You have been lied to. Think about all the blue bins and reusable water bottles, plastic
straws replaced with paper, all the things you have been asked to worry about for the sake of our
future on earth. How often have you found yourself being scolded if you still take your car to
work or spend a little too much time in the shower? Those who are trying to battle climate
change have made an increased effort towards individuals like you and me to make little
sacrifices in our life in order to put a stop to the threat of global destruction. The word
‘eco-friendly’ has been pushed down our throats as if we’re solely responsible for the ice caps
melting in Antarctica. It is frankly absurd to suggest that our impact is anything but minor in
regards to the climate change debate. I mean, are we really in serious danger of the Earth turning
into the sun if I eat a hamburger?
The truth is, we have been made to feel responsible for climate change when we know,
deep down, that is not the case. A recent study by the Eu Carbon-CAP project found that
recycling, reusing bags, and changing light bulbs– actions commonly taken to reduce carbon
footprints– had little effect in actually doing so (Taherzadeh). They found that these green
consumer actions only reduced the EU’s carbon footprint by 25% (Ibid). Even if everyone
adopted a low carbon lifestyle, we would barely influence half of the emissions linked to
human activity (Ibid). Climate scholar Genevieve Guenther believes that blaming individuals for
climate change is hazardous: “The [we] responsible for climate change is a fictional construct,
one that’s distorting and dangerous… By hiding who’s really responsible for our current,
terrifying predicament, [the pronoun] we provides political cover for the people who are happy
to let hundreds of millions of other people die for their own profit and pleasure” (BBC). We have
been wrongfully accused of causing something that would be so detrimental to our survival,
when in reality, that is just not the truth.
Considering this, it is understandable why you wouldn’t want to accept climate change.
There’s actually a lot of psychology behind this refusal. Being unfairly accused of being
responsible makes us reject climate change as a whole due to our core beliefs; more specifically,
the core belief that our actions cannot be responsible for climate change. A core belief is what we
build our worldview around and whenever it is challenged, a backfire is released in our brains
making us hostile and irrational (McRaney). So, when we’re told that the steak we just ate
contributed to 18% of the greenhouse gas emissions around the world (Vergunst), it’s pretty hard
to believe. And what’s more, we really don’t want to believe it. I’ll admit that I’m guilty of not
being completely eco-friendly either, (I’m sorry but paper straws suck! They always fuzz up in
my mouth and make my drink taste funny) and I definitely do not want to think that my choice
of using a plastic strawjust killed an innocent turtle. However, that doesn’t justify not believing it.
Because here’s the truth: we may not be individually responsible for climate change, but it does
exist.
Let’s start off by proving that. Global temperature has risen 2.05 degrees F since the 19th
century largely due to increased carbon dioxide emissions (NASA). This is what has caused our
winters to feel warmer and has increased natural disasters like storms, heat waves, droughts and
floods (Denchak). The global sea level has risen 8 inches and the rise in sea levels accelerates
each year which proves that our ice caps are melting (NASA). Extreme events such as hurricanes
and wildfires have also been increasing in the U.S since 1950 and the acidity of the ocean has
increased by 30% due to the absorption of carbon emissions in the atmosphere (Ibid). These facts
have been provided by Nasa after extensive research has gone into gathering this data.
However, most, if not all, of this horrifying data is not our fault. There is a substantial
amount of evidence to prove that climate change exists, and not so much evidence to prove that it
is our doing. Did you know that 71% of industrial emissions since 1988 are the responsibility of
100 energy companies alone (Axelrod)? Or that the top 15 food and beverage companies in the
U.S have generated approximately 630 million metric tons of greenhouse gas a year (Ibid)?
Companies like ExxonMobil, Shell, Chevron and BP bear a major responsibility for the effects
of climate change that we have seen (Byskov). These companies have been getting away with
destroying the environment for years and if they are not stopped soon, we could lose our homes.
They will continue to destroy our earth without any regulation or criticism if we keep ignoring
the truth. If all of this really comes down to only a few companies, why is our first thought to
blame our own consumption patterns for these effects? The reason is because big coal and oil
companies like the ones listed above profit off our belief that climate change is our fault, or that
it just doesn’t exist. They actually profit off of climate change in more ways than you’d think.
Investors in these companies are being encouraged to purchase farmland and water rights
because of the profit that will be made off of food shortages and drought (Hyde). Insurance
companies profit off of natural disasters because more people purchase protection plans and
they’ll be able to raise rates due to the frequency of these disasters (Ibid). Arctic shipping
companies have been saving money on their trips due to the melted ice caps and cruise
companies are able to add an extra route around the Arctic Circle (Ibid). Even companies that are
presumed to be helping the environment also profit off of climate change because there is now a
need for their existence. Some examples include the renewable energy industry, hybrid car
automakers, and industries involved in repurposed and reclaimed materials (Ibid). The system of
capitalism itself is designed around the concept of ‘profit’, so in order for companies to do well,
in the U.S at least, their main concern won’t be us. It will be money. And by not believing in
climate change, we are only fueling and encouraging these companies to profit off our eventual
demise.
If you’re still not sold, take a look at a country that has successfully decarbonized:
Sweden (The Aspen Institute). They didn’t get there with individual sacrifices, but with
generating energy cleanly (Ibid). India has also done a great job at helping the climate crisis by
investing more in renewable energy than fossil fuels. They’re already close to reaching their goal
of generating 40% of their power through renewables, a goal they planned to reach by 2030
(Mulvaney). We know that it’s companies, and not us, because other countries have
reduced their emissions by focusing on regulation and the truth. These countries, and many
others, are decreasing their carbon footprint not by individual action, but by governmental
change.
The reason why there are still so many people that doubt climate change is because these
companies pay people to sow ideas of climate change denial. Let’s take a look at some of the
most famous climate change deniers. The chairman of the Senate Committee on Environment
and Public Works, Senator James InHofe, has publicly stated that “man-made global warming is
the greatest hoax ever perpetrated on the American people” (DeMelle). InHofe has also received
over 2 million dollars in political contributions from the fossil fuel industry (Ibid). Marc Morano,
the executive director of ClimateDepot.com and communications director for the Committee for
a Constructive Tomorrow, has received hundreds of thousands of dollars in funding from
Chevron and ExxonMobil (Ibid). The director of the Center for the Study of Science at the Cato
Institute, Patrick Michaels, has estimated that 40% of his funding comes from the oil industry
(Ibid). The list goes on and on of climate change deniers that have some sort of financial motive
for their belief. Many of them take contributions from fossil fuel corporations that try to block
any government policy initiatives meant to increase cheaper and cleaner sources of energy or
curb fossil fuel emissions (Ibid). While these people are able to deny climate change and make a
profit from it, we as individuals don’t have the same luck. And it will be us who will have to
suffer the consequences of their actions. They may be able to survive the repercussions of not
believing in climate change because they have the money to do so, but when resources become
scarce, it will be us, you and me, that will have to fight for them. And we’re gonna look back and
wish we did something when we had the chance.
So if it’s them, why do they blame us? They do so because they don’t want to blame
themselves. Victim-blaming individuals shifts the burden off companies who actually have the
power to change and onto the people who are most likely to be affected by climate change’s
disastrous effects. Companies care so heavily about their public image and will do anything to
keep making money, even if it’s by means of hurting us. This is why our individual actions are so
criticized; if society feels like it is the individual’s fault, companies and their actions go
unnoticed. They have created an ideology called consumerism that makes us out to be recipients
of goods and services rather than creators of political reality (Monbiot). This creates the illusion
of choice when in actuality, they have us embedded in an economic, political and physical
infrastructure they made themselves (Ibid). Shifting blame is highly effective under consumerist
ideology because in such a system individual choices become lost: “Attempts to organise
boycotts are notoriously difficult, and tend to work only when there is a narrow and immediate
aim…This individuation of responsibility, intrinsic to consumerism, blinds us to the real drivers
of destruction” (Ibid). This quote comes from George Monbiot, an environmental and political
activist who has challenged these companies directly.
Now that I have proven that climate change exists, but is in fact not our doing, the next
step is to figure out how we can undo it. Unfortunately, climate change is a global issue and
therefore requires global reforms that we as individuals just don’t have the power to implement
(Byskov). Who does have the power to implement change then? The answer: the government.
Governments have the power to make legislations that compel companies to act more
sustainably. Joshua Goldstein, co-author of A Bright Future, a book focused on international
responses to climate change, said it best: “Climate change is a problem governments will solve,
not individuals…. It is strange that people think the world’s most challenging problem can be
solved by voluntary actions from billions of people — this is why we have representative
governments” (The Aspen Institute). The effect of individual action is no comparison to the
power that these industries have, so why should we allow our government to skirt their
responsibility for our protection just because it is more convenient to blame individual action
(Byskov)?
By this point, I’m hoping to have proven to you that climate change exists, not by our
doing but companies’, and that contrary to popular belief, we as individuals don’t have the power
to stop it. That sounds morbid, but actually, that last part is not necessarily true. While I am right
in saying that governments are the only ones with the power to implement substantial change, we
as individuals can still get involved. We can start by voting the representatives that give
companies a free ride out of office (Andrews). We can also start protesting these companies and
advocating for our governments to hold them responsible. Another way, and perhaps the most
fun, is thinking of everything as getting vengeance (Ibid). I’m sure that at some point during this
reading you’ve gotten angry at the facts I’ve exposed. Use this anger to get back at these
companies, show them that you know the truth and that you’re not afraid to use your voice.
Because in all honesty, the blame that we receive will probably not end for a while, or in the
worst case, ever. Instead of feeling ‘guilty’, feel enraged. Feel infuriated. Feel powerful.
While it may be too late to stop the damage already done, we can work to prevent the damage
that will happen in the future. Climate change is no joke, and believing in it is the first step
towards change.
Works Cited
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Change?” Grist, 2 Jan. 2019,
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Brendan DeMelle Executive Director, DeSmog. “Top 10 Climate Deniers.” Before the Flood, 21
Oct. 2016, www.beforetheflood.com/explore/the-deniers/top-10-climate-deniers/.
“Climate Change Evidence: How Do We Know?” NASA, NASA, 6 Oct. 2020,
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Oliver Taherzadeh PhD Candidate in Geography, and Benedict Probst Felllow at Cambridge
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theconversation.com/stop-blaming-each-other-for-the-climate-crisis-coronavirus-shows-
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“Who Is Really to Blame for Climate Change?” BBC Future, BBC,
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