Friday, July 1, 2016

The fallacy of individual action

​What does it mean to "combat climate change"? | 1 Million Women: "So, it's probably becoming clearer now that our everyday actions can have an impact on how much carbon we produce. What does it matter? Well, our combined carbon footprint is MASSIVE, so if each of us acts to reduce our individual footprint, our collective one will also decrease in size."
The last sentence is only true if everyone in the world were to participate. Otherwise, reduction of emissions in one area simply makes room for more emissions elsewhere. This fallacy is not trivial. Millions of people are assiduously following plans to reduce human footprint. Meanwhile billions are striving for a house and a car.

The solution is to offer people an alternative. Makes cities car-free. That will speed up urbanization. When people get to the city, they have fewer children. That is the quickest route to degrowth.