How much responsibility do corporations have for the climate crisis and for stepping up with solutions?
Here at the ISCFC we are committed to promoting personal, community, national and planetary solutions to reduce our environmental impacts and boldly confront the climate crisis. But as individuals, we can feel powerless when there are huge corporations -such as the fossil fuel industry and factory farms– that are disproportionately responsible for carbon emissions of the past and the present.
What should we do about this? Do you agree that corporations should do more? And if so, what does that mean exactly? How do we persuade or impel polluting industries to change their ways?
Corporate responsibility >
Boycotting Corporations Using Fossil Fuels
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.