Here's some of the most sane writing I've seen on the subject:
It is not possible to for an average person to live a reasonably prosperous North American (or even European) lifestyle and reduce their footprint to one planet by themselves.This point is worth pausing on, because so much of the green marketing BS around us tells us that the planetary crises we face are our fault, that it is our responsibility to fix them and that buying products which are marketed as "green" will fix that problem. The myth of individual lifestyle responsibility is so strong, most of us don't even comment on it anymore. But in many ways, it's a lie. What most needs to be changed in the world are the systems in which we are all enmeshed, and we ourselves, acting alone, are almost powerless to change those systems. To do that, we need better information, stronger connections and new ways of thinking.
Oh so true. Replacing your lightbulbs or recycling your cans is great, truly, but what's really going to turn this planet around is not what individual people do in their own homes, it's what happens in the factories and the oil refineries and in the boardrooms of companies across the world. You want to see real change? That's where it needs to happen. Organizations like Forest Ethics get that. Some others don't.
Go, buy some new CF lightbulbs today if it makes you feel better. Just don't mistake that for an action that's really helping the planet.
