Through their own actions customers can hold companies responsible to higher standards of social responsibility. Through collective action they can leverage their dollars to combat the force of those investors who myopically pursue profits at the expense of the rest of society.
Americans in particular are myopic. They're not traveling as much. When you were a college student the next thing you would do on graduation was to take a year off and travel. That's what I did. I went to Indonesia.
Only after I faced the unhappiness of my first marriage did I start on the path of personal growth.