A fixation on system change alone opens the door to a kind of cynical self-absolution that divorces personal commitment from political belief. This is its own kind of false consciousness, one that threatens to create a cheapened climate politics incommensurate with this urgent moment.
[…]
Because here’s the thing: When you choose to eat less meat or take the bus instead of driving or have fewer children, you are making a statement that your actions matter, that it’s not too late to avert climate catastrophe, that you have power. To take a measure of personal responsibility for climate change doesn’t have to distract from your political activism—if anything, it amplifies it.
the corporations will not save us. be very wary of any “solution” that allows you to continue unchanged and to shift all responsibility to someone else, there’s a reason that perspective is so pervasive
Like I’m all for that we need to hold a fire under corporations. But we also need to change too. Just because they do like, 70% of it doesn’t mean we’re off the hook. We’re buying those products that they pollute for. We drive the cars that are polluting. We buy the cheap clothes that they shamelessly pollute. We each have to change.
Corporations have absolutely no incentive to change, consumers need to vote with their wallets if they want something to happen. But no, everytime someone points out this blindingly obvious fact we get the “uhm actually corporations need to change, it’s not my fault they’re feeding off my unsustainable habits.”
We have to work together, we only have power to effect change when we work together, solidarity is our strength.
Yep. Who did Dasani bottle all that water for? Paying humans with mouths
File under “green washing.”
If a company offers a more expensive “choice” of a greener option, rather than just being ecologically responsible by default, then you are being sold a product. That is, you get to express your superior “green” ethics by identifying with your purchase.
The company doesn’t actually care about the environment. They’re just doing the minimum to capture extra $$$
I’m not completely sure of what point you’re making. Would you buy the cheaper product even if you could afford the more expensive green one?
Because if the answer is “no”, then you are still agreeing with OP; and if the answer is “yes” then you are saying you want to knowingly buy something that is harmful for the environment and encourage a company to make more of it, while deflecting responsibly and saying that corpos and govs are the ones who have to do something.
I am agreeing with op. Corpos and govs are the ones who have to do something. We individually and collectively also have to do something. Nothing changes for the better unless we have buy-in from individuals. The binary you’re presenting is one I didn’t intend with my comment. I was saying we should watch out for green washing, when functioning as a consumer.
That is, If you can avoid doing business with companies which are harming the environment then you should. The same goes for doing business with companies which are half-assed or insincere in their efforts (though these are naturally preferable).
So if you can’t avoid a purchase, and there isn’t a good choice, then obviously you should pick the most ecologically sound option available to you.
My main point is no one should feel virtuous for picking, like, “eco green Coca Cola” just because 5% of the proceeds go to saving the rainforest. They’re a reprehensible company, so far better to just not fuck with Coke in the first place.
Ah, I see, I definitely agree with everything you’re saying; I just got a bit confused. When you talked about “green option”, I was thinking something like fast fashion vs clothes that will last, for example.
Oh I can see how the word “option” could read like that. Glad you brought it up, to give me the chance to clarify
Bullshit, straight up bullshit. It makes a difference at scale, but at scale it is miniscule when compared to even small mass polluters.
That’s not to say you should live as pollution-causing as possible, but spare me the pearl clutching over my paper plate usage.
Did nobody here read the article? Manifesting holistic change starts at home, precisely because it creates an appetite for change over status quo. A person who puts in individual effort is far more likely to tolerate and advocate for collective effort. The idea that top down change will not impact individuals is as ridiculous as the notion that resistance to top down change isn’t rooted in anxiety over individual impacts.
Your argument is every bit as naive as it is noble.
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You can say this, but you can’t make it happen. What is more realistic, changing the attitudes and habits of billions of individuals quickly enough to reverse climate change, or enforcing restrictions on thousands of companies?
Why not try to do both?
That’s fine, but the focus should be on the thing with 99% leverage and not on the thing with 1% leverage.
The thing with 99% leverage sadly has only a chance of 1% to happen while the 1% leverage thing you can just make happen. And if you make the 1% thing happen in more people the votes for the 99% thing start to go up as well. And eating less meat does have an impact. For years now i read headlines that year n had less pig meat being eaten in total than year n-1 (pork being the focus as my country afaik does not have a big beef industry so it’s not as relevant to report about it)
We have very little influence on the industry as a whole but if you buy less meat, the meat industry actually becomes smaller over time. The alternative products also become more and more. Super markets over here all have a vegan shelf at least and there’s more vegan only restaurants opening up in my city that even made my meat eater colleagues go there to eat from time to time.
if you buy less meat, the meat industry actually becomes smaller over time.
that has never happened.
https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/meat-production-tonnes?tab=chart&country=~OWID_WRL
https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/meat-production-tonnes?tab=chart&country=~DEU I’m talking over here where our meat industry has become smaller each year for 8 years now
or here the whole of EU if you want https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/meat-production-tonnes?tab=chart&country=OWID_EU27~OWID_EUR~DEU
your local decline can be explained by any number of factors, and there is not enough evidence to conclude it is due to you or your whole town reducing meat consumption.
The issue is, the “wisdom” isn’t “don’t worry about personal emissions”, it’s “take voting extremely seriously. Become a single issue voter, that issue should be climate”
But there’s a psychological thing where people take the discount today and the payment later.
Okay, let me write in “Climate for President” and see how that goes.
Wait, we actually have to do something? /s
Change has to come from both sides, from companies as well as from consumers. Yes, Your actions don’t really matter when you try to reduce waste, but the oil tanker spills millions of liters into the ocean, or when you use electricity from renewable sources while there is coal extracted and burned to fulfill the need of energy.
But as a consumer you can change the perspective about it by observing it from the personal economic side. This way, doing something in favour of reducing waste or doing something to lessen the effect of the climate catastrophe is merely a side effect of your actions:
- I don’t have children, because I don’t want to take responisbility for them. Also, I don’t like children. This saves me a lot of money, which I don’t have.
- I am relying on a car. But instead of driving a truck-like 5l-gas guzzler, I drive a small economic car. 90% of the time I drive alone anyway. A small car means less fuel consumption, less tax, cheaper repairs. Also, there are more parking spots availiable for me in the city, since the car is shorter than other vehicles (at least for parallel parking).
- When running errands, I combine them with using the car. For instance, I do my grocery shopping on the way back from work, and I can make use of my car’s storage capabilities. This saves me precious time, since I’m on the road anyway.
- When buying clothes, I don’t buy the cheapest clothes availiable. Mid-price ranged clothes are more durable, and they can be worn longer and are cheaper in the long run. Also, I don’t use fabric softener. Not only does it contribute to polluting the enviroment - fabric softener reduces the capability for towels to dry things (which defeats the purpose of a towel), because it hinders the fabrics’ capillar effect for storing water in the fibers. Additional to that, I don’t use an electric dryer. I hang my clothes to dry. This measurement extends your clothes lifetime, which is saving money.
- Although I am a meat eater, I am open-minded to vegan food - in the last decade it came a long way and there are good substitutes. Some of them are trial and error though (some taste like a stack of hay smells), but the alternatives are out there. It doesn’t have to taste exactly like meat. The worst thing that can happen is, that you expand the list of things you can eat.
- And the most important thing of all: DON’T BUY USELESS CRAP! Sure, the cloud-based app-operated thing is appealing, but what happens, when the company that produces it goes bankrupt? The cloud service gets shut down! You have a paper weight now. I don’t buy such things, because I don’t want my home cluttered with stuff I don’t need eventually. When I buy new stuff (mostly to replace broken stuff that I can’t repair) I do research first and evaluate what features of the desired thing really benefit my needs. I rather buy expensive stuff that is more durable an has a longer lifetime over all. In the long run it turns out to be less expensive.
In my opinion it makes more sense to analyse your actions with the affect of personal economic impact in mind than to view it in the sense of reducing the impact of the climate catastrophe. Because since your neighbor isn’t, you can easily feel helpless and de-motivated.
you might add to your list : choose a bank and insurance company that use your money for ecological/local/social projects
The author is somehow surprised at the reactions they get when they nitpick people on their individual actions.
This week I decided that my next six months will be dedicated to making solarpunk stuff, stay with an eye open for me and hopefully it encourages you to create some stuff to.
There is an alternative, it is better and we are already making it true!
I have been on this hill for years, ever since the whole “recycling does nothing” attitude became popular.
People who make these individual lifestyle changes are more likely to advocate for holistic change. Meanwhile those who adopt a cynical take on environmentalism are more likely to disengage entirely. This seems incredibly obvious to me.
Finally someone said it.
“But the companies”. The companies will only stop doing what they do if you don’t buy from them.
And this is why we’re doomed.
