I believe that large corporations need to put more of an effort towards saving and conserving the natural world. Big producers of plastic and other wast polluting our oceans and the environment around us need to slow and even stop the production of many harmful products and switch to more renewable recyclable and efficient alternatives. We need to put more of an effort towards supporting corporations that use and produce these efficient alternative products. We also need to put forward more of an effort to start supporting organizations that clean up and fix the messes made by these large and wasteful businesses.

I agree with this. Big company's produce a lot of carbon with their factories, and then have non degradable packaging. Both are bad for the environment, but since it is out of our control, we should do our best to control what we buy/support and dispose of our waste properly. If one wants to even support further, they can volunteer to pick up trash, or to help support company's trying to be eco friendly. It shouldn't be other organizations duties to pick up after these other polluting companies, but it should be whoever caused the problem. Usually the more eco friendly option is going to be more expensive at the end of the day, as being more eco friendly is more expensive.

For some people, it’s easy to live your life with only the bare essentials, but for others, it’s hard to discern between if they need something or if they really want something. Now, if you really want to get argumentative, practically everything can be written off as a “want”, including clothes in the summer, blankets in the winter, and umbrellas in rainy days. This is why it’s so easy to berate someone for wanting material possessions, while at the same time you can just as easily wave the blame off of yourself for getting a new muffler for your bike. It’s when you think about how we have been living for centuries without a dire need for anything, and that we’ve been living in excess for so long, that you realize that the question changes from “Do you really need it?”, to “Is my purchase of this item really what’s causing all of this?”. We’ve known that CO2 emissions have been rising ever since the Industrial Revolution, and the main driver of global warming is most likely not the customers that buy the products, but the manufacturers that pump out incredible amounts of waste in a landfill they call products, and don’t even stop for a second to think about their impact on the environment. The environment isn’t solely in the hands of you and whether you decide to buy that Hydroflask or not, but it’s up to the companies that dump tons of oil into the ocean, the same companies that use the energy that just so happens to be the most damaging to the environment. Now, I’m not saying to be mindful of your impact on the environment, in fact, I support those who “reduce, reuse, recycle” and don’t buy tons of environmentally-damaging plastics. What I’m saying is: Be mindful of your waste, but please don’t beat yourself or others up about it. Buy more organic options at the store, support your local farmers and business owners and avoid the companies that emit the larger percentage of the world’s carbon, but please, don’t force yourself or anybody to live a life that you/they don’t want when the real problem is out of your hands.

I agree. Everyone can go on in life without all the excessive things we often buy but many of us can't bring ourselves to agree with this. I know of people who frequently go shopping on a daily basis for things that and very nice to have, but not necessary. Things like celebrity fans rushing to purchase the most recent merch, people immediately buying the latest design that their favourite brand just dropped, and those who are shopping for their 9th pair of shoes are all common examples of how we buy what we want, not need. We have the luxury of getting to choose what we want to buy. Those people in under-developed countries and places don't have this choice. They can only make use of what they find and what they are given. Yet you still see them making the best out of it unlike us who want more and more even if our current item is still in usable condition. All these small little things add up bit by bit as we continue to contribute to global warming.

I agree a lot with this. Currently, I feel like average, everyday people are blamed and made to feel bad for problems that are really out of their hands. Sure, the accretion of normal people's carbon emissions is part of it, but when celebrities are emitting the same amount of CO2 in one 15 minute private jet flight than the average household emits in a year, who is really the problem? The average person doesn't have even a fraction of the influence and power a politician or celebrity has. Telling people the climate crisis is their fault is a hugely mistaken perspective to take. Most families have no option but to buy clothes that are not sustainably made or to buy cheap, non-organic, non-local produce and food. Shaming other people for the choices they make surrounding sustainability is in no way going to help. Change doesn't come from a few people being "perfect", it comes from a lot of people making small, everyday improvements.

Industries are among the main sources of environmental pollution, releasing gases and toxic substances into the air, water, and soil. To reduce this impact, companies can adopt clean technologies, such as renewable energies and efficient production processes, to decrease greenhouse gas emissions. Additionally, improving waste management through recycling and waste reduction, and promoting a sustainability-oriented corporate culture can help mitigate industrial pollution and protect the environment.

Companies have a crucial responsibility in addressing global warming. They must prioritize sustainable practices, reduce emissions, and invest in renewable energy sources.
By taking proactive measures, companies can mitigate their carbon footprint and contribute to a healthier planet for future generations.
However, as long as companies prioritize short-term profit over the well-being of the planet, change remains an illusion. It is essential for companies to realign their financial priorities towards sustainable investments and eco-friendly practices. Only then can we hope to reverse the trend of global warming and protect our environment for future generations

The harvesting of crops on large, industrial farms is a process that pollutes the environment. Industrial agriculture often relies on a variety of different pesticides, whether for insects, invasive plants, or rodents. While these pesticides may be beneficial for the growth of the crop, they pose a risk to other organisms that were not its target. According to toxicologist Jesse Meiller at Georgetown University, "...the rain that falls on land where herbicides and insecticides are applied can cause soil and pesticides to run off into local waterways. Organisms that live in those waterways — including fish, invertebrates and even larval stages of insects — can be exposed to these pesticides." The pesticides that the agricultural industry so often uses, if used excessively, can cause harm to organisms unintentionally. Pesticides are also incredibly toxic to humans. According to a pie chart from the National Library of Medicine, the effects of herbicides, the most common pesticide, include liver damage, tremors, and dermal irritation.
Other than pesticides, the agriculture industry also consumes a lot of fossil fuels. According to the Emory Office of Sustainable Initiatives, the agriculture industry accounts for,”approximately 19% of the total use of fossil fuels in the United States. It takes about 7.3 units of (primarily) fossil energy to produce one unit of food energy in the U.S. food system.”
In conclusion, the use of pesticides and fossil fuels by the agriculture industry is harmful to people and the environment.

Encourage better business practices. This would encourage them to find better sources of power so they would reduce carbon because they won’t want to pay the carbon tax. The research for pollution clean-up has come a long way. Places like MIT have developed a new system that would basically pull carbon out of the sky, and businesses could pay to enact it. If businesses took responsibility for their pollution and helped to clean it they would be contributing to the solution. Right now businesses just get away with their unsustainable practices and it is a very harmful system. If there was an actually enforced law to make businesses pay for the amount of emissions they produce we may actually be able to afford clean-up. Converting to sustainable practices would boost business popularity as the public would want to support environmentally conscious businesses. It would be more expensive to enact and production might be down for a little while but if it’s between something and nothing a business still wants to make money. It would cost businesses 70 dollars per ton of greenhouse gas emissions. 35 countries currently have a carbon tax, the US does not have one and it needs one. Every country could benefit from a carbon tax on businesses because every country contributes to emissions. Businesses make up 70% of emissions and 5,489 million metric tons came from the US in 2022 alone. If corporations were required to pay the carbon tax we would have $384,230,000, based on the 2022 statistics, that could go toward cleanup technology and or operations to improve the environment. The only place that had a failed implementation of carbon tax so far was Australia. Most carbon tax prices fall somewhere between 69-73 US dollars per ton, 70 USD seems like a relatively reasonable amount if it were implemented worldwide. Businesses would have a choice between contributing to clean-up operations, new technology, or even planting trees. They would be given an opportunity to be a part of groundbreaking technology that would pull their harmful emissions out of the atmosphere. It would be expensive and many businesses would dislike it but if they keep going the way they are, the world won’t be here to continue running their business. We have to save the planet from these corporations that are left to be destructively unchecked.
Inventory of U.S. Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Sinks
https://www.google.com/url?q=https://ww … 74bDHkl0rJ
https://www.theecoexperts.co.uk/blog/mo … -companies

https://www.epa.gov/ghgemissions/invent … d%20sector.
(The Inventory of U.S. Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Sinks link)

Are big corporations really acknowledging this problem? Or is it that they claim to be to not be attacked by protestors?

It’s happy to hear that Taiwan’s coal industry will minimize their production by half in 2030 and completely stop using coal completely by 2060. But this is just Taiwan. What about the rest 200 countries? Like the US, Germany, or India? All they want is money and when the time comes that people can breathe fresh air outside, there is nothing they can do about it but keep the money for themselves, making the poor suffer and rich live life like in a video game. The human population on Earth can die out by 2200 if we don’t stop climate change and major cities in Florida and Pakistan by 2100 will be flooded. What would million’s of people do? They can’t just make a new home when the air outside isn’t good to breathe. Big cooperations will always deny the truth for example the Taiwan Formosa claims to not use their chimneys. But at night when everyone is a sleep or when it is very cloudy, they would turn them on and you would barely notice it. So I think, in general, big corporations don’t acknowledge this problem.

My carbon footprint is 7285kgs, which is not much since in my country there is an average of 6968kgs of carbon emitted. However, I could try to reduce it even more because I make some mistakes when it comes to protecting the environment. I should use fewer plastic bags when I carry my lunch to school and take a Tupper so I wouldn’t waste that unnecessary amount of plastic.
On the transport matter, I can’t do much to change the quantity of carbon that I emit because I live far from the city and from my high school so, I have to travel by car. Despite that, I could try to avoid the car whenever I can and walk as much as possible.
To conclude, I think that our society in general is very consumerist, and we buy a lot of things that we don’t really need such as food or clothes. I think that we as a group should try to consume less and just buy the necessary to live and not waste.

Yah, I am in the same case of you. I have a big carbon footprint. I use recycle bag to not use plastic bag and pollute the earth. Sometimes I use my bike or walk when it is possible, my high school it's very far from my home too, so the morning I walk to go at school but to go back home I take the bus. I would like to more discuss about that because I like the environnment so if you want you can come dicuss with me on my email adress: lymu.49@gmail.com

There is no voice too small to make the slightest or biggest impact on a situation that will, as time goes on, affect every human being on a global scale.

Corporations can indeed do more to combat climate change, by acknowledging their involvement and the effects they've had on their carbon footprint. Straws, for example, especially plastic ones, have made a dramatic shift in the retail and restaurant industry. It was only after advocates for those impacted by these plastic straws made their voices heard to stop the devasting effects they had had on turtles in the ocean and marine animals, in a more general sense.

We can only voice our opinion in rallies and peaceful protests to push change, and hopefully see change in response and acknowledgment of the efforts made by the protesters.

To rephrase what was said above by me, in terms of what we can do to voice our opinions, I would like to add that rallies and peaceful protests are ways in which we can promote and encourage change, but it is not limited to these actions.

Every little thing that can be done to slow down climate change is important, but it doesn’t make that much of a difference unless everyone is doing it. While we should still do as much as we can individually, it would be more impactful if we could convince other people in our community to do small things as well. Perhaps we could buy reusable grocery bags for neighbors so they aren’t using plastic ones and offer to carpool with friends to save gas. A single person's low carbon footprint means nothing if it’s surrounded by high ones. The everyday lifestyle and norms participated in by everyone (especially in America) are the things that need to be changed the most.

I also agree,
My carbon footprint was 18,464 and I did not think that my carbon footprint would actually be that high. Though my carbon footprint was so high because of transportation, so if I cut down the amount of trips that I take each year by plane and instead of taking a car ride to places, walking it would help decrease it drastically. There are many ways to reduce our carbon footprints drastically, but there is a difference between reading about them and acting upon them.

I agree with you, we should try to buy more necessary things and less waste. And I recommend using a bike to travel to your high school, although it may not be a necessary item to have to live but it emits less greenhouse gases than the car. And instead of walking to your school and having to worry about waking up early and being late to school the bike would be faster than walking or running.

I have a carbon footprint of around 17,000 kgs per year, but only 382 kgs of it comes from purchases. I believe that most corporations quite literally do not care about the environment and are only looking towards making bigger profits. We as consumers can always try and buy things that are friendly to the environment and use recyclable or reusable bags, but the corporations themselves are the ones that need to put their huge amount of money towards helping combat climate change.

I would say that I have a pretty high carbon footprint unfortunately due to using planes for transportation but I wouldn't say my purchases or buying of more goods significantly affects my carbon footprint. With that being said, I think every individual can do a little bit to improve the world around us whether that is taking fewer flights or buying fewer items that could be harmful to the environment. I believe our own consumerism has led to the acceleration of some impacts of climate change but I also don't think it is even close to the primary source of pollution or the degradation of our environment. It is always important to look within but to only look at ourselves I believe is completely letting corporations off the hook for their part in this problem. Many of them claim to have carbon-neutral goals that they haven't put the effort into hitting and instead would rather feed into consumerism for their own profits than try to make an impact on our environment. Consumers will always pollute way less than the corporation will contribute to greenhouse gas emissions through activities such as energy production, transportation, manufacturing, and agriculture. The extraction and use of fossil fuels, as well as deforestation and land-use change, are significant drivers of corporate emissions. Stats such as these: "Since 1988, just 100 companies have been responsible for 71% of global greenhouse gas emissions. In addition to this, only 25 corporations and state-owned organizations were found to be responsible for over 50% of the global industrial emissions2 during the same time period," really show how much corporations influence this issue. This is the source for the stat: https://sites.manchester.ac.uk/global-s … e%20period.
In conclusion, I think looking inwards at ourselves is important and how we fall victim to consumerism and use some types of transportation that are particularly harmful but we also must hold corporations accountable because they will always cause way more harm than any individual.

Yeah, I agree. As humans, we should try to buy the necessary things instead of junk we use one day and throw away the other so that there could be less pollution in the world. Most people's carbon footprint result is very high due to transportation. I had about 20,000 kgs in the section of transportation. This is mostly due to flights worldwide (about 15 hours). My result was also high because I travel in a car and don't use bikes to get from one location to another frequently. However, some days I walk depending on the distance. As we all know, humans should use bikes and walk to get to locations instead of always using their cars. Cars produce about 1.5 billion tons of greenhouse gases (GHGs) into the atmosphere each year. That is a lot! Therefore if we want to make the world a better place and cleaner we should start taking action now.

Water as power is very cheap and easy to use. Sea water is most of the water in the world, yet we still don’t use it as normal and it will be very good for the enviornment. Use water as an efficent power source will be easy and will help a lot to the enviornment seeing that power is most of the carbon footprint we use.

I agree with you because water can be used as power. We can farm this from sea water since there is so much of it. This is also good for the environment because it can suck carbon dioxide out of the air.

water is a possibility and is good for the environment, but considering that big corporations that use gas as fuel would want efficiency I don't see it being that realistic. Big corporations care for money there are only a handful that actually do care and most of those aren't that successful. So although it's a possibility it's not realistic.

GasparRay is right. Companies are greedy by not saving the planet, but by earning money. But when there is no Earth to get money, what are they going to do? If we use water and companies are not greedy enough, half of climate change would disappear and it’s a possibility that we can use this new invention to cars. Japan has already started to make cars based of water but I don’t think it would be likely because oil companies will just pay a lot of money to stop production or they would collapse financially. So it is a 50/50 chance water can be used as power.

One of the things that disgusts me the most in this world is human greed. Take Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk for example, the amount of money they have could do so much good in this world. Using even 1% (even that is way more money than the average person will see in their lifetime) of Elon Musk's fortune could help countries invest in sustainable energy practices, carbon capture technology, and more. However instead of using any of their fortune for good. They decide to raise their prices even more, because apparently inflation effects them so drastically. Apparently a 14.8% raise in average transaction price is so important to maintain an acceptable standard of living for billionaires. And the fact they decide to just not pay their taxes because they just don't want to means it is okay for them to do so. In conclusion most billionaires a selfish, greedy, pigs who don't deserve anything good in their lives and are doing so much harm that I wish them all extremely painful death.

I agree you and with the fact that people like Jeff Bezos, and Elon Musk have so much money that they should, and could donate, and contribute their wealth to help with climate change. These two people and many more could act on climate change and encourage others to do the same. An idea for them is to invest money into research surrounding climate change and how it affects the planet. Although I agree with this, I do not share the wish for all of them to extremely painful death. This in my view is taking it too far. Although they are not using their money in a very wise manner, we do not need to wish them painful death.

My average carbon footprint is 8994kg, which compared to the average American, is quite low, but comparing to the average person overseas, is quite high. Currently I am trying harder to conserve water by taking shorter showers and running the dishwasher instead of handwashing. I'm also trying to limit my single use plastic intake and invest in reusable alternatives. Although I am trying to take more accountability for my environmentally unfriendly actions, I'm wondering when big corporations will, when will they stop sweeping their overuse of fossil fuels or plastic under the rug? What are THEY doing to reduce carbon footprint? Or are they being silenced by the fossil fuel industry in return for money? When will they tell us the truth and stop increasing co2 emissions?

As long as they are motivated by money, they are probably not ever gonna stop unless the government does something about it, plus some corporates are even backed up by the government.

It is estimated that companies produce over 70% of the greenhouse gases within our atmosphere, to combat this it is imperative that consumers spend their money at companies that don't heavily contribute to greenhouse gasses. However, this is not as simple of a task as one may think.
As society has become more aware of their ecological footprints more and more people have been trying to lessen their impact, many people express the ideals of buying products that are better for the environment or “zero waste”. However, like most things, corporations have found a way to capitalize on this. Green-washing is when a company states that a product is eco-friendly or better for the environment, yet, most of the time the positive effect that this product will have is very minimal. To make it even worse most of these companies don’t actually care about the environment, to put it plainly they use green-washing as a marketing strategy. Companies will often charge more for these products, and people will buy, as society has begun to shift into prioritizing sustainability.
Additionally, these companies will often make vague claims that have no proof to back it up, which is incredibly harmful because this will eliminate trust between companies and consumers, making it even harder to get people to buy eco-friendly products. Greenwashing is also harmful because it can make people believe that something is sustainable when it isn’t. This can be especially seen in ads, Google has made millions off of greenwashing ads for big oil companies. These companies singly-handedly provide for around 23% percent of the Global carbon footprint, and that's just carbon, think about all the other greenhouse gases that are likely released.
Companies are thriving off of lying and faking sustainability, they create mistrust between consumers and companies and place profit over the sustainability of our planet. If we continue to allow these corporations to mislead people we are never going to have any progression towards a healthier earth. Corporations should stop greenwashing and need to start actually caring about their ecological and carbon footprint before it's too late.
Sources/further resources:
https://mashable.com/feature/carbon-foo … paign-sham
https://ccsi.columbia.edu/content/oil-s … ate-change
https://makersite.io/insights/whitepape … enwashing/
https://counterhate.com/blog/google-mak … of-cop-27/

The European union is taking actions to reduce/ban greenwashing by banning certain greenwashing buzzwords such as “environmentally friendly”,“natural”, “biodegradable”, “climate neutral” or “eco” without proof of recognized excellent environmental performance relevant to the claim. Unproven claims of durability relative to time or intensity under normal conditions will not be allowed and "claims based on emissions offsetting schemes that a product has neutral, reduced or positive impact on the environment."

It is estimated that, during 2015, the richest 10% accounted for 49% of the global CO2 emissions while the 50% of the world in lower income brackets only accounted for a mere 7%. Some of our world’s richest billionaires also produce 1,000,000 times the amount of CO2 than the amount emitted by 90% of people. However, it is never the billionaires that are seen or heavily encouraged to “go green”, no billionaires count their carbon/ecological footprint. Even if every person decreased their carbon footprints to zero a mere 125 billionaires will have created 395 million metric tons of carbon emissions. So why are we, the people that are barely accounting for anything trying to cut down our emissions? Will it really make a difference?
I am not trying to say that regular people should stop caring about their carbon/ecological footprint, but rather that the drastic changes that need to be made in society are not by the general public but by large corporations and by our world’s top 10%. If even one rich/famous person, I will use Taylor Swift as an example, stopped flying on private jets then that would account for 1,000 people not using any energy in their homes for a year. All it would take is the banning of private jets/flights and tens of thousands of energy would be preserved. Or if the governments of the world were to regulate carbon emissions of major corporations, especially big oil, then our global ecological footprint would most likely go down by a lot, especially since Big Oil produces an approximated 5.1 billion metric tons of greenhouse gases. Such major changes should be made instead of regulating average people’s everyday lives.

Sources/Additional Resources:
    https://www.iea.org/commentaries/the-wo … e-bottom-1
    https://www.theguardian.com/environment … ding-study
    https://www.scientificamerican.com/arti … hy-people/
    https://www.iea.org/commentaries/the-wo … e-bottom-1
    https://www.npr.org/2022/11/09/11354467 … -emissions
    https://www.cnbc.com/2022/11/08/billion … oxfam.html
    https://time.com/6208632/celebrities-cl … ts-yachts/
    https://www.iea.org/reports/emissions-f … ransitions

You've probably seen websites/apps like Shein or Zara or any other website that sells clothes solely on line. If that's the case then you've most definitely seen reports of these "online stores" having terrible working conditions and even forcing people to work very long shifts with little to no breaks. In an article by Time Magazine, It stated "...a documentary by the U.K.’s Channel 4 found that Shein employees were working 75-hour shifts with very little time off." China’s Labor Contract Law states that employees should not work over eight hours each day or 40 hours per week.(china.acclime.com). Not only does Shein violate labor laws, but the amount of CO2 they put into the atmosphere is insane. In the same article by time magazine, it says "the manufacturers’ rapid use of virgin polyester and large consumption of oil churns out the same amount of CO2 as approximately 180 coal-fired power plants...As a result, the company leaves about 6.3 million tons of carbon dioxide a year in its trail..."
In conclusion, Shein and just about any other online fashion store is bad for the environment and their workers.

I agree that fast fashion is bad for both the environment and the rights of workers in the industry. However, completely abandoning the industry is risky. Due to the poor quality of fast fashion, the price is relatively inexpensive which makes it more affordable for people to purchase. Additionally, despite the poor working conditions it does provide some jobs for people and if people boycotted the industry, millions of people would be left without a job.

i agree that fashion is also bad for the enviroment because it can cause alot of stress with wasting money and bills.Also i agree that and if people keep going for fashion it can give a better change to the people and could go to a good cost

A cargo ship produces tons of used oil, detergents, and chemicals every day. This mix is supposed to be treated and then disposed of on land, but this is often not the case. Most crews don't comply with these laws, they pump the toxic sludge into the sewage tank and into the sea. This is done to lose weight and lower costs for businesses that operate on tight schedules. We can use satellites to find spills, Skytruth operates a satellite and found more than 1500 potentially illegal dumps around the world over 18 months. Spills quickly dissipate making them harder to trace and killing billions of microorganisms like plankton and fish larva, destroying ecosystems. Policing 100s of thousands of container ships is an impossible task. We don't even have an estimate of how many incidents there are as they happen out at sea. The figure for the estimate of oil spilt could be as height as 55,000,000 Gallons(208,197,648 Liters). How laws are enforced differ from country to country and range in punishments.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4TiMy27yhFw
https://skytruth.org/cerulean/
https://www.copernicus.eu/en/copernicus … g-overview

Big corporations have a very large influence of the carbon emissions.  Corporations have been the cause of about 70% of all the carbon emissions, showing that these corporations should be doing more to reduce the emissions. Because of this, a single person doing their best to reduce carbon emissions will not make a difference, but as a group of people, we are able to convince many corporations to take steps in order to reduce their carbon emissions.

We are have to make sure we aren’t wasting things, do next time you go to the market and buy stuff, think if it is all necessary. Also, when you want to drive a round trip around, considering you bike is a very good idea. Also, check the lights, is it really needed now? These problems have to be considered to save the planet

I agree. In large stores, your logical decision-making power can dwindle rapidly. Therefore, it's harder to make purchases that you know you'll absolutely need for the foreseeable future or are guaranteed to eat. We need to be more diligent about making purposeful purchases in supermarkets and other stores.

Exactly! It is so common nowadays to overlook how much food, water, and electricity we use and waste on a day-to-day basis. I like the way you said, "Is it really needed now?" People need to ask themselves this question more often when using electricity or buying things from the store. Some people may want to say, "Oh, it's okay, it was only on for a few hours," or "It's fine, it's only one bag of apples, it won't hurt anyone if I toss it." Even if it's just a couple of hours or just one pack, it will add up as more and more people keep up this habit. If EVERYONE is just doing a little bit, it can very quickly become a lot.

This is a great point, I saw survey done by Slickdeals saying that 73% of purchases are not planned before and are made on the spot at the store. If we just planned out our grocery routes a bit better we could reduce our footprint by a sizable amount.

Since companies operate on the principles of supply and demand, we have the power to change things through what we buy and from whom. The less we buy products that cause harm to the environment, whether in use or when made, the less profitable it will be for the companies to produce these products, and so they will make these things less, or even stop making them entirely. This doesn’t mean it is our responsibility for companies actions, it is important for them to govern their own actions, but when they do not, we can do something about it.

Although everyone’s individual carbon footprint is still important, nothing one person could ever do will ever make an impact on the damage big corporations do. For example, Amazon emitted seventy-one million five hundred forty thousand metric tons of carbon, according to CNBC. Inspire Clean Energy said the average person around the world produces four tons of carbon per day. That means that it would take seventeen million eight hundred eighty-five thousand individuals to create the same amount of carbon as Amazon. This number is of course not completely accurate because it’s an average. Someone from America would have a much higher carbon output than someone in India or almost anywhere in the world. In my opinion in most places people don’t need to work on their carbon footprint all that much, America is my exception to that. Another piece of information I got from Inspire Clean Energy is that the average American produces twenty metric tons of carbon, that means it would only take three million five hundred seventy-seven thousand individuals from America to produce the same amount of carbon as Amazon. That is a sixty-seven million nine hundred sixty-three thousand person difference from the original number using the world average. That all being said, even with all Americans the corporation beat them by miles.

After reading a lot of other people's posts about this topic I was horrified. I mean, 100 corporations resulted in 71% of CO2 emissions??? (Thanks to @ARWENB for this info) That's insane, and where I live we can sometimes see this. When I drive down to West Sacramento, I see this line of factories, and coming from that line of factories are clouds of smog polluting the air. In less than a minute I saw billowing puffs escape into the sky, and I wondered, if all that is released into our atmosphere in less than a minute, by a tine line of factories somewhere in California, how long can this go on for? This is barely 0.5% of all the factories in the world, how is our sky not grey yet? Since the Industrial Revolution, our atmosphere has been filled with smog! It's terrifying to see and even more terrifying to think of the consequences.

When you think of the people mainly responsible for climate change, who do you think of? The first thing that comes to mind when I think of big companies is extracting fossil fuels and deforestation for agriculture. It's our choice whether to accept it or not. These companies rely on us for their power and profits because we are the ones buying their products. The sole focus of these companies is their financial success, so if we refuse to support them, they'll discontinue. We need more than just recycling to make a significant impact on climate change. We need to change the big things, we are in more control of them than we realize. As much as I wish they would, we all know that these companies aren’t going to take responsibility for their actions, which is why we need to take responsibility for ours. Before we fight against these companies and blame them for what they are doing wrong, we need to think about how our actions tie in. I’m not trying to defend them, because what they’re doing is wrong and they should admit that instead of denying it; but how can you protest against deforestation, and fossil fuel extraction, but still use gas to fuel your car, electricity in your home or continue to eat meat at every meal? I know that we won't be able to change right away, it will take time and it won't be easy, but we need to start looking for more sustainable and eco-friendly alternatives to our everyday lifestyle. When we have done that then we will hold all the power against these companies.

Large companies such as starbucks have begun using paper straws instead of plastic straws, should other companies begin setting aside money to protect the enviroment?

I agree but at the same time, I don't because big companies like Starbucks need financial income for the company and employees in order for the company run properly while helping out the environment by fixing the cause of the problem in their institution in order to contribute to the environment.

Big corporations have a responsibility to manage and lower their own carbon emissions. When huge, wealthy groups are playing such a big role in the climate crisis, the individual person is almost completely powerless. The people in charge of these organizations have a responsibility, to themselves, future generations, and the well-being of our planet to lower their own emissions.
In addition, I believe that as a society we need to start taking measures to bring down these corporations ourselves. We have normalized industries like the fossil fuel business, which emits such a large amount of greenhouse gases in comparison to other industries. We have already begun to take measures, such as switching over to electric cars and installing solar panels in our homes, but it is nowhere near enough. As a group of people, we need to move completely away from fossil fuels and other ways of energy that are so damaging to our environment. If we ourselves are not willing to take the steps to save our own planet, how can we expect to get these corporations to do the same? As long as there is demand and money, they will continue to do what they do. We need to make a point.

Attempting to end climate change as a whole is something that will take many many years, but there are actions that not just people can take, but also huge companies and factories can take to make those years shorten. The biggest contributor to climate change would have to be oil, coal, and gas. Probably the biggest cause of the vast amount of CO2 we have in the atmosphere now would be because of CO2 human made activities. The man made factories of huge companies are contributing to the amount of greenhouse gasses being put into the atmosphere by continuing to use fossil fuels being taken from the ground, while also burning immense amounts of coal. When fossil fuels are burned, they release large amounts of carbon dioxide into the air and pollute it (2019, ClientEarth). Not only do these greenhouse gasses cause climate change, but they also create huge health risks for the human population, especially the people that have to live close to the factories that burn them everyday. While the easiest thing to say is to just tell the companies to stop using fossil fuels, it isn’t as easy as that. Fossil fuels have been used for over 200 years and are especially used by some of the largest companies for make some of the most popular products for human consumption. It may seem like trying to end the use of fossil fuels in factories isn’t really something the average person could help to stop, it actually very well could be. While this would take a long amount of time, if everyone boycotted companies that burn fossil fuels and stopped purchasing their products, they would run out of business, eventually being shut down, unless they stop contributing greenhouse gasses. Shutting down these companies would cause  such a huge reduction in the amount of CO2 being put into the air, but it would take the commitment of almost the whole population to stop it. If everyone could reduce their purchases from corporates responsible for using green house gasses, I believe that the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere would change drastically within years.

I understand your concern but is this realistic? Companies produce about 70% of all GCG emissions and the top ones aren't located in the United States. Yes, you can boycott them but what is that going to do for you? Assuming you have a car and you need it to travel, boycotting these companies will make you homeless. I understand you're point and yes it is an issue that needs to be changed, but looking at this realistically this isn't an appropriate approach.