大象传媒

I鈥檝e long fretted about the personal change/system change debate, worried that the weight was unevenly born by individuals even though I strongly believe the former is a necessary catalyst for the latter. But maybe I鈥檓 J.K. Rowling-level wrong. Maybe we can skip the skipping straws and go straight to  the system. At least, that鈥檚 how I feel this week, after learning that yet another term I use frequently is actually , designed to push responsibility for the burning of the planet onto consumers, onto the already overweighted side of personal responsibility. That phrase: carbon footprint.

I鈥檝e long known that oil was behind messaging to shift carbon emissions from their effing problem to , but the fact that . 鈥淚t鈥檚 time to go on a low-carbon diet,鈥� they said. All that extremely important work done by well-meaning organizations to make people consider the emissions in their daily lives is somehow covered in the slick of nefarious spin. Yes, big polluters and their PR trolls have forced other words into the vernacular, but this one feels, well, personal. It鈥檚 literally my carbon footprint. How dare a shill have made it up and stuck it inside my brain?

Perhaps the bigger issue is that the phrase has burrowed deep in our soles. It鈥檚 so successful. We鈥檙e all constantly and unscientifically toting up our emissions鈥攖he thermostat too high, the flights too copious. Somehow we all feel that the crisis is our fault. We feel hot shame and deep guilt when, in full knowledge of the crisis but without much power to stop it, we partake of indulgences such as travel or overconsumption. Which is not to say that we shouldn鈥檛 reduce our own emissions and eschew waste (of course we should!). It鈥檚 just that this is the father of all guilt trips, actively foisted on us by an industry that has the power to do so much more than we, as individuals, can. 

In a sense, the deck was ever stacked. Original sin. We have been told we are weak and imperfect creatures time and time again. Of course we burn fuel as we fall prey to our desires. Yes, I bought some yellow clogs I did not need.

We鈥檙e in this together is the collective Big Oil ethos, now permeated across media and minds. Except we鈥檙e not. . Their calumny is so great that they鈥檝e punted the responsibility onto us and we鈥檝e barely noticed that sly shirking. And now, as the tides turn in every way, from polls that speak to overwhelming public desire for green recovery to studies that show green fiscal stimulus is the most viable way out of this mess, , largely unchecked. 

What鈥檚 an average, carbon-farting human to do? Light that burning pile of foisted responsibility and toss it back over the fence. If I sound irate, it鈥檚 because I am. Just kidding, I meditate now. 

THIS WEEK

Have you internalized responsibility for it all? What spin have you absorbed, and what do you do to push back against it? Please, tell me about it!

PEOPLE DANCING

in da club – 50 cent

— soviet soldiers dancing (@communistbops)

Hope you are safe and healthy. Have a wonderful week,
Sarah

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P.P.S. This is my newsletter for the week of July 16, 2020, published in partnership with 大象传媒 Media You can sign up to get Minimum Viable Planet newsletter emailed directly to you at .