Carbon Foot Print doppelganger

Carbon Foot Print doppelganger

Carbon Foot Print doppelganger is a term used by Pollan to refer to the situation of two people with opposite but equally impactful behaviour towards the environment. For every person in the world trying to take up the challenge of zero carbon emission, there is another reason in another part of the world working and eager to carry out actions that emit carbon through their lifestyle without caring about the effects ignorant of their impact to the climate.

The effort by people who are committed to minimizing global warming brands them as a soft character by various people in different sectors resulting in discouragement to commit to the cause. Associating the environmental care and concern to being virtuous is wrong and our rightly sarcastic. It causes the people interested in this cause to be shy from joining it as they do not want to be called soft. Environmental conservation should be each person’s responsibility as much as it is the responsibility of a nation and all its sectors. Environmental consciousness should not be a basis of character assassination for those who are committed to making a change.

Pollan uses the term insidious to describe the reasons that people can use to justify their failure to act because even if we decide to do something, it will be too little effort too late. Climate change has already begun earlier than scientists had predicted. This thinking, however, cannot yield the best results. We must adopt environmentally friendly behaviours for it is rather useful to do little than to do nothing at all. I, therefore, do not agree with this thinking. Governments must make policies that will promote environmentally friendly personal choices. If every human can put in a little effort, it can help I great deal to reduce the rate at which global warming is taking place..

Pollan views the idea of us waiting for politicians to make environmental conservation laws and allocate money for the same as not good enough. The problem of ecological abuse should, from its very root, which are the lifestyle choices of every human being. Environmental conservation comes down to a person’s character. The decisions that we make every day make up the total of the significant ecological abuse factors. This idea of waiting for politicians to come and help in this environmental issue is a lack of personal desire to change our choices and decisions and choose the decisions to specialists. Specialization came with industrialization and created the problem of environmental abuse. Specialization cannot take us out of this mess.

Specialization is one of the more significant shortcomings of today’s lifestyle and even now more than ever, it is contributing to goal warming. We have assigned our needs to various specialists. We consume items whose production contributes to global warming on one hand while, on the other hand, we do not think of those companies that produce them. Specialization, therefore, has blurred the line of personal responsibility that links our everyday actions to the real-time effects on the climate and the environment. Thinking of environmental degradation while still using fossil fuels at home is an effect of specialization that we believe can help us get out of this mess, which makes it an impossible task and dishonest thinking.

Fossil energy is in the category of cheap fossil energy, which has made human beings to prefer the easy and inexpensive way of solving our problems and living our lives. We do not want to think about changing our lives beyond specialization. We choose to delegate all duties, for we do not want to imagine doing challenging tasks while there is a cheaper alternative. This dirty energy mind does not understand why they should bother. These minds are comfortable in their present lifestyle that they feel it impossible to imagine a different lifestyle that is less divided and where specialization is not at the center of everything. The cheap energy minds translate everything into money, causing it to put their security in market-based solutions. They lobby for the introduction of taxation policies on carbon emissions and the development of pollution reduction schemes. However, such leads are not sustainable, socially, politically and economically, and they will collapse even before any change takes place.

Pollan suggests that we make choices that will help to reduce the consumption and production of carbon. We can choose actions that might not look big, but that has a real impact on the climate. For instance, we can observe the Sabbath on which day we abstain from all economic activities such as driving, shopping as well as entertainment and the use of electronics. However, it is not an easy decision to make. I do not recall a day in my life when I failed to do at least several of these economic activities, whether on a Sabbath or not. However, it is a great idea, and it can help us to create time for the environment to rest as we use this time to relax and think of how this behaviour can cause real change. With time we will make it a lifestyle and generations that come after us will adopt it, and they will not be afraid to think of life outside cheap energy.