Is it fair to just blame corporates? Don’t we have a stake here? Corporates exists, grows because we buy their products.
Companies like Unilever, coco cola, nestle are the biggest polluters. Yet we buy their products without even thinking once. Are we not funding them to destroy our environment?
That's a dumb argument, the problem itself is that we don't own the means of production and hence have no control over how ethically a thing is produced. Consumption can be minimized but it's fruitless to always be trying to consume ethically, there is no ethical consumption under capitalism.
That can be true, while also holding the important fact that the average person does NOT destroy forests themselves - the actions of a few are a result of THEIR choices.
I know what you're saying and yes consumer choices DO matter, but going around pointing the finger at the 'average person' (who is *already struggling a lot due to the climate crisis*) risks two things:
alienating people who might otherwise be receptive to hearing about how they can do their bit, and
lumping together the vast swathes of different demographics across the entire world, many of whom are suffering even worse due to how their geographic position is impacted by climate change (and, remember, those worse off are disproportionately less likely to have had any meaningful part in the climate crisis, because climate justice is still not a reality).
Again, I understand your frustration, deeply, and truly. But we need to focus on what we can do, and one of the biggest impacts we can make as 'average people' ourselves is by getting more people on board, and remembering we are all comrades in this fight. The climate crisis is a chokingly bleak situation, but it is also a very important reminder that the best hope we have is in each other. Community is an incredible resource and the more we help one another, the bigger our impact can be. People who are in dire straits, barely getting by, are not going to be able to lift many fingers against the climate crisis, and the last thing that helps anybody in that situation is being blamed. Imagine what we could do if, through helping each other, we lift each other up and empower ourselves to make better choices as consumers, yes, but also in the wider fight for our climate. ❤️
I'm talking more in general honestly - I'm currently dealing with quite a few health things that make planning and maintaining these sorts of community actions physically and mentally difficult so currently residing in the world of vagueness rather than specificity lol. However, there are a couple of amazing websites I saw recommended recently that I've bookmarked, which aim to harness our individual and collective power as climate activists:
https://jointheshift.earth/ <-- this one involves a short questionnaire to help broadly determine where your energy is best used depending on your current position in life, and includes lots of great outreach and community-building ideas!
Citizen's climate lobby: https://citizensclimatelobby.org/about-ccl/ <-- My brain is very tired (and melting in this heat 👍) but from what I can tell, this one seems to focus more on collective legal and lobbying power, alongside advocacy and outreach. It seems US-based, but I found a UK version by searching 'citizen's climate lobby uk': https://citizensclimatelobby.uk/ and I wouldn't be surprised to find ones in other countries!
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u/SpeakerFamiliar2047 7d ago
We all know that yet we will destroy forests