Mar 21, 2018
The idea that some choice is too small to make a difference is perhaps the most destructive concept in environmentalism. The truth is that on a personal level you will never find a choice that is big enough to make a difference all by itself.
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Let me first get out in front of the objections. I am not trying to say that no difference in impact between actions exists. I am trying to say that for any action— unless you happen to be at the helm of a large corporation or have massive investment power— the argument can be made that no one of your actions "makes a difference"
It is easy to see what follows looking at the problem from an individual's perspective:
Everyone correctly assumes that their isolated individual actions don't create or eliminate climate change
No one feels responsibility for the practices that objectively do create climate change
No one changes their behavior and climate change progresses uninhibited
Contrast that now with a view that looks at the problem from the community's perspective:
The community level problem of climate change is driven by the extraction and processing of natural resources
The extraction and processing of natural resources is tightly coupled with consumer demand for new products (demand=extraction, absence of demand=absence of extraction)
We (the individuals within the community) must decrease our demand for new products exactly in proportion to how much we'd like to decrease the effects of climate change
The argument will of course look slightly different for different sectors like energy or transportation. The point being that looking from an individual's perspective leads to outcomes that are detrimental to everyone.