Individual Climate Action: How climate change measures affect different socioeconomic groups
Amidst rising sea levels, heatwaves, and increasingly polarized seasons, individuals have become more and more sensitized to the direct effects of greenhouse gases and how their polluting lifestyles can affect the entire world. Although large corporations and governments have begun implementing measures to reduce their emission of greenhouse gases and waste output, their efforts are not enough to reduce the effects of climate change on their own; a part of the responsibility falls unto each and every one of us. The harsh truth is that we must all undertake major lifestyle changes, and this begs the question: considering the vast economic disparities in the world, how will individual climate action affect different economic groups?
Research by Our World in Data (OWID), a scientific online publication focusing on different current world problems, categorizes the CO2 emissions by income group as separated by the World Bank in the following graph:
While this does reinforce the idea that high-income groups are responsible for a disproportionate amount of global CO2 emissions, it also shows that they only account for 38% and can therefore not reduce the effects of climate change for good on their own. The truth is that a huge percentage of CO2 emissions come from less developed countries, where large polluting industries and factories are the easiest way to create jobs and to stimulate the economy, therefore being the only way a significant portion of their population can attempt to escape poverty and become middle class.
This is important to understand because it leads to the idea that yes, populations in developed countries like ours must cut back on our extravagant lifestyle, but also that it is of equal importance that developing countries try employing more eco-friendly technology. However, this costs much more, and seeing how these countries cannot meet basic needs for a big part of their population, is it fair to ask them to stop doing the very same thing our countries have done in the past, creating the situation we are in? Obviously, it is not.
Furthermore, in 2018, there was a global output of 47 552 megatons of CO2 equivalent, and Canada accounted for 728. Considering the Canadian population was 37.07 million and the average lifespan of 82.8 years in 2018, on average, each Canadian’s greenhouse gas output over the course of their life is roughly equal to one second worth of global emissions!
So then, why should we try to change our lifestyles? Because it is our collective responsibility to do what we can to reduce our ecological footprint, regardless of what other people and countries do. A new model developed by three climate researchers says that we will pass the point of no return anywhere between 2027 and 2042. This gives us very little time to doubt, and an impending urgency regarding a drastic change in our lifestyles. When it comes to climate change, no effort is too small.
The fact remains that individual action is not enough to stop climate change, but that we cannot stop climate change without individual action. For the Canadian community, helping stop climate change means using vehicles less, spending a bit more on renewable energy sources, and producing less waste. For many other people, it translates to giving up or putting off by many, many years the hope of attaining at best a comfortable lifestyle.
Ultimately, individual action is a part of the solution to reducing the emission of gases and a good contribution to stopping the seemingly irreversible path climate change is taking. This means choosing climate over comfort and wealth, for financially able populations to cut back on their extravagant lifestyles, and for economically-rising populations to stop pursuing it. For obvious reasons, this unfair solution makes everyone unhappy, but how else are we going to stop climate change?
Edited By Huanan Liao
