Written by Ben Elhav, Ilustration by Jenna Wilusz
If you’re reading this, you probably care about the environment and want to know what you can do to affect change. Maybe you’re looking for workable solutions that you can incorporate into your lifestyle to reduce, reuse and recycle.
What you’ll find in my inaugural piece is a bit of subversion. I won’t subvert the aim of the article, which is to offer environmental advice. However, I do seek to surpass the conventional way of talking about what is required to save the planet.
Today’s column will suggest one bold and simple action you can take — voting. When you vote, you become part of a collective pushing for change, and your actions have real potential to counter the grave threat of environmental degradation.
Through the ballot box, we can shift the structure of a society built to maximize profits and emissions. A shocking 2017 Carbon Majors Report clearly illustrates the need for systemic change, finding that since 1988, 71 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions have originated from just 100 companies.
Often, we look at our individual emissions disproportionately. Narrowing the focus to small groups of polluters enables us to see the vast impact of the corporate sector. You may not sit on the board of one of these companies, but your vote can still inform their policies.
Consider how several of the largest polluters on the list (China’s Coal company, or Saudi-Aramco, for example) are state-owned. As a voter, you have the opportunity to support American foreign policies that divest from these oil and gas giants. At the same time, around 20 percent of these companies are backed by public investors. Again, your vote could strengthen restrictions on investments in these industries, or encourage investments in renewable energy. The onus lies with us to call for big actions from our legislators.
While it may seem unfortunate when environmental policies are a political debate, it also enables us to have more of a stake in what they are and whether they’re implemented. In recent years, the popular solution has been to leave environmental decisions to undemocratic international bodies and summits that become consensus on what we should do and how fast we should do any of it. What happens when they fall short? The Kyoto Protocol, for example, an international climate agreement ratified in 1997, disappointed many environmentalists by enabling polluting countries to meet emissions targets by buying “carbon credits” from countries who were doing well — practically purchasing a license to pollute. As individual voters, we may not always have a say in these and future multilateral agreements, but we do have a say in our policy at home. Instead of fretting over our every action, we can do the easiest and most effective thing — vote to hold companies and governments accountable.
Collective action will be required to avoid climate catastrophe. In her 2015 book, “This Changes Everything,” activist and author Naomi Klein posits that switching to green appliances and smart homes is simply not enough. More effective, Klein writes, would be “policies and programs that make low-carbon choices easy and convenient for everyone.” For her part, Klein suggests that we advocate for divestment from fossil fuels, energy-efficient housing, and affordable public transit. If you’re looking to do a little more than buy a reusable straw, then this election season the best thing you can do is review the candidates’ environmental plans online at their websites and vote.
