When asked whether the government should have the authority to regulate our plastic straws in the name of environmentalism, Senator Elizabeth Warren exclaimed, “Oh, come on! Give me a break!” Her exasperation stems from the frustration of seeing the burden of environmental protection placed on citizens when “70 per cent of the pollution, of the carbon that we’re throwing into the air, comes from three industries” – namely, the building industry, the oil industry, and electricity generation.
Often, we think of our personal contributions to the emission of greenhouse gases to be negligible when compared to the pollution produced by the industrial sector. Why bother switching to paper straws, or ecological lightbulbs or electric cars when, ultimately, the industrial sector alone produced 24 per cent of all greenhouse gas emissions in the United States in 2020. That same year, 25 per cent of greenhouse gas emissions were a product of the electric power industry, which unfortunately continues to burn fossil fuels to generate electricity. Senator Warren spoke truth when she said that industries must be held accountable for their critical role in the climate change crisis and have the responsibility to change their ways.
Meanwhile, filling up a small sedan car with gasoline seems inconsequential in comparison to the immense carbon footprint of these large industrial players. But is our behaviour as individuals truly negligible?
The sector which produces the largest emission of greenhouse gases is in fact the transportation sector, which is responsible for 27 per cent of total emissions. This includes the cars we drive and the trucks that transport the cargo we demand. It’s true that a collective transition from gasoline cars to electric vehicles will not stop industrial players from burning fossil fuels. But it will address a significant source of greenhouse gas emissions and contribute to the deceleration of climate change in a considerable way.
Our choices as individuals have a larger impact on the world than we might believe. After all, consumerism is also what drives electricity generation and industrial activity. If not for our increasingly insatiable need for energy and goods, these large industries would not be mining, manufacturing, and shipping at such scales. Of course, cutting back on consumption is a straightforward way to reduce natural resource exploitation and waste production, but it comes at the cost of lifestyle – a cost worth saving the planet for, surely – but a compromise nonetheless. Relative to drastic shifts in consumerism, the electrification of transport is a low hanging fruit; it is a mild compromise that would still allow us to travel and own personal cars while eliminating a major source of greenhouse gas emissions.
Replacing plastic straws with paper straws did not solve all our problems and neither will electric vehicles. And both certainly should not distract us from the fact that as of 2020, our world leaders still allow fossil fuels to supply 84 per cent of the world’s energy. But it is not to say that these types of life adjustments are superficial or symbolic. Particularly when it comes to the electrification of transport, it is a feasible adjustment that addresses a hugely polluting sector. It might not take down Big Oil or greenify the mining industry, but it will reduce greenhouse gases in a meaningful way. We might feel helpless in the face of the world’s big players and superpowers, but the impact of our choices is not all that paper thin.
