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It's tempting to look for easy ways to fix big problems by trimming around the edges to avoid making the real changes you don't want to make. Tempting, but not feasible. (Photo: Shutterstock)
It's Not About Your Straws or Your Light Bulbs
Polluting industries want you to think the climate crisis is your fault, not theirs.
Sep 11, 2019
A few years ago, I had a cupcake problem. I'd go to the cupcake store almost daily and I'd eat at least one cupcake, sometimes more.
At the same time, I wanted to lose weight, or at least stop gaining it. So I kept looking up information about diets and superfoods, just looking for some magical solution to present itself.
Something like: "The key to weight loss is eating large quantities of parsley every day." Or turmeric, maybe? Ginger? Garlic? Finally, I realized, there is no magical fix. The problem was the cupcakes.
They also hire public relations firms to dupe the public into doubting that the climate crisis is caused by humans--or at least, not by them--and to convince us not to regulate them in a way that would save the planet but cost them money.
It's tempting to look for easy ways to fix big problems by trimming around the edges to avoid making the real changes you don't want to make. Tempting, but not feasible.
That's similar to what presidential hopeful Elizabeth Warren just said about fixing climate change. She was asked about her position on small changes like banning plastic drinking straws or inefficient light bulbs.
"Give me a break," she said. "This is exactly what the fossil fuel industry wants us to talk about... They want to be able to stir up a lot of controversy around your lightbulbs, around your straws" when "70 percent of the pollution" comes from "the building industry, the electric power industry, and the oil industry."
Like my cupcakes, those three industries are the real problem. Banning straws while leaving those three industries in place will make about as much of a dent in the climate as eating two cups of parsley a day while continuing my cupcake habit would have made in my waistline: Not much.
My cupcake habit was a problem, but it was also a symptom of a larger problem. In the end, I got therapy for difficult feelings I was dealing with. Once I took care of my mental health, the emotional eating stopped, and I lost 30 pounds.
Carbon pollution is also a problem as well as a symptom of a larger problem. As Warren pointed out, fossil fuel companies exert too much influence on Washington, preventing us from regulating them in the ways we need to save our climate.
They also hire public relations firms to dupe the public into doubting that the climate crisis is caused by humans--or at least, not by them--and to convince us not to regulate them in a way that would save the planet but cost them money.
We should be looking for win-win solutions to the climate crisis: solutions that create jobs and preserve quality of life and individual freedoms while simultaneously reducing carbon emissions.
In order to do that, we need to curb the corrupt influence of polluting industries that are profiting off of carbon emissions while harming the future of our planet. And, when they try to distract us with light bulbs and drinking straws, we can't allow ourselves to be fooled.
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
This column was distributed by OtherWords.
Jill Richardson
Jill Richardson is pursuing a PhD in sociology at UW-Madison, where she studies natural resources and the environment.
A few years ago, I had a cupcake problem. I'd go to the cupcake store almost daily and I'd eat at least one cupcake, sometimes more.
At the same time, I wanted to lose weight, or at least stop gaining it. So I kept looking up information about diets and superfoods, just looking for some magical solution to present itself.
Something like: "The key to weight loss is eating large quantities of parsley every day." Or turmeric, maybe? Ginger? Garlic? Finally, I realized, there is no magical fix. The problem was the cupcakes.
They also hire public relations firms to dupe the public into doubting that the climate crisis is caused by humans--or at least, not by them--and to convince us not to regulate them in a way that would save the planet but cost them money.
It's tempting to look for easy ways to fix big problems by trimming around the edges to avoid making the real changes you don't want to make. Tempting, but not feasible.
That's similar to what presidential hopeful Elizabeth Warren just said about fixing climate change. She was asked about her position on small changes like banning plastic drinking straws or inefficient light bulbs.
"Give me a break," she said. "This is exactly what the fossil fuel industry wants us to talk about... They want to be able to stir up a lot of controversy around your lightbulbs, around your straws" when "70 percent of the pollution" comes from "the building industry, the electric power industry, and the oil industry."
Like my cupcakes, those three industries are the real problem. Banning straws while leaving those three industries in place will make about as much of a dent in the climate as eating two cups of parsley a day while continuing my cupcake habit would have made in my waistline: Not much.
My cupcake habit was a problem, but it was also a symptom of a larger problem. In the end, I got therapy for difficult feelings I was dealing with. Once I took care of my mental health, the emotional eating stopped, and I lost 30 pounds.
Carbon pollution is also a problem as well as a symptom of a larger problem. As Warren pointed out, fossil fuel companies exert too much influence on Washington, preventing us from regulating them in the ways we need to save our climate.
They also hire public relations firms to dupe the public into doubting that the climate crisis is caused by humans--or at least, not by them--and to convince us not to regulate them in a way that would save the planet but cost them money.
We should be looking for win-win solutions to the climate crisis: solutions that create jobs and preserve quality of life and individual freedoms while simultaneously reducing carbon emissions.
In order to do that, we need to curb the corrupt influence of polluting industries that are profiting off of carbon emissions while harming the future of our planet. And, when they try to distract us with light bulbs and drinking straws, we can't allow ourselves to be fooled.
Jill Richardson
Jill Richardson is pursuing a PhD in sociology at UW-Madison, where she studies natural resources and the environment.
A few years ago, I had a cupcake problem. I'd go to the cupcake store almost daily and I'd eat at least one cupcake, sometimes more.
At the same time, I wanted to lose weight, or at least stop gaining it. So I kept looking up information about diets and superfoods, just looking for some magical solution to present itself.
Something like: "The key to weight loss is eating large quantities of parsley every day." Or turmeric, maybe? Ginger? Garlic? Finally, I realized, there is no magical fix. The problem was the cupcakes.
They also hire public relations firms to dupe the public into doubting that the climate crisis is caused by humans--or at least, not by them--and to convince us not to regulate them in a way that would save the planet but cost them money.
It's tempting to look for easy ways to fix big problems by trimming around the edges to avoid making the real changes you don't want to make. Tempting, but not feasible.
That's similar to what presidential hopeful Elizabeth Warren just said about fixing climate change. She was asked about her position on small changes like banning plastic drinking straws or inefficient light bulbs.
"Give me a break," she said. "This is exactly what the fossil fuel industry wants us to talk about... They want to be able to stir up a lot of controversy around your lightbulbs, around your straws" when "70 percent of the pollution" comes from "the building industry, the electric power industry, and the oil industry."
Like my cupcakes, those three industries are the real problem. Banning straws while leaving those three industries in place will make about as much of a dent in the climate as eating two cups of parsley a day while continuing my cupcake habit would have made in my waistline: Not much.
My cupcake habit was a problem, but it was also a symptom of a larger problem. In the end, I got therapy for difficult feelings I was dealing with. Once I took care of my mental health, the emotional eating stopped, and I lost 30 pounds.
Carbon pollution is also a problem as well as a symptom of a larger problem. As Warren pointed out, fossil fuel companies exert too much influence on Washington, preventing us from regulating them in the ways we need to save our climate.
They also hire public relations firms to dupe the public into doubting that the climate crisis is caused by humans--or at least, not by them--and to convince us not to regulate them in a way that would save the planet but cost them money.
We should be looking for win-win solutions to the climate crisis: solutions that create jobs and preserve quality of life and individual freedoms while simultaneously reducing carbon emissions.
In order to do that, we need to curb the corrupt influence of polluting industries that are profiting off of carbon emissions while harming the future of our planet. And, when they try to distract us with light bulbs and drinking straws, we can't allow ourselves to be fooled.
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