(PS: French friends, I will attend at Y/con (Oct 14th/15th, Paris), stand V10 !! I’ll be there with charms, prints and stickers! Hope to see you there! :D ♥ )
The “stop blaming individuals and hold corporations responsible for environmental destruction instead” rhetoric is highly problematic and unproductive because it absolves us all of our role in environmental destruction and simultaneously removes our power and autonomy in a capitalist system. It protects us from feeling uncomfortable about not doing anything to change the world because it makes us feel like we can’t hold a candle to the power of an amorphous corporation.
Are corporations the entities who are literally destroying the environment? Yes, definitely. And should they be held responsible for their actions? Of course.
But at this point, it shouldn’t be a question of who to blame; it should be a question of how to change.
But before you say that we must “stop pretending it’s regular people’s fault the planet’s dying” in order to effect change, think about it: Why do corporations do what they do? Because us “regular people” pay them to. That means we must have some form of power in this equation, right?
“Regular people” do not matter to corporations. Their money, on the other hand, does. We make conscious choices about what to purchase and consume. By purchasing the products whose production damages the environment, we are telling the corporations, “yeah, we know this is causing major damage, but we’re going to buy it anyway so you can keep producing it”.
That plastic water bottle being eaten by fish whose production resulted in tonnes of chemicals being dumped into the ocean? We unquestioningly purchase it, so the corporations unquestioningly continue producing it. You can recycle all you want, but at the end of the day, if you continue to purchase that product, companies will continue to produce it. Patterns of supply and demand within a capitalist market say so.
If we collectively change our patterns of consumption, the corporations responsible for environmental destruction will change their patterns of production. This is not to say that you as an individual are at fault for the actions of corporations, but it is to remind you that you actually have power in this situation.
So, for example, if we collectively stop purchasing bottled water, those companies might shift their resources into water filtration systems and reusable water bottles instead of producing more disposable bottles, because that’s where the money is. The “regular people” have the power to change the production patterns of environmentally destructive corporations.
Does this combat capitalism itself? No, not exactly. These companies are still going to produce and try to sell us goods; however, what we choose to purchase can shape how they choose to produce. We can use our money to tell corporations of all types that we want them to produce sustainable goods in a sustainable way.
By arguing that we must blame corporations instead of individuals, you remove all personal responsibility for being a conscious consumer. By placing all the blame on the corporations, you are giving them all the power. They don’t care about what we say, think, or feel, so they’re not going to change their production patterns when we slap them on the wrist and tell them to take responsibility.
The best way to hold corporations responsible for their actions is to use our individual purchasing power to force them to change. We purchase what they produce, and they produce what we purchase. We, as consumers in a capitalist market, have the power to change the patterns of production. Our money is our greatest tool and we can maintain that power.
Now, you might be thinking “but I’m just one person, how can my grocery shopping habits get corporations to stop killing the environment?”
To that I say: remember what happened with the 2016 US election?
“I’m just one person and I don’t like any of the candidates so I won’t vote” led to a living monstrosity in office. In the aftermath of that national trauma, people mobilised. Specifically young and minority groups organised and elected officials who actually represent their constituents. They started national and international conversations that have never happened before. They started getting shit done. If everyone mobilises, big changes can happen. You may have even experienced it yourself. If you’ve ever called or written your congressperson or senator; If you’ve ever attended a rally or a protest. A lot of “just one person”s amounts to a lot of people and a lot of power.
(To that I also say: you’ve seen the headlines of “millennials are killing [diamonds/real estate/insert thing here]”. As a social group, we have changed patterns of supply and demand.)
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This is why I personally choose not to consume animal products, because the meat and dairy industry is one of the leading causes of global climate change (x). I refuse to give my money to an industry that knowingly causes irreconcilable damage and destruction to our planet and its many inhabitants. If I give them my money, I am telling them to keep doing what they’re doing.
Instead, I choose to give my money to local farmers who are repairing the Earth. I choose to shop secondhand. I choose to avoid plastic. I choose to minimise my environmental footprint because I know that in doing so, I am not telling those corporations that what they’re doing is okay.
I know that this doesn’t seem feasible for everyone (trust me, I’m very familiar with the anti-vegan backlash that somehow comes to adorn all social commentary on capitalist food industries regardless of whether or not it actually has anything to do with veganism). I grew up in a single parent, working class household, surviving on food stamps. I know what it’s like to live pay check to pay check and not know if you’re going to get your next meal. I’m not telling you to adopt my lifestyle because I know it doesn’t work for everyone. I just want to remind everyone that just because not every person can make changes in their consumption patterns, doesn’t mean that YOU shouldn’t. If everyone who is able to make those small changes to their consumption patterns actually choose to do so, we can produce large scale, corporate change.In order to do this, people need to take responsibility for their actions, both good and not so good. Claim the power that you have; don’t let the corporate narrative tell you that you’re powerless. Your money is your voice in a capitalist market. Use it.
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tldr; your money has power over corporations, so take responsibility for your purchasing habits in order to shift the corporate patterns of production.
