Rishi, Week 13: Disparity in Power
Disparity in Power
Have you ever heard the phrase: “if we all try, we might make a difference to stop climate change!” This is an example of personal action, like riding a bike to school or becoming vegan by choice. In 2004, British Petroleum (BP), a multinational oil giant, unveiled a new metric to track a “carbon footprint.” Their narrative was that big corporations do not contribute to climate change, but individuals are responsible. You are responsible. By calculating and mitigating your carbon footprint, you can help save the planet. Before that point, “carbon footprint” was virtually unheard of. Still, the PR team at BP thought it would be a great decoy to change peoples’ mindsets from regulating highly destructive corporations to pushing the blame to individuals.
This PR campaign was highly effective, and you have probably heard that term many times in your life. Although taking personal action will help battle climate change, the people do not have the power to fix climate change alone. If every person became vegan, did not fly, did not use a car, and purchased energy fueled by renewables, only a 50% reduction of global greenhouse gas emissions is possible. It is impossible to stop environmental degradation unless that becomes 0.
The only way to cause real change is through policy by modifying the ingrained forces letting corporations harm the Earth. Doing things like voting, donating to climate change charities, and disseminating information to the community is how difference is made. The power lies in the people; however, how people choose to take action can drastically change their impact.
Honestly, hearing about how irreversible climate change is always makes me so disheartened. It seems as though we are all procrastinating on the issue of climate change and the Earth is slowly crippling due to our detriment. It is interesting how there is not really an impact that individuals can make in their own daily lives to really help climate change because that is definitely a narrative I have heard repeatedly. I will still obviously strive to take better action in my life, but maybe I'll still choose to travel by air and by car.
ReplyDeleteHey Rishi,
ReplyDeleteOur lives are so dependent on abusing the environment that eventually it becomes ingrained in us to put the environment on hold as we prioritize our own goals. While we cannot all be like Greta Thunberg, we certainly do have the responsibility to take action to protect the environment. We underestimate the power individuals have on group mentality and the power group mentality has on policy. Policy that disregards the environment cannot be approved if the public majority do not approve of the administrators or politicians whose job it is to approve such policy. However, when people separate their economic success with environmental health, they take a risk that will ultimately prove fatal to the human race.
Hey Rishi, I know you recently missed out on a chance to write about the ecosystem, so I am glad to get my daily dose of encouragement towards helping the environment from here. I agree with you that one of the most used and effective techniques in climate change campaigns is to make the issue of global warming a personal issue. It is easy to push on an issue like this onto bigger corporations and believe that the efforts of one person could truly never be that consequential. Making the general population reflect on their own memories of a time they either saw the effects of climate change or reminding them of a moment when making a different decision could have helped the environment is something that should be done more to get people more willing to help.
ReplyDeleteHey Rishi, when I read your blog, it was really disheartening to realize how serious climate change has gotten to the point where we can't really change anything. No matter how much we do as individuals, climate change has become something that we can't reverse. We really can't help this society become free from climate change no matter how hard we try. That being said, even if we do believe we are as powerless as it gets, it's crucial to continue doing what we can to help, obviously the more people the better. That being said, we can't make sure everything we do is helping get rid of climate change, but we should certainly do all we can. Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteHey Rishi, your last statement on the difficulty on preventing full environmental degradation shocks me. Even by fully mitigating every individual's carbon footprint through extreme methods, it surprises me that only a reduction of 50% greenhouse gas emissions is possible. It really annoys me that British Petroleum started this campaign to shift the climate change blame off their shoulders, and I feel even worse that it worked. Corporations have the most power in terms of reducing gas emissions, and it is disheartening that the truth is that humans are powerless when it comes to climate change. But I wholly agree with your last statement; if society as a whole uses its influence to create change in gas-guzzling corporations' environmental policies, maybe, just maybe, major environmental change can be achieved.
ReplyDeleteHi Rishi, I kind of guessed that our personal carbon footprint may not effectively stop climate, but it creates a norm of thinking about the environment. When people feel the need to protect the environment, they are more likely to buy energy-efficient products which reduce the sales of inefficient products. Similarly, people might have a higher tendency to vote for officials who promise to enact climate laws. One proof of this concept is when the government informed people that there was a harmful chemical in sprays and banned companies from including it in their products. I think a mixture of climate laws as well as educating people about climate change will mitigate global warming.
ReplyDeleteHi Rishi! A few weeks ago in my biology class we watched a Kurzgesagt video regarding climate change and our carbon footprint. I found it especially interesting how it said that constructing roads created more pollution than the actually creation of all cars combined. They mentioned that although it is true, you will not be able to make a big difference by yourself, you should still try to do your small part. Even unexpected things such as eating less meat can make all the difference.
ReplyDeleteHi Rishi! I like this blog and you are very correct. Power does lie in the people, but in order for most significant changes to take place, we must have changes in policy for wide scale improvement. Of course, not every person on the planet will become vegan, and for sure will not stop using cars and planes. Only so much change can be made through means of individuals' personal behaviors.
ReplyDeleteHi Rishi, this was a good reminder. Personal action is necessary but more needs to be done at this late stage. In 2004, climate change may not have been as urgent for a majority of people or companies. So, maybe not as many people made a big deal out of BP’s statement. Environmental activists like Al Gore have been advocating and educating people, companies, and governments about the climate for decades but so many people didn’t believe the issue was truly urgent. We have now reached a stage where more definitive action has to be taken by everyone, including major corporations and even governments.
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