Your carbon footprint matters, but there are bigger feet
By Mark Gongloff / Bloomberg Opinion
There’s a famous 2016 cartoon by Matt Bors, which has since become a meme, in which a medieval peasant says, “We should improve society somewhat.” A smug man, trying to catch the peasant in hypocrisy, responds, “Yet you participate in society! Curious!”
When it comes to climate change, too many of us have internalized the smug man. Maybe we can’t afford to buy an electric car or a heat pump just yet. Maybe we just can’t bring ourselves to stop eating meat or to pass on long-distance travel. Maybe sometimes we get lazy about recycling. We may worry about climate change and want to make a difference. But after years of being browbeaten about our “carbon footprints,” we may feel we are too hopelessly compromised to do any good.
I’m here to tell you not to be too hard on yourself. Yes, it’s good to keep your carbon footprint in mind. But it’s also important to remember that the very idea of an individual “carbon footprint” was invented by BP, a massive oil company.
Focusing on individual carbon footprints distracts from the need to make substantive change where it can have the biggest impact: at the corporate and government levels. A supermajority of the people in this country wants action on climate change, but too many of us are afraid to ask for it.
https://www.heraldnet.com/opinion/comment-your-carbon-footprint-matters-but-there-are-bigger-feet/
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