A crazy unfortunate truth

I made a complete rookie error the other day in this email, when I simply assumed that everyone knew that ~100 companies are responsible for most of our climate issues today (I’ll also assume you know what they say about the word assume).

Trying bullet form to keep it as short as possible:

• Important distinction reminder: Carbon (C) and Carbon Dioxide (CO²) are different. CO² contributes to a warming climate as it is heat-trapping, carbon alone doesn’t do that.
• A lot of stuff emits CO² – from cars and factories to mines and fossil fuels, but also trees, the ocean, animals and people. Some is expected, some isn’t.
• The trees/ocean/creatures carbon is expected and normal. Earth knows how to move enormous amounts of carbon from billions of people and squillions of living things, continuously every day. They’re part of the carbon cycle: each gives (or emits) CO² into the air, but also draws it down and uses it as a natural part of it’s growth.
• The cars/mines/fossil fuels carbon is introduced, unexpected, and not normal. Each of these emits CO², lots of it, but draws down nothing… definitely not part of the carbon cycle.
• And like with everything ever, there are exceptions: Eg, if we chop a forest down to build houses and furniture, all the carbon that was captured in that forest goes back up into the atmosphere and needs to be drawn down again. When we clear the land to build those houses, carbon held in the trees, soil and the rest of the land is also released. So while fossil fuels are a HUGE problem, they’re not the only thing increasing CO² in the air.
• For hundreds of thousands of years according to ice core samples, the CO² in the air never went above about 320 parts-per-million, but it’s currently at around 420ppm. The big spike has happened in the last ~100 years.

Now, the 100 people and companies… here’s the direct quote (emphasis added by me):

100 corporations are responsible for 71% of emissions related to fossil fuel and cement production, not 71% of total global emissions. Of the total emissions attributed to fossil fuel producers, companies are responsible for around 12% of the direct emissions; the other 88% comes from the emissions released from consumption of products.

Politifact

In other words, the almost inescapable unfortunate truth, is that we emit 88% of total emissions.

It’s a wicked cycle of problems… until recently, most people had no choice but to rely on fossil fuel production. Want a car? It runs on petrol or diesel. Hooking up electricity to your house? That electricity comes from coal. Flying overseas? That plane runs on jet fuel.

That’s rough. As consumers, we buy the stuff that creates demand for more and more precious natural resources. We’ve become accustomed to it.

But!

It’s still true that the 100 people and companies are a bunch of f**kers because they’ve known about all the problems for a lot of those 100 or so years.

They’re perpetuating the problems by intentionally not looking for alternatives, but also making us believe they’re really the renewable cool-kids (which is where ad agencies are getting into trouble by helping them create beautifully produced ads that spin the bulldust). In that way, these 100 companies aren’t directly responsible for 71% of emissions, but they are responsible for the unscientifically-measured majority of climate issues.

At any point, they could have changed course from fossil fuels to something else, and made things a lot easier, safer and healthier for everyone.

So does recycling, minimising plastic use, shopping ethically, and buying less stuff in general still matter?

Yes, more than ever.

There’s a foreseeable point where fossil fuel producers start to decline, their demand drops as renewables take over, and the volume of cleaner choices start to smother the old ones.

We’re laying a brand new foundation, and that’ll take some time.

In reality, most of us can bury our heads, and with some luck probably get through the rest of our lives without being touched too heavily by climate issues.

This is why, for me anyway, it all comes back to the kids.

We start the transition now in spite of the pushback from fossil fuel giants. Ensure a smooth transition for the kids, and for their kids, and the rest of the legacy we leave behind.

Burying my head and waiting it out just is just not an option I can stomach… I think I’ve always been drawn to stacked-odds anyway, so if the fossil giants do actually topple, that’ll be a fun victory – definitely wanna be part of that!