Don’t worry, I haven’t done a 180 spin on my opinions of climate change.
In this post I want to talk about something I saw on LinkedIn a while ago, which said ‘you are not responsible for climate change’, the ‘you’ here being the everyday person. It then went on to detail the impacts of oil companies, inaction on the part of government etc. While I agree, we 100% need to hold governments and organisations to account, especially those who are ignoring the climate crisis and/or ignoring that it exists, I’m not sure that the everyday person isn’t somewhat part of the problem.
I realise that this is somewhat controversial, so let me be clear…
Some things are unavoidable. For example, we cannot help it if the public transport near us is unreliable, or we can’t use it to get to work or the shops etc. Not everyone can affort to put more insulation in their home, or have an electric vehicle, and some people might not live in homes that are suitable for energy efficiency upgrades. There are some huge equity issues in the climate crisis and the solutions to it, which are sometimes overlooked by those pushing for climate action, particularly as it has become a little more mainstream.
However, some things are (to some extent) avoidable or controlable. One example of this is diet. Most people have a say about what they eat day-to-day, and have the opportunity to choose a plant-based meal over a meat or fish based meal, for example. Another example is in purchasing of stuff, let’s think of clothes as an example. Most of us have too many clothes, lots of which we don’t wear, and yet we continue buying more from fast fashion brands. We do need clothes (obviously, don’t even think about it), but we can make conscious decisions about where we buy our clothes, how often we buy them, how we look after them, and how we dispose of them when they no longer serve us. Again, there are obvious equity issues with both of these examples such as limited sizing for larger or smaller bodies, allergies and dietary restrictions, culture and religion, finances etc., but there are lots of people to whom these types of challenges don’t apply. I’m guilty of both of these examples, so this is by no means a finger pointing exercise.
So am I saying individuals are to blame for the climate crisis? Absolutely not. However, I do think we underestimate how much power we have as individuals, especially if we work as a collective, influence each other and spread the word about what we’re doing. Ultimately, businesses and governments will follow the general consensus, so individual choices around food, clothes, transport etc. will make a difference.
What do you think? Should we be encouraging individuals to take action, or is it all on the big companies and governments?
Waste Makes Waste 