“The further you go in life, the more you realize what you’re going to leave this Earth. It’s not going to be, ‘…It was great to win the Super Bowl,’ but really and truly what you’re going to leave on this Earth is the influence on others.”
Joe Gibbs
Are you familiar with the concept “carbon footprint”? The phrase is ubiquitous in articles about climate change. The idea is we each make an impact through our lifestyle choices, such as the size and efficiency of our homes, how much we drive and fly, and what we eat. But to solve climate change, maybe we should be moving on from the concept of carbon footprint.
The origin of carbon footprint
The idea that we each have a carbon footprint has a surprising origin. In his book, The New Climate War, Michael E. Mann, explains how the fossil fuel industry created and marketed the concept in order to shift the blame for global warming from the industry toward individuals and their lifestyle choices.
It has been an effective campaign. A lot of people feel guilty about their choices, and think they are responsible for global warming. The blame-shifting has been a distraction from the true problem – the large-scale burning of fossil fuels.
Let’s shift to climate shadow
Instead of worrying about our carbon footprint, journalist Emma Pattee suggests we spend more energy on our “climate shadow”. Our shadow goes beyond our household, and includes choices that impact the bigger picture. Some examples include who we work for, the places we shop, our volunteer efforts, and how we invest our money. Our shadow can make either a positive or negative impact.
Whether we realize it or not, we are constantly influencing others by the things we say and do. Don’t underestimate the power of one conversation, or leading by example.
What can we do?
Individual choices are important, and it helps to know which ones can make the most impact. Take a moment to find out with this quiz. There are a lot of misperceptions out there, so brace yourself to be surprised. I’m constantly educating myself on this topic, and was still off on 5 of the 12!
But if you take one thing away from this article, please remember this: the most effective use of our time and energy is to work toward big-picture change. And we can each do this through our climate shadow. Here are some ideas:
- Educate yourself and share information with others
- Find an organization working to solve climate change and volunteer
- Let your leaders know you care about this issue
Let’s do something about climate change. Learn about it. Think about it. Talk about it.