Every day people are becoming more anxious about about climate change. New generations of consumers are changing their diets and habits to reduce their carbon footprint. Media companies expose the environmental disasters that are going on, inspiring civilians to take individual action to tackle climate change. But are we really the ones responsible for the extreme pollution and waste that impacts our ecosystem, are our individual actions really responsible for the 6th mass extinction that we are currently undergoing?
During quarantine the world stopped: people stayed home, borders were closed, and production channels were slowed. The economy contracted and the world went into crisis. Meanwhile pictures of animals taking over cities flooded social media, as finally, nature forced humanity to a standstill. Although individuals were at home with a drastically reduced carbon footprint, emissions during lockdown were only cut back by eight percent. This made me think, why are we constantly bombarded about reducing our individual carbon footprint and changing our behavior, if lockdown showed us that the overall effect is minimal?
In 2004, British Petroleum (BP) oil company pulled a publicity stunt in which consumers were portrayed as responsible for climate change, turning the attention away from big oil companies. This was deliberately manipulated after BP suffered from a public backlash on the responsibility of the fossil fuel industry in increased CO2 emissions. This is when BP came up with the now-famous term “carbon footprint.” A carbon footprint calculator was released along with the term to make people feel purposely guilty for their consumption habits.
Currently, BP Oil Company is the world’s sixth-largest polluter and their clever PR stunt became synonymous with environmentalism, whilst helping them shift responsibility from the producer to the consumer. This type of shift is dangerous since individuals develop a sense of guilt for being part of the problem when in reality we are all victims of a looming climate catastrophe, the perpetrators of which can be traced back to only 100 companies that are responsible for over 71% of global emissions.
This shift of responsibility has guilted us into changing our consumer habits: recycling, eating less meat, and avoiding fast fashion. Although it has also blinded the environmental movement from the true culprits: polluting corporations and their political ties. Petrol lobbyists have stalled the true change needed to decrease CO2 emissions, diverting the public’s attention from government corporate footprints to that of each individual. This lack of public attention has slowed down any real environmental regulation (eg. carbon taxes) and helped companies maintain their polluting status quo. What is really needed is systemic change: a global redesign of our financial and social systems. It’s time to rethink the “cult of the individual” and create a future focused on regeneration.
Individuals are statistically blameless for climate change, but it’s important to remember that individuals are also historically responsible for drastic change. Corporations spend a lot of money analysing our consumer behaviours and adapting their businesses to suit them. It’s time we point the finger back to them by making conscious changes, vote candidates who support our views.
We should demand a low-carbon future, protest for radical change, sign the petitions, focus on minimising our waste and living off-grid. The more individuals change their mindsets, the faster the redesign will come. Don’t be the victim, be the change.
