What is our individual responsibility to lower our “carbon footprint”?
The term ecological footprint (by Mathis Wackernagel and William Rees) was invented in the 1990s to analyze human impact on Earth systems. On the surface, the idea of assessing how human activities tie to environmental damage can help organizations improve.
But playing the usual distraction games, British Petroleum coined the term “carbon footprint" and created a calculator shortly thereafter to encourage individuals to measure their personal impact on climate change. The message of this expensive ad campaign by Ogilvy and Mather: we, the working people, are personally responsible for the climate crisis.
The goal: to distract us from collective responsibility as they near-simultaneously funded climate denial, unraveled environmental protections, and blocked the alternative energy revolution.
Their campaign was wildly successful and even won some awards. Soon, we were either overwhelmed and checked out or judging ourselves for not driving expensive electric cars that we could not afford let alone easily charge on the road. Meanwhile, they were actively blocking the expansion of charging infrastructure and designing even cheaper vehicles. (Did you know that electric cars were invented in the 1830s?) BP isn't alone; Exxon uses similar strategies.
The unfortunate truth is this: focusing on our personal lifestyles won’t address climate change. The oil and gas industry is responsible for 55% of emissions causing climate changes (including processing and use). And it has succeeded in keeping things that way by designing collective systems that serve them best.
Takeaways
Many divisive narratives follow a similar pattern: wealthy individuals who seek to grow or maintain their wealth + power deflect blame, often onto BIPOC or middle/lower-income individuals.
MJN’s long-term strategy is to focus on designing systems in which power and wealth are not coupled in this way, but that won't stop distraction campaigns from flooding our inboxes. Instead, we try to build resistance to messaging that is not serving our values. Here are 4 ways to do this:
Refocus our humble energies on policy change and be gentle with ourselves, our loved ones, and our peoples about the personal environmental responsibilities any one of can bear alone. Individual responsibility does matter, but companies like BP have used it as a tool to divide us, distract us, and maintain a collective infrastructure that serves a wealthy few while actively hurting the rest of us. Our systems need to stop standing in our way.
Remember that most media narratives are designed by the few to influence the many. They work to divide us, and leaning into the division does not undo them; it reinforces them.
Before forming an opinion, consider asking who gains most from a narrative and look around to find out what that party has done to build it. Big business and their affiliated politicians invest billions into shaping media narratives.
Focus on your own long haul, which often means giving their distraction games less attention. We find ourselves giving their rhetoric our attention, because it's literally everywhere, but the more air and brain space we give them, the more power we cede to them.
