In the past few years, people have been realizing the ethical cost of not being environmentally friendly. Spurred on by images of turtles with straws in their nasal cavities and seahorses clinging to straws floating adrift in the ocean, people have realized the impact that plastic straws can have on the environment, making many restaurants and drink chains replace them with paper straws or stop using them completely. However, many people argue that there are some people who may need to use a sturdier straw and asking for a plastic straw may leave people feeling guilty.
We are often told what we can do on an individual level to help combat environmental peril. While all of these things are important and are great ways to feel better about your environmental impact, you may feel guilty when you’re not able to attain that perfectly environmentally friendly lifestyle.
Here is why you shouldn’t feel guilty.
While the environmental impact of the collective population of each country is significant, we should not be placing the pressure of combating climate change on the individual. That is a huge weight to bear, especially when companies who have a much larger and continuous impact on the environment exist and refuse to do their part.
While there has been a growing public discussion about the impact that large fossil fuel companies have on the environment, companies like BP and Chevron have been running climate change campaigns and pointing the conversation back to the individual asking people to take online quizzes to find their carbon footprint and take a pledge. However, a paper written by Richard Heede found that only 90 companies produced about 63% of global carbon emissions, and it noted that 56 of the 90 companies were crude oil producers, 37 were coal companies and seven are cement producers.
Amazon is another company that has a largely negative environmental impact, shipping thousands — if not millions — of plastic packages a week. While they say their packaging is recyclable, the amount of carbon it takes to produce that plastic is still an insane amount. The company has largely neglected the opportunity to change their ways and has recently come under fire for threatening to fire employees who speak out about the company’s lack of sustainability.
Not only are major corporations mostly to blame for the world’s climate issues, but so are the politicians who are funded by these corporations. In return for the money to fund their campaigns, these politicians protect the corporations that fund them. The politicians that use their power to vote against laws that will help the environment are just as big of a problem as large corporations.
The pressure should be on these large corporations to promote and switch to environmentally sustainable energy sources. While a quick look at Chevron’s climate change section on their website boasts that they will not increase their rates of carbon emission throughout 2025, what happens after that? They are making shallow promises instead of taking real steps to combat climate change. It seems as though many companies have not realized the potential sustainable energy has a way to make money and create jobs.
We, as individuals, have very little power to change things in terms of climate change, but here are some things we can do: vote for politicians who have strong environmental policies, put more pressure on large corporations to make more sustainable choices and stop putting all of the pressures on ourselves to fix everything. While small changes like bringing a reusable bag to the grocery store or buying locally sourced products are good choices people should make, many people are not able to afford or access such options. Just remember that’s okay, too.
