Why Individual Efforts Should Not Be Our Focus

     Of course it is difficult to know that the country you live in has taken steps in the active deterioration of our planet. With Trump’s withdrawal from international climate agreements, the people of this nation are left feeling the responsibility on their individual shoulders. But can we ourselves be good global citizens? We definitely can try. It becomes complicated, though, when the structure of our society is rooted in practices that hold interest in other areas. I am under the belief that there is no ethical consumption under capitalism. This notion is often used in explaining labor exploitation,but  it absolutely applies to the environment too. When you throw away trash into the recycling bin in a cafeteria, it’s not unlikely that the trash will be disposed of in a landfill still. When buying produce at a supermarket, unnecessary plastic bags and other packaging leads to more waste. When tap water across the country is unsafe to drink, we turn to mass produced water bottles. There is no winning.

Now, I am by no means against practices that are more eco friendly. Shopping sustainably, recycling, etc. are all practices that can and will help the world and the inhabitants of it. The help is minute, unfortunately. Since 1988, the vast majority, 70% to be specific, of pollutants and CO2 emissions have been produced by 100 companies alone. So, if every individual committed to living entirely eco friendly lives, it would still not be enough to even begin the slowing of climate change. I believe that we can all be “good global citizens” technically, but that conversation is almost useless due to the amount of control these companies have over us as a whole. The only way to actually make direct effect on what we have caused to this world, is to bite down where it starts. We will not change the world by recycling. This can only be solved through the abolition of the capitalist state. Until the structure of our society has its interests aligned with the environment rather than profits, there is no saving this planet and those on it.