Ecosytems over Economies: Owning up to Climate Change

Every day we are told that the most effective way for people to combat climate change is to do so in our small actions throughout the day. Recycling, not using plastic, abstaining from meat and animal products, etc. Despite these all being impactful and effective ways to reduce our ecological footprint, no one ever really focuses on the real culprits of climate change - corporations.

Climate change is a phenomenon that began to occur around the time after the Industrial Revolution. The rise of industrialism and factories contributed to excessive greenhouse gas emissions. The Greenhouse effect is pretty simple. Normally, there are certain levels of “greenhouse gases” in the atmosphere. These gasses trap heat from the sun and keep in the atmosphere. However, with humans producing excessive amounts of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gasses, it warms the atmosphere excessively and overheats the Earth - resulting in a change in climate and environment.

The effects of climate change are excessive. For example, the excessive warming of the earth melts many of the polar ice caps and leaves arctic animals without a place to live. The excess ice melting also results in higher sea levels in the areas around the arctic. NASA even predicts that the arctic could become pretty much ice-free in the summer by 2050. In addition to ice melting, temperatures continue to steadily increase. This results in warmer temperatures worldwide that affected many factors - including agriculture. Farmers have been unable to grow sufficient amounts of crops due to the immense amount of droughts that have occurred these past few decades. Agriculture is one of the backbones on which we base our society. Losses in the agriculture industry could lead to severe problems in society including droughts and famine. The increase in temperature can also lead to an increase in ocean acidity - which in turn results in bleached coral. Dead coral would result in the hundreds of animals live there being forced ot find a new home. If melting glaciers, bleached coral, and droughts isn’t enough, hurricanes have also been getting more frequent and stronger since the 1980s. In fact, since the year 2000, we have had 117 hurricanes with most of them being at least category 3’s or higher.

A report published in 2017, found that “100 energy companies were responsible for 71% of industrial emissions since climate change was officially recognized”. Not just that but the top 15 food and beverage companies in America emit about 630 million tons of greenhouse gasses per year - that’s more greenhouse gas emissions than Australia. There’s a reason that you never heard these statistics before. If the general public was more aware of the amount of damage that companies are doing to the environment, then there would be riots. There would be pressure for change. At least, hopefully. Injustice thrives in ignorance. As long as the world is ignorant, it is much easier to take advantage of them. When companies produce goods, producing the product results in some sort of greenhouse gas emission. These are called upstream emissions. Furthermore, once consumers use and discard those products, they also result in some sort of emission. These are called downstream emissions. When companies may set goals for how much they want to reduce, upstream and downstream emissions are often excluded.

In an article by the National Resources Defense Council, Joshua Axelrod covered this issue. For example, Proctor and Gamble resolved to reduce 50% of annual emissions by 2030. At first, that sounds like a noble goal. However, its effectiveness can be disproven with a little bit of research. P&G’s promise only accounts for scope 1 and 2 emissions. These are emissions from corporate facilities (like factories) and emissions from companies where P&G gets its energy. If we include P&G’s downstream and upstream emissions, then their annual emission changes from “4.3 million metric tons to nearly 215 million metric tons.” Kind of a big difference. So their goal of reducing emissions by 50% changes virtually nothing - Scope 1 and 2 emissions account for a tiny part of the companies overall emissions and are very easy to control.

P&G is just one example. There are millions of other corporations doing the same thing. Millions of corporations taking advantage of our resources, chopping down forests, releasing emissions, and lying to people about what their impacts truly are. I am not trying to imply that we can simply forget about doing our part to reduce global warming. It is essential that each and every one of us perform our civic duty and do our best to reduce our carbon footprint. However, we are reminded every day by recycling cans, by the media, by friends and family to take care of our earth. But no one ever reminds corporations to recycle. No one ever holds the corporations accountable for the damage that they do. For as long as they provide us with the luxuries of modern life, we stay silent. If we are to truly save our planet then we must hold corporations to the same standards that we hold ourselves. Individuals only have so much power over the world. Corporations must look in the mirror and ask whether what they are doing is truly just.

If the cost of corporate advancement is the livelihoods and futures of people, then can it truly be called advancement? The most primitive of human instincts is that of murder. Yet, we willingly hand over our lives to people more interested in money than the wellbeing of the world, and when their greed leads way to murder, we clap our hands and say “Bravo!”. And yes, murder is exactly the word for the actions of these corporations. If we have no planet, then there is no country, no society, no life as we know it. Can we fix the holes in the ozone with our excellent economy? Will our greed and dollar bills be a sufficient substitute for fossil fuels? We have no planet B. We must keep that in mind and take up arms to change the world before it is too late.

To the corporations - I believe that congratulations are in order. Our futures, hopes, and dreams are doomed. But as long as you keep making money, what cause have we to worry about? We shall continue to reduce, reuse and recycle, looking up at your glittering palaces of deceit and lie to ourselves that we still have a future to look forward to.