Over the past decades, climate change and pollution have become a growing concern due to the threats they pose, whether from floods, hurricanes, habitat destruction or numerous natural disasters. Due to this growing concern, there has been tremendous pressure for individuals to reduce their personal impact. This is seen everywhere with initiatives like Save the turtles, the growing popularity of electric car and a lot advertisement generally pushing people to reduce both their waste and carbon emissions.

It’s fantastic; living in a cleaner and more environmentally friendly world is something that has a positive impact on all aspects of our life. But the tendency to blame individuals for climate change and pollution is not only wrong but intentionally malicious on the part of the big energy and fossil fuel companies, the really at fault.

This past year has shown many how devastating the coming climate crisis will be, from flooding to Louisiana and new York, or the “hell portal“which came as a result of a ruptured pipeline. These events underscore how dire the fight against climate change is and, sadly, how little there really can be done by individuals to help. the vast majority of global emissions are created by a small handful of fossil fuel and energy companies.

To be more precise, approximately 71% of global emissions are eliminated by only 100 different companies. This figure makes one thing very clear: it is up to these companies and the governments that regulate them, not the individuals, to curb climate change.

The problem is that historically strong enough measures have not been taken. Fossil fuel companies always look out for their own interests, and then they To pay policies to support them as well. This means that before society can even think about stopping climate change, there has to be a total change in the way governments and businesses operate. First, companies need to be held fully accountable for every bit of carbon emissions and pollution they create, and the only way to do that is to completely rethink how lobbying and corporate interests are. structure, both in America and around the world. Big oil has a stranglehold on American democracy, and this greed will soon destroy the whole world.

Some might argue that the only reason these companies produce shows is that people create the demand for it. People drive cars that use fossil fuels, use lights and devices that use electricity and wear out clothes that generate far more emissions than one might expect. While this argument is partly true, many of these emissions come from attempts to make production as convenient as possible for these companies: a deliberate lack of research into renewable energy makes fossil fuels a priority. much more practical form of energy for production. This double problem could be solved by putting in place stricter regulations on energy production and increasing funding for research into renewable energies.

While businesses are the engines of climate change, that doesn’t mean the average person can’t do anything to combat it. First, people can try to live as carbon neutral as possible, either by using motor vehicles less frequently, by eating less. beef or using less electricity. But an even more effective way to help is to advocate strongly for solutions that will create even greater change. This may include protests, direct contact with public officials, or public awareness activities.

While a massive portion of global emissions and pollution do not come from individuals, there is still a lot of work to be done by these same individuals to save the world from a global crisis. People must be vigilant in changing the institutions and systems that have let the world approach the brink of complete climate catastrophe in order to stop the companies that have.

While he may already be too late to completely prevent the world from seeing the adverse effects of climate change, everyone needs to be involved to make sure it doesn’t get worse, especially those at the top.

Keoni Jones is an opinion columnist and can be contacted at [email protected].