The Carbon Footprint Sham

I've been annoyed by this stance for a while. Government demonstrably cannot be relied on to deliver change in a timely enough manner (or at all) without individual participation. Politicians just don't care enough, and we can't wait them out in some grand war of attrition until only environmentalists are left behind. I just don't agree with the premise of "And the sentiment is not totally wrong — some personal efforts to strive for a cleaner world do matter.". This is far, far, far too soft on individuals.

I know people who think that waste and pollution isn't their problem because they just do what their parents did and can't imagine life outside of their mental box. The rubbish bin isn't some magical portal that atomizes waste, and many westerners are yet to even have that realization. Others I know think that the world is ruined already and are deliberately wasteful and polluting.

On top of this, we have to advance our thinking about humanity and society; people need to be presented with the uncomfortable question of how we can feasibly, sustainably and cleanly elevate the world's peoples to a first world comparable standard of living, because presently, polluting countries are doing it similarly to how the west did via heavy ecologically-damaging industrialization (enabled by the west). The world can't take it; the ocean is already full of plastic and things like PFAS are no joke either. We've basically ruined perfectly good and practically free food sources such as cultivated seaweed (now with microplastics :( ) this way.

Personal efforts do matter, very much. We need to be pushing governments and corporations for change right now and that means calling representatives, writing letters, attending functions and generally actively participating in all levels of government possible. It also means shopping smartly, e.g. avoiding items made with problematic substances like microplastics beads (e.g. face scrubs) or PFAS (waterproofed items), considering supply chains as best we can, etc, and taking a lifetime responsibility for things we do buy from cart to disposal. Of course, these things are hard and imperfect, and life does go on in the meantime. Companies are inflexible and slow, so, refer to the first point and push them to change, too. You're more than just a credit card, and articles like this only serve to create superficial greenwashing unless individuals actively get on board.