticism would be the only choice, I'd be in a monastery. After all, I do have the freedom of choice. But the question presented to me is somehow twisted and the questioner reveals he hasn't given a thought to subject itself. The questioner has bought the image of ascetic hippies and grumpy, precocious, "know-it-all" teens without ever thinking that between black and white is a lot of grey. The question also makes me worried every time I hear it. It's because the individual who makes the question. Does he feel separated from nature? Does he think he's alone in this universe? Hasn't she ever had the possibility to feel the connectedness of everything? That makes me sad.  

I don't have to make sacrifices for nature. I just make the choices I came to see as right ones after a long thinking and studying. I'm getting something good done and I still do have the freedom to choose whatever I wish to. I don't want to put limits to anyone's life. I just hope we could win with the gray before we're really facing the black. There isn't a lot of white on this subject anymore and I hope to avoid the obligatory asceticism.