Editor’s Note: Views expressed in guest columns and letters to the editor reflect the views of the author, not the views of The State News.
Although Christian Hokans’s sentiments of bicycling and recycling (SN 4/2) are laudable, the impending global devastation that will be on our doorstep before the end of most of our lives requires far more than personal lifestyle changes. The fact is that the major polluters of the world are major institutions, not individuals.
The world’s largest polluter is the US military, producing 750,000 tons of toxic waste annually, according to nonprofit watchdog Project Censored. Other leading polluters occupy the agriculture, airline and metal industries — none of which effectively can be reduced by consumer behavior.
We might feel as though we’re “doing our part” when we take our reusable bags to the grocery store, but even if everyone on the planet became a garbage-sorting, thermostat-regulating, Earth Crisis fan tomorrow, the emissions of our species would march on virtually unimpeded. This is, in part, because blaming consumers for pollution has long been the strategy of producers — the real polluters — to cleverly avoid the steep regulations needed to effectively curb emissions.
The science of climate change is beyond question and the results apocalyptic, requiring swift action that transcends the dogma of “free market” solutions. Cap and trade has proven a dismal failure in the European Union, with companies using loopholes or cheating outright, as our species continues its march to self-destruction.
Drew Winter, MSU alumnus
Support student media! Please consider donating to The State News and help fund the future of journalism.
