Just think about it: what difference does it make if you trade a picanha for a plate of lentils, decide to take a bus instead of using your own car, or not fly on vacation, if the other billions of human beings on the planet don’t make it? anything? This is a disappointing conclusion and raises an obvious question that must have crossed your mind: why should we worry then?
According to activist Greta Thunberg, “the point is to form an opinion. By not flying, you not only reduce your carbon footprint, but also send a signal to others around you that the climate crisis is something real and that helps to boost a political movement. A lot of people listen to what I have to say and I appear a lot in the media” says. “So I influence a lot of people, so I have a bigger responsibility because I have a bigger platform.”
But let’s be honest, you’re not Greta Thunberg. Even if your choices spread around the world and influence some people, your decision to eat less meat and slightly lower the thermostat is not exactly the appeal that will mobilize the world around reducing carbon emissions.
So why should individuals do their part?
“I think this is one of the great moral challenges of the 21st century, perhaps the greatest,” says Professor Peter Singer of Princeton University. “If we are not acting, we are endangering everyone who is alive now and future generations as well.” According to him, the fact that each of us plays a tiny role in the whole process doesn’t matter; our obligation to act remains.
The thing is, the more we take action, the less our climate will change and the more livable the world will be for us, our descendants, and all the rest of the magnificent abundance of life on earth.
Now, let’s face it, it’s worth making some lifestyle changes in the name of this cause, isn’t it?