It Takes a Village: The Individual Carbon Footprint is A Myth
Why collective action is more meaningful than the “individual carbon footprint.”
By June Cook-Selman
Central Park, 2024
So, you’ve ditched the straws in your iced coffee, carry a reusable bag, shaved two minutes off your morning shower, bike to work, and compost your food. What’s your next daily sacrifice? Have you tried shopping at your local farmers market or volunteering to pick up trash in your nearest park?
While self-accountability and making small changes is a commendable method of reducing our individual impact on climate change, self-discipline is not enough to make a significant dent in the climate crisis. It’s time to save our energy (pun intended) and realize this hard truth. Individual action is, in part, a distraction wielded by the real climate change offenders from addressing the issue of mass corporate emissions.
The popular term, “carbon footprint” refers to the amount of greenhouse gasses generated by our singular actions, according to The Nature Conservancy, a global environmental nonprofit founded through grassroots action in 1951. The average carbon footprint for a person in the United States is 16 tons, one of the highest rates in the world. While the sentiment behind this term sounds admirable on the surface, the “carbon footprint,” was originally coined by British Petroleum, more commonly known as BP, an oil company that is among the highest carbon dioxide emitters in the world. BP is the same company that created and released its carbon footprint calculator in 2004, which allows individuals to fill out their daily habits and calculate the total amount of greenhouse gasses that their personal actions generate.
BP’s campaign was not a coincidence but a calculated effort to blame individuals for the climate crisis, diverting attention from corporate polluters. While climate enthusiasts have become hyper fixated on composting and using reusable straws, companies like BP have expanded their destructive practices.
In March 2005, early on in the public awareness of the climate change crisis, a BP refinery blew up in Texas City, Texas, killing 15 workers. The explosion happened just one year after the company’s release of the Carbon Footprint Calculator. In March 2006, a BP oil pipe burst and spilled 200,000 gallons over Alaska’s North Slope.
Despite empty promises to provide thorough investigations and safety checks after the two disasters in the early 2000s, BP was responsible for the largest oil spill in U.S. history. In 2010, BP’s offshore drilling unit, Deepwater Horizon, exploded and then sank in the Gulf of Mexico. This catastrophe led to 11 deaths and 134 million gallons of spilled oil. Together with the US government, BP agreed to pay over $4 billion in fines, but only a small portion of that money ($67 million) has gone to sick workers. In the last three years, cleanup workers who were exposed to oil and chemicals and experienced lasting health effects have brought multiple individual lawsuits against BP, the majority of which have been dismissed.
The “one person can make a difference” fallacy is a distraction from the real villain—big oil. The effort by BP and other oil corporations to shame individuals into the pursuit of reducing their carbon footprint prompts the question: is there anything we can do to prevent impending climate catastrophe?
By no means should you abandon your efforts to reduce your own carbon footprint, but rather, consider some steps that may be even more impactful. Collective action at a local level has been really pivotal in protecting communities that are particularly vulnerable to the effects of Big Oil and climate change. Take, for example, the Queens Climate Project, a collective of neighbors fighting for green energy policies in their community that, in 2020, successfully stopped NRG from replacing their existing power plant in Astoria, Queens that was due for servicing. NRG planned to replace the old plant with a new fracked gas plant. Fracking releases dangerous toxic air pollutants and waste fluids that can contaminate drinking water, causing cancer and other dangerous health issues.
In response, the Project organized an October bike ride to protest NRG’s plan. New York state senator Jessica Ramos, council members Jimmy Van Bramer and Tiffany Cabán, and assembly member Jessica González-Rojas showed their support for local anti-climate change activism by joining along for the ride. This group worked tirelessly to advocate against NRG’s plant, discuss the community health implications of fracked gas, and consider clean energy alternatives to fracking.
Throughout New York City, grassroots organizations like the Queens Climate Project are battling entities attempting to take advantage of their communities. To combat climate change, getting involved in collective action and fighting for the communities that are disproportionately affected by the climate crisis is imperative. Supporting collective action is the most efficient way for individuals to make the greatest impact.
Here are a few grassroots organizations to get you started in New York City:
Queens Climate Project is a grassroots organization made up of Queens neighbors and residents who advocate for clean energy policies. There are several task forces including Green Buildings Task Force, Compost Taskforce, and the Policy Task Force.
AIRnyc is a nonprofit organization based in the Bronx. They fight for equitable healthcare and housing for underserved communities that disproportionately experience poverty and chronic disease as a result of structural inequality.
Uprose is a nonprofit organization based in Brooklyn, devoted to climate justice. One of the organization’s focuses is on community-driven environmental health and resiliency where they advocate for clean resources in neighborhoods and teach sustainable practices.
Neighbors For A Greener Harlem is a grassroots organization that fosters community building and supports sustainable practices through gardening and other community programs.
Staten Island Urban Center is a community-based organization that provides many neighborhood services and projects like community gardens, arts programming, and a newly formed environmental justice coalition. They foster community development through community involvement.
June Cook-Selman is a New York City native who loves running on the West Side Highway.