The issue of climate change has been bubbling in the background for several years now, but scientists have now officially announced that we have entered a climate crisis. The consequences of the greenhouse effect are well-known to almost all of us, but raising awareness over the years has made people think about the human species and possible devastation of populations, economic damage and other humanitarian crises. Naturally, this has resulted in people wanting to adopt an eco-friendlier lifestyle.
However, more and more evidence is pointing towards the fact that corporations are the main perpetrators of climate change, as opposed to the individual communities. As such, in our article today, we are going to be picking apart this contentious debate and hopefully presenting our readers with a definitive answer to the question – is climate change a corporate or community issue?
Are Corporations to Blame?
Corporations are massive businesses which have several branches across the country and/or the world. They typically contribute to climate change through mass production. This includes extracting resources from the earth i.e. quarrying the landscape or deforestation and manufacturing their produce (which usually entails using an immense amount of power and releasing emissions into the atmosphere). They also contribute to climate change when transporting their product and using packaging like plastic, which isn’t very environmentally friendly. Believe it or not, merely 100 corporations are responsible for 71% of the global emissions which have led to climate change. This is a staggering amount, leading people to become rightfully angry at the big companies.
However, these corporations do also have the power and resources to bring about systemic change and save the environment – but only if they so choose. By committing to go completely renewable, the climate change issue would become significantly smaller, when combined with other ways to individually reduce the emissions and other sources of nature pollution. But, it isn’t a simple process. It would require companies to put in enormous amounts of money along with changing their business policy, so they could be on the same page with environmental protection advice and recommendations. However, this process could also become a good investment, since companies that turned green and sustainable had gained extensive popularity and a high raise in profits. Paradoxically, people will demand more of what’s been offered to them, whether it’s devastating for our environment, or not.
Are Individuals & Communities to Blame?
Some people have argued that the only reason why these mega corporations exist is because there is a high demand for them, which has turned the blame to communities and individuals. If consumers didn’t want more of everything – and demand these things quickly – would climate change be as big an issue? As such, we can turn the tide on global warming if we change our individual attitudes and make a focused community effort. This is the philosophy that Tej Kohli on Medium describes, which has allowed this philanthropist to bring about definitive, worldwide change.
It’s not always easy to be conscious about the majority of our daily actions, but every one of them, multiplied by 365 days a year, has a huge impact on our society and our planet. Consumers’ culture is a significant factor in the dramatic situation the planet is in today. How? A single habit such as choosing a certain diet, eating less meat, choosing to to buy produce at local farmers markets or buying foods that are not wrapped up in plastic, or even a different way to power your home using solar wind or other sources of energy — the list of possible game changer moves you can make is endless and simple, yet unbelievably impactful. By making your choices sustainable and refusing to buy mass-produced clothing or almost anything that is not being provided by renewables you will lower the carbon emissions embedded in our atmosphere day after day.
It’s called shrinking your carbon footprint which means shrinking the amount of carbon dioxide that every person produces doing their daily activities. But it’s not only about the small individual habits, it’s more about the mindset and waking up the awareness that the whole community is strong enough to fight multi million companies, forcing them to start acting cautious about the issue.
Can We Make a Difference?
This leads us to the question of how exactly can individuals and communities bring an end to global warming? Though protesting is a good way to raise awareness and hold corporations accountable for their actions, it doesn’t really bring about systemic change. Therefore, we should focus our efforts on altering our buying patterns en masse – seeing as companies only appear to listen to our money. Increase the demand for eco-friendly products by buying these instead. Campaign for renewable energy sources in your community, such as solar-powered schools. I
nstead of ordering items from mega-corporations like Amazon, you could buy products from your local shops and suppliers. By changing the average consumer’s demand, we can hopefully change the activities of corporations, too. In the endless circle of demand and supply, consumers and corporations are at least equally responsible for their actions, since the thing they have in common is economic profit – for businesses, and personal convenience when it comes to individuals and their needs.
As conclusion, it could be said that climate change is both a corporate and community issue. Though big companies are the main contributors, we can and must force them to change by making a focused effort as a community. Making change a priority is the only possible path one should choose to take. Simply starting with the list of things you and everyone you know could do differently, is what would be a great first step towards making our planet a better place for our future generations.
