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https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-08-22/jeff-sparrow-big-ideas-corporations-environment-responsibility/101318704>
'Do you carry a keep cup, worry about your carbon footprint or diligently sort
your recyclables, as your way of helping to save the planet?
What if you discovered you've been duped?
Melbourne author Jeff Sparrow argues that, when it comes to environmental
impacts, big corporations have engineered a sense of individual responsibility
– to distract from their own.
"One of the reasons why we feel so despairing about the [climate] situation
that we're in is that we are made to feel that we are the problem," Sparrow
tells ABC RN's Big Ideas.
"We're told we consume too much, we're too greedy, we're too lazy, we surround
ourselves with disposable plastics and we're spoiling the planet."
Humans can even be seen as at fault "merely by existing", he says.
"Sometimes the argument extends to suggesting that humans are kind of a plague
… infesting nature and bring[ing] ruination on the planet."
There are experts, such as environmental scientist Professor Ian Lowe, who
argue for limiting the number of children we have, for environmental reasons.
Sparrow disagrees.
"If we are the problem, then there's nothing we can do other than just make
things worse," he says.
Rather than putting the onus on individuals to solve environmental issues, he
believes we should change the economic system we live in, in order to
decarbonise and avert an environmental crisis.
And for change to happen, he suggests looking back at how we got here.'
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
