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00:19gamers rejoice this week we're talking
00:21about someone even more obsessed with
00:28fossil fuel companies if you're living
00:31and breathing and watching this video
00:33you've definitely heard of a carbon
00:35footprint before maybe you've even taken
00:37one of the many many tests out there to
00:39calculate what your disgusting unseemly
00:41selfish carbon footprint is each one is
00:44like a little pollution buzzfeed quiz
00:46but one that makes you feel even worse
00:48than when you didn't get chandler even
00:49after trying three times really but my
00:52favorite bird is big bird surely that
00:55anyway we're all pretty familiar with
00:57the words carbon footprint say it with
00:59me a carbon footprint is a measure of
01:02the total amount of carbon dioxide co2
01:06and methane ch4 emissions of a defined
01:09population system or activity
01:11considering all relevant sources sinks
01:13and storage within the spatial and
01:15temporal boundary of the population
01:18system or activity of interest
01:21calculated as carbon dioxide equivalent
01:23using the relevant 100-year global
01:27gwp-100 hey good job see i knew you knew
01:31okay so even without the exact
01:33definition most of us have easily
01:35assimilated the general idea that the
01:37things we consume produce carbon
01:39emissions and that carbon emissions are
01:46that idea that emissions are mostly a
01:48product of what we produce and consume
01:50is the basic idea behind any kind of
01:52carbon footprint at the end of the day
01:54and it's pretty much common sense but
01:56there's a lot more to this measure than
01:57meets the eye and hidden beneath what
01:59could have been a positive idea are very
02:02nefarious intentions and some pretty
02:04damaging consequences when it comes to
02:05climate change because even though
02:07finding ways to reduce your personal
02:09impact on greenhouse gas emissions can
02:11be a good thing that's not what the term
02:13carbon footprint is there to do to
02:16understand what's going on we should
02:18talk a bit more about the origin of this
02:19phrase boom look at that you just got
02:22video essayed and you didn't even notice
02:24that's why i make the big bucks
02:28carbon footprint comes from the more
02:30general ecological footprint a term
02:32coined in the 90s by these guys in this
02:34report which eventually became this book
02:37in this book the two academics start off
02:39with a truly horrific stomach churning
02:41analogy about a wasp that gives birth in
02:44a mushroom and then casually follow it
02:46up with around 150 pages of standard
02:48environmental economics using the idea
02:51of an ecological footprint to talk about
02:53how production and consumption are
02:55dependent on various uses of resources
02:57namely fossil fuels thrilling stuff
03:00the thing is that on its own this book
03:03is fine not without room for criticism
03:05plenty of that to go around but mostly
03:07pretty uncontroversial stuff about how
03:09the environment is important humans are
03:11important and we can't keep extracting
03:14and polluting this much and also expect
03:16economic growth forever and ever until
03:18the end of time there are even some neat
03:20little sentences about how free
03:22enterprise and free trade are not only
03:24some of the root causes of the
03:25environmental crisis we're in today but
03:27relying on them or the imaginary
03:29eco-modernist capitalist tech utopia as
03:32a solution won't actually help us pause
03:34the video if you want to read the
03:36original text nerds the rest of us will
03:38be moving on so if this book is mostly
03:41uncontroversial and its use of the
03:43phrase ecological footprint is fine why
03:45make a 15 minute video about carbon
03:48footprints well because the only reason
03:50we even know what a carbon footprint is
03:52is thanks to a massive appropriation of
03:54the term by bp british petroleum and
03:57their 2005 advertising campaign
04:00you might know bp from their shocking
04:02lack of a fun facts section on wikipedia
04:05or maybe you know them from this ad in
04:07which they took the bright-eyed
04:09ecological footprint stepping off the
04:10bus in the big city and turned it into
04:12the red carpet attending gala hosting
04:14movie star carbon footprint we all know
04:17and love take a look how much carbon i
04:21is that it you mean the effect that
04:23my living has on the earth in terms of
04:25the products i consume
04:28around the same time this ad ran bp also
04:32launched its very own carbon footprint
04:34calculator online getting over a million
04:36website visitors and around 300 000
04:39people to do the survey back when those
04:41weren't tiny little internet numbers
04:43these two projects cemented the term in
04:45popular culture and made it what it is
04:48at first glance and to much of the
04:50consumer market this was a revolutionary
04:53ad campaign and a shocking stance from
04:55one of the world's largest producers of
04:57fossil fuels you have to understand that
05:00this was not how the oil business was
05:02done when in the 1970s exxon conducted
05:05private research on greenhouse gas
05:06emissions and found mountains of
05:08evidence of their central impact on
05:10global warming they didn't tell anybody
05:13it took another decade or so before
05:15public researchers caught on and even
05:17once it was all out in the public exxon
05:19and all their buddies spent hefty sums
05:21on misinformation disinformation
05:23lobbying and round-the-clock advertising
05:26questioning the reality of climate
05:27change which they had known for years
05:29was a fact of greenhouse gas emissions
05:32in order to stall policies that would
05:34try to rein them in fossil fuel
05:36executives took all the lessons they
05:38learned from your college boyfriend and
05:39gaslit the hell out of the american
05:41public when this campaign first started
05:44you could look around and see bold ad
05:45slogans promoted by the fossil fuel
05:47sector like how much are you willing to
05:49pay to solve a problem that may not
05:51exist or the knee slapping who told you
05:54the earth was warming chicken little you
05:56can imagine that in that kind of context
05:59an ad that explicitly states the reality
06:01of climate change coming from one of the
06:03industries it is most closely associated
06:05with was unheard of but you're not dumb
06:09you already know why they did it there
06:11was no legitimate concern about the
06:13global environment not from one of the
06:15companies that stands to profit off of
06:16it the most it was all about shifting
06:19the blame from them to you
06:22bp popularized the term carbon footprint
06:24so heavily not because they wanted to
06:26balance their emissions checkbook after
06:28cashing in on decades worth of oil money
06:30but because they wanted to keep doing it
06:33and get you off their backs about it
06:35they wanted to make it your problem
06:37because when you start thinking it's all
06:39your fault and that solving climate
06:41change depends exclusively on your
06:43decisions as an individual your
06:46relationship to fossil fuel usage and
06:48other commodities is narrowed down to a
06:50single identity that of a consumer as a
06:53consumer your responsibility is strictly
06:56limited to making better individual
06:58decisions structural change is beyond
07:01your purview turning off the lights
07:04shorter showers products with little
07:07that is the extent of your involvement
07:09in the fight against climate change
07:12in that framework oil companies are just
07:14middlemen between you and the thing you
07:16want if you just didn't want it they
07:19wouldn't be there it's so simple and
07:22there's nothing wrong with that argument
07:24but there is the opposite of nothing
07:25wrong with that there's a whole lot
07:27wrong with that actually you're not just
07:30a consumer and even if you were you
07:32don't make decisions in a vacuum for
07:35starters it would be impossible for you
07:37to simply make better decisions and
07:39reduce your carbon footprint so
07:41meaningfully that it would unquote solve
07:44climate change on its own even if there
07:46are things that are technically up to
07:48you some of those choices you have you
07:50just can't reasonably be expected to
07:52make take cars for example you'll often
07:55hear things about how emissions from
07:57transportation are one of the biggest
07:58sources of emissions and while that's
08:01true though pretty insidious depending
08:03on how you calculate it in a country
08:05entirely designed around car use with
08:07little to no public transportation not
08:10driving a car makes very little sense
08:12for most americans biking taking the
08:15subway or walking are only options in
08:17very few places and for very few people
08:20there is a structural barrier to
08:22lowering your car usage that makes that
08:24type of consumer decision nearly
08:27impossible for most people and
08:29incredibly difficult for the remainder
08:31now you could switch to electric when
08:33your car is near the end of its life
08:35which would reduce your carbon footprint
08:36in the long run but there are structural
08:39accessibility issues there too both in
08:41terms of cost and in the lack of
08:43charging stations that would make this
08:45solution necessarily not apply to most
08:48people also elon musk is a dweeb and his
08:50car is thirst for blood and of course
08:53even if switching to electric means
08:54moving away from fossil fuels as a
08:56direct store of energy your source of
08:58electricity will probably still be
09:00fossil fuel powered and the electric car
09:02trade-off includes implicating more rare
09:05earth metals into your car's production
09:07once again your limitations as a
09:09consumer mean that things outside your
09:12control get in the way of even the best
09:14intentions some things are baked into
09:16your lifestyle and are impossible to let
09:18go of while still functioning in human
09:20society most people's survival in
09:23countries from the imperial core is
09:25dominated by the consumption of
09:26commodities many of them highly
09:28polluting and there are a lot of
09:30structural factors that make that
09:32lifestyle nearly impossible to extricate
09:34yourself from or even just reduce
09:36your choices are so heavily constrained
09:39and centered around consumption that
09:41making better decisions in that kind of
09:43environment usually boils down to
09:45spending money on the lesser evil some
09:47of the time that is if you can even
09:49afford to make the most environmentally
09:51conscious choice and assuming that
09:53choice even amounts to anything in a
09:55world where products are endlessly
09:56repackaged and greenwashed to trick you
09:59sometimes the products you can choose
10:01from can even be limited by the
10:02influence of vested interests the way
10:05that large fossil fuel companies use
10:07their incomparable wealth to shut down
10:08and slow the growth of electric car
10:10projects if you want to go another layer
10:12deep consider that every product you
10:14will ever buy in a store is only there
10:17because it is profitable weeding out way
10:19more often than not those products that
10:22can't easily exploit labor and natural
10:24resources during the production process
10:26and meaning that they will usually have
10:28a negative effect on some natural
10:29resources because it is infinitely more
10:32profitable to pollute than to be
10:35the bottom line is that if we stay
10:37rigidly within the logic of carbon
10:39footprints there are serious limits on
10:41what we can do to limit the effects of
10:43climate change which means our decisions
10:45will have minimal impact think back to
10:47the part of the pandemic we called the
10:49height of the pandemic
10:50when millions of people were locked in
10:52place and we saw a dramatic drop in the
10:54use of airplanes and cars our carbon
10:57emissions dropped less than 10 that year
10:59and shot right back up in 2021 without
11:02structural change even massive
11:05individual action involuntary though
11:07that instance was does not change the
11:09course on which we are set when we
11:11cannot adapt our normal routine away
11:13from this amount of pollution at a
11:17that's not to say that you shouldn't
11:18make the more climate friendly choice if
11:20you can by the way for some people there
11:22will be decisions around consumption
11:24that can and should be made when keeping
11:26environmentalism in mind you should buy
11:29the more sustainable product if you can
11:31and if you are going to buy that kind of
11:32product anyway as an added note there is
11:35some scientific evidence that people who
11:37consume more consciously are more likely
11:39to take that attitude into more
11:41substantial collective political action
11:44but do not stop at consumption
11:46individual decisions like these aren't
11:48solutions they're little more than harm
11:50reduction they do not challenge the
11:53direction the arrow is pointing
11:55solutions the actual sources of change
11:58aren't found in individualism they're
12:00found in collective action the fact that
12:03sustainable consumption and minding your
12:05carbon footprint are presented as a
12:07solution is nothing more than a
12:09rhetorical trick that maintains the
12:11system of profitable pollution in place
12:14all right get ready because you're about
12:16to get hit with a big long quote from
12:17matt huber in his article ecological
12:19politics for the working class to
12:21summarize what we've been talking about
12:24the idea of an ecological footprint
12:27construes the power equation in reverse
12:29order by making consumers wholly
12:31responsible for their consumptive impact
12:34this perspective ignores the critical
12:36role of capital which constrains both
12:38the kind and the quantity of goods that
12:40are thrown into the market the gasoline
12:43in your tank flowed through the hands of
12:44innumerable people seeking profit oil
12:47exploration technology consultants
12:49production companies rig service firms
12:51pipeline companies gas station operators
12:54yet you are the one responsible for the
12:56footprint simply because you pressed the
12:57gas leading to the emissions when it
12:59comes to consumption every commodity has
13:02users and profiteers along the chain we
13:05should place the bulk of responsibility
13:07on those profiting from production not
13:09simply people fulfilling their needs
13:12this is not a moral calculus as much as
13:14an objective assessment of who has the
13:16power along these commodity chains
13:18of course we don't want to completely
13:20ignore the responsibility of those few
13:22wealthy consumers who buy fuel and
13:23efficient cars eat steak twice a week
13:26and fly excessively but why do we only
13:29focus on their consumption as the proper
13:31zone of responsibility and politics
13:34little maddie hubes is right when we
13:36recognize that the real decision-making
13:38power is in the hands of people who
13:40stand to profit from fossil fuel
13:41extraction we can see that the solution
13:43isn't desperately and inefficiently
13:45signaling to them with our purchases
13:47what we want but actually seizing that
13:49power of decision making ourselves we
13:52should get to decide what resources we
13:54want in what amounts and how best to
13:57approach acquiring them not letting
13:59whatever makes the most money govern
14:01which way our lives go the answer so to
14:04speak is then to reconceptualize what
14:06environmental action is it's about
14:09centering it around solidarity and
14:10collective action not individual choices
14:13since they often frame the burden of
14:15being better on people who are already
14:17struggling to satisfy their basic needs
14:19it's understanding that to resolve
14:21issues of climate change we can't simply
14:23urge people to consume less we need to
14:26guarantee the security of their access
14:28to the things they truly need and
14:30decommodify in other words removed from
14:33market pressures the resources which we
14:35know are creating profit around
14:37pollution it's shifting the power of
14:39decision making about what we do
14:41regarding stuff that pollutes away from
14:43fossil fuel companies and their
14:44deceptive ad agencies and into our hands
14:48unobstructed from the naturally
14:49perverting effects of voting with your
14:51dollar schemes that will always just
14:53bolster whichever industry had the most
14:55money to start off with plans like the
14:58green new deal which attach
14:59environmentalism to a jobs guarantee to
15:02health care to the transition away from
15:04fossil fuels and towards renewable
15:06sources of energy do this kind of stuff
15:08though admittedly still within a social
15:10democratic framework as much as possible
15:13we need to make sure that the green new
15:15deal and other ways to reassert our
15:17collective power over our common future
15:19are going to be the way forward it's
15:22time to stop taking the bait on
15:24corporate schemes like the individual
15:25carbon footprint there is nothing we can
15:28achieve alone that wouldn't be better
15:31we need collective action
15:36i mentioned at the beginning of this
15:38video that this kind of content is made
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