🥕💡The carrots are cooked #8
Climate-friendly recipes + Individual action vs systemic change + News
Recipes of the week
See here for this week’s recipes and corresponding groceries.
Click here to access all recipes from the past month.
Recipe #1 - Creamy polenta with ras el hanout carrots
(recipe via Rutabago)
Recipe #2 - Spicy Mexican Soup with red kidney beans
(recipe via Simply Mythily)
Recipe #3 - Pumpkin Truffle Gnocchi
(recipe via Hellofresh)
🤔 Question of the week - Do individual actions matter?
I started a personal newsletter to inspire people to get involved in climate, understand what they can do in their daily life to contribute, starting with what they put on their plate.
So it would be a bit of a let down to find out that individual action does not matter in fixing our climate problem.
It is an argument we hear quite often: only through systemic, policy-based change will we be able to get out of the climate crisis ; one person cannot make a difference, and therefore why bother going through all these efforts.
I listened to an episode of the excellent US podcast “How to Save a planet” that aims to settle this debate once and for all. I thought their way of debating both sides was really good, so I decided to summarise the findings here.
Side #1 - Individual action does not matter that much
Argument #1 - Most emissions come from just a few sources that people don’t have control over.
At a global level, 90% of greenhouse gases are coming from just 5 different aspects of our economies, as outlined by the Project Drawdown Framework:
Electricity - 25%
Food, Agriculture & Land use - 24%
Industry - 20% (direct emissions from the manufacturing and industrial processes)
Transportation - 15%
Buildings = 5%
At this point, it is argued that individuals don’t have a whole lot of influence over these 5 emissions sources. As a person, you still need to use electricity in your home, and it’s not your fault that the grid is hooked on fossil fuels. And if you live in an area that doesn’t have a lot of public transport, you have to use a car to get around. Fair point.
Argument #2 - An individual’s footprint is negligible compared to the total of greenhouse gas emissions
The average carbon footprint of an American is 16 tonnes (slightly lower than the footprint of an Australian that sits at 17 tonnes).
Though it is much higher than the global average of 4.8 tonnes per capita, it is virtually nothing compared to the 50 billion tonnes the whole of humanity sends into the atmosphere every year.
16 tonnes vs 50 billion tonnes means that the average American's contribution to the problem is 0.0000000003.
So in other words, you can keep driving your big SUV in summer with the air con on and the windows open, because in the grand scheme of things, the reality is that your impact is ZERO.
The speakers conclude this side of the debate by saying that this is actually good news, since it means we don’t have to rely on convincing everyone to take action to solve the problem.
Let’s move on to the other side of the debate.
Side #2 - Individual Action does matter
Argument #1 - Every action is a chance to reflect on the world we want to build
“I think every time we do these things, it gives us a chance to reflect on our values, reflect on our connection to the planet's living systems, to think about what it is that we're trying to do here.” Dr. Katharine Wilkinson
Argument #2 - The ripple effect
If we think of our actions not just for themselves but as a form of communication, as an invitation for others to join, then our actions can lead to other actions that can actually lead to change.
More people taking individual action also means more support for policies, and messages to politicians become stronger. An example of the UK is mentioned, where a frequent flier tax is being proposed, that would progressively tax those flying the most. The fact that such a policy is being discussed is, in some way, due to invididuals taking action.
“The action's important, but it's the talking about it that gives it power.”
Argument #3 - Breaking the spiral of silence
One of the most important things you can do about climate change is simply to talk about it.
Here, the speakers talk about the fact that nobody dares to talk about climate change, especially in their work environments, because they assume that nobody else wants to talk about it. So when you break this spiral of silence, that’s when interesting things can happen.
Also, talking about it is important, but also HOW we talk about it matters. It’s really important to use language that isn’t making people feel anxious or guilty.
What makes me feel courageous and powerful and keeps me in the work are the wins that we get when we do things together.
Argument #4 - What do you bring to the table?
Individual action doesn’t have to be the same for everyone.
For the last argument, the speakers invite listeners to take a step back and think about what skills they can bring to the table, that could actually make a bigger difference than any “classic” individual action such as going vegetarian etc.
And the best way to think about how to be most useful is to think of it like a Venn diagram:
What are you good at?
What solutions do you want to work on?
What gets you up in the morning?
The result is the work you should do, and it’s the work of your lifetime.
And it doesn’t even need to be in your job. You can still take this approach and think about what you can do when you’re not at work. Or how can you involve what you do at work in climate work.
I’m still working on my own diagram, but for now it looks like this, with The Climate Collage at the center of it:
Conclusion
After debating both sides, the conclusion is that individual actions can matter, but that's only if they're used as a tool to affect changing the larger systems.
Make ripples!
Climate News
Australia
Australia is at the climate crossroads. The choice is yours, mates(Michael Mann for the Guardian)
Rest of the world: Coverage of the heatwaves in North America and Eastern Europe
Another dangerous heatwave hits Siberia and Eastern Europe (Bloomberg)
Is climate change amping up the Pacific Northwest heat wave? Yes — and it’s time to stop asking (via Grist)
That heat dome ? Yeah, it’s climate change.(New York Times)