Only Corporations Can Stop Climate Change

This blog piece was written by one of our students, Claire. The opinions expressed herein do not reflect those of Civitas other than respect for the value of open dialogue.

Climate change is the most important issue facing humanity. The current means of addressing it is putting the responsibility on the individual and following the idea that if everyone chips in, everything will get better. This lets the real culprits, capitalism and corporate greed, off the hook, and attacks people who have no way of living “sustainable lifestyles”. Not everyone has a job accessible without driving, or lives in a climate(more so than ever) where they can safely use less air conditioning. Sure, you could eat less meat, but oil companies are still setting the ocean on fire. If everyone did work together to fight climate change, we would make a difference, but it would never be enough. 

Corporations are the largest cause of pollution. According to information from Scientific American, some of the top ten causes of pollution are gold mining, contamination of surface- and groundwater, metals smelting, industrial mining, and uranium mining. Not things the average person does on the daily. One third of all greenhouse gas pollution is caused by twenty companies, with Chevron, Exxon, and BP as the top three. One hundred companies create 71% of all climate-damaging emissions. They absolutely know about this and have no interest in changing. You may hear some argue that companies will follow public perceptions and trends with regards to environmentalism in order to make themselves look good and sell more, but they would rather literally change public opinion than move to follow it. These corporations participate in extensive astroturfing campaigns to spread false information about the private sector’s role in climate change and shift the public’s views away from real progress. It’s possible they are a root cause of the movements who deny global warming exists. The private sector has a wide range of control over global elected officials and information outlets and will not permit progress outside of their limited terms. Rather than address an issue they created, they push the problem onto the everyday citizen and blame you for the global crisis. 

Climate problems and the current ‘solutions’, while affecting everyone on Earth, have the greatest effects on the poor, and therefore are more likely to affect minorities. Impoverished people, or even people living more comfortably, cannot afford the products that are portrayed as better for the environment. Large factory farms can be unhealthy, but higher-quality food sources often cost more. Electric cars are a mess and unfortunately associated with Elon Musk. Consumers are told how expensive solar panels are or how wind turbines will “spoil the scenery”. Companies have a vested interest in raising the prices of more sustainable options in order to keep demand high for cheaper, easier-to-produce plastics and lower-quality products. As usual, the greatest cause of the problem is capitalism. An economic system that places profit and growth over life and safety is not going to move away from the current cheap, easily monopolizable resources we use. 

Don’t ask people to change their lifestyles and give up comforts. Honestly, we shouldn’t ask at all. We have to force the system to change. Slow progress by lawmakers is not enough. Every day, whether a “step in the right direction” is taken or not, people are being harmed, especially those who were already vulnerable. If any level of government wants to help, it needs to step in and exert power over corporations and force them to change. Massively raise taxes on companies and billionaires and don’t give out any more tax incentives or other benefits to companies that don’t conform to strict standards. Large-scale public works programs could be set up to implement the best available sustainable energy systems while providing jobs. Seize corporations’ assets if they can- most major businesspeople have certainly committed crimes. There are a million possible solutions and routes to take to save the earth. They don’t need to make money if the cost is the whole world.