My approach to my emissions
Tom’s house from his linked twitter thread
I've always felt that the controversy between individual action and systemic change was an absurd one. It is not individual action or systemic change, it is individual action and systemic change.
It's important not to fall into the trap of making people feel hopeless. In the past, there weren't very many tools available to individuals, so focusing too much on individual carbon footprints left people feeling that cutting their personal energy use was the only way to cut emissions, which made them feel hopeless. But now I think there's way too much wishful thinking that no personal action at all is required - that climate change is something done to us by evil corporations and all we have to do is stop them from doing it.
There are a few fundamental truths:
We have to get to zero emissions
Conservation won't get us there, either technically or politically
A zero-emissions economy requires replacement of all of our fossil fuel burning furnaces, cars, etc.
So I think the goal for individuals should be the replacement of those devices with ones capable of running on electricity, whether or not that reduces emissions right now. It's one of the steps that will get us to zero, and we shouldn't hesitate to take action in advance of any policy.
Many tools are available to start a personal estimate of your emissions, like the CoolClimate calculator at the University of California, Berkeley. This is a good place to start.
I accept responsibility for emissions from my transportation, heating & cooling, and waste management. For myself, I draw a line at taking responsibility for the embedded emissions in the goods and services I buy. I have complete control over the devices in my house. In most cases, those can go to zero emissions with no change in expenses. But I don't have control over my supply chain emissions, and I don't have very good tools to influence them. The things those businesses need to do are a lot like the things individuals need to do. So I think it's more empowering for individuals just to focus on the things they control.
Here is my attempt to capture a lot of these thoughts about individual action.
https://twitter.com/TomMoyerUT/status/1480308052091830273
We increasingly have access to all the tools we need to take our own emissions to zero. But for people who can't do their own solar, I think they should be encouraged to do the rest and just assume that we're going to get the electricity system to zero emissions (or close) without their help.
A NOTE FROM co2mmit… Please take the time to read through Tom Moyer’s extended discussion on his twitter thread he links to. There are sound ideas we can all learn from.
