Overconsumption

The blame for overconsumption should not and cannot be placed solely on individuals. Companies and corporations have a vested interest in making you buy more stuff because if they don't, they go bankrupt. Which is why they slap green labels onto their products and advertise everywhere. Indeed, the whole idea of a personal carbon footprint is a propaganda campaign created by the fossil fuel giant BP. The move allowed them to lock-in decades of fossil fuel use by turning the attention away from their complicity in climate change, and instead blaming the individual for not living a low carbon lifestyle or not buying the right thing. The natural conclusion in a system riddled with ads and cultural norms imploring all your senses to buy more, is that your dollar is your vote. An idea which stands in stark contrast to the democratic ideal of one person, one vote. We are led to believe that growing the economy, which for the individual means buying more, whether it be supporting new green tech, or wearing sustainably-made clothing, is how we stop climate change. But the reality is that this capitalist growth model counteracts the work being done to decrease emissions.