To say that the choices of individuals does not matter is basically the equivalent to saying it would be fine for people to throw garbage and chemicals into a pristine lake and walk away, and that the lake would proceed to clean itself. Individual choices certainly do make a difference in creating a more sustainable society. Each person has the obligation as a citizen of the world and as a part of nature to recognize this key fact and keep it in mind as much as possible on a daily basis. It is a popular trend in our society, when talking about pollution for example, to focus all of the blame on large corporations. Much of the blame does, indeed, belong there - but that doesn't mean individuals should be completely off the hook.
We all share the environment, which I like to picture as a body of water. If the water source becomes polluted and unsafe, all of us are affected. It is helpful for me to view the environment that way, because many times we cannot quite see all the pollution in our air supply. People have no problem living in big cities, for example, but anyone who talks about the East River in New York or Boston Harbor knows you don't go swimming there. Pollution in one part of the world inevitably leads to the degradation of surrounding areas through its transfer in rain, ground water, and the air we breathe. Some may argue that the choices of individual people don't really add up to much, but those are the same people who never take action on a given cause or issue because they feel there are Forces out there they can't influence. It's really a no-brainer: We all have to make an effort.
An apt example at this point would be the SUV and "light truck" issue. Car companies were irresponsible for introducing and marketing enormous gas guzzlers at a time in our history when oil is at record high prices and everyone is aware of the need to develop more sustainable fuel sources to be used by the public. But people are not supposed to be mindless drones who can't resist the efforts of advertisers. The companies started it, but each one of us with a car that could easily seat fifteen have kept the trend alive and well.
Let's take a look at the interplay between governments, corporations and individuals, and their impact on our environment. During all this, it is of course helpful to remember that governments and corporations are, after all, made up of individuals too. But these entities face challenges because they are bureaucratic and they are just trying to attend to business as usual. The attitude that we are born into this world and shouldn't stress out about things we can't change seems to be the unfortunate norm in these times of waste and blissful environmental ignorance. The solution is for us as a species to become more concerned and realize that our trash has consequences. We must also get the approval of administrators in implementing various recycling and waste policies. And yes, the richest countries which use the most resources need to lead the way.
Many businesses may feel they don't have the incentive to try new, more environmentally-friendly practices, and governments must decide if and how to tax the people to rectify the actions of all entities in society with an impact on our surroundings.
Back in December of 2007, I came across a news article. Norway was announcing it was going to invest millions of dollars in the effort to preserve rainforests. Try as I might I couldn't quite figure out exactly what their plan was, and I wondered if this was just another politically-correct public relations campaign by another industrialized country trying to look worldly and sophisticated.
I can't help thinking it's pretty sad that governments feel the need to spend enormous amounts of tax money on preserving the environment, while corporations seem to have free reign to exploit it. It's sort of a weird run-around chasing-your-tail routine. But it seems to have just crept up on the human race, and no one wants to take any individual blame or responsibility on a wide scale. People work in various industries in the industrialized world which, if not directly involved in deforestation, use paper products (and TONS of them) on a daily basis. Even in the days of email, companies continue to use incalculable amounts of paper daily on a worldwide basis. I wonder how logging companies ever got the right to destroy such valuable resources without some sort of interference by governments. It's happened, though, and now we need to accept that and find ways to minimize the impact of such wasteful corporations.
Many companies are charged for recycling their paper; they have to pay other private companies to take it away. A good way to encourage companies to recycle paper would be to help companies with decent tax breaks for participating in paper recycling programs, so that businesses do not have to pay for recycling themselves. Of course I'd love to say the businesses should do the right thing and just pay for their own recycling programs, but this doesn't seem likely. Company executives are out there to make as much money as possible for themselves and their investors. Many will cut a few ethical corners to do so.
As individuals, we don't usually think about our trash because it just gets taken away. Also - there is so much of it - who wants to think about it? It's really overwhelming. We need to vote against products that destroy our environments - with our dollars. Translation: If no one buys the worst products, they'll stop being made. In this way education needs to be improved. But the government can't be relied upon to do everything. The auto industry is a very powerful interest group in our society, more organized and able to influence legislation than many smaller citizen groups. Really, we need to think for ourselves, try to buy from companies that are making a difference, and really encourage our legislators to support these companies' attempts.
Companies are offering more environmentally-friendly products all the time, but at higher prices than consumers are used to paying. Perhaps the government should offer tax subsidies on more environmentally-products in order to make them cheaper for the average citizen. We have seen in recent years the beginnings of this in regard to some Energy-Star products, but this doesn't help the rainforest. Paper might seem like something that is necessary and minimally destructive, but that's because we haven't seen all of our paper products we've used throughout our lives piled up before us.
If we don't examine the ways in which we as individuals contribute to the trend of, for one example, deforestation, and ways the government can support us as we try to take an initiative as consumers and citizens, the whole process of governments "spending billions" is similar to someone going out and committing crimes and then simply hiring extra police to deal with it - without thinking about the violence itself.