Megan Hall: Welcome to Possibly, where we take on huge problems like the future of our planet and break them down into small questions with unexpected answers. I’m Megan Hall.
If you pay attention to reporting about climate change, you’ve probably heard this phrase…
News Clips: Carbon footprint. Carbon footprint. Carbon footprint.
But what does our carbon footprint really mean? And where did this idea come from?
We had Leena Mudawi and Alina Ikram from our Possibly team look into it.
Leena Mudawi: Hi Megan.
Alina Ikram: Hey Megan.
Megan Hall: So, I know we talk about our carbon footprint all the time, but what does that phrase really mean?
Leena Mudawi: Basically, it’s a way to figure out how much carbon pollution each person creates—and it’s based on everything we do—like how we travel, what we buy, and how much energy we use.
Megan Hall: So, our “footprint” is like our impact on climate change?
Alina Ikram: Exactly. The idea is, if we’re more aware of how much carbon pollution we create, we’re more likely to change our habits and reduce our carbon footprint. But…
Kim Cobb: I think when people hear that phrase, they mostly feel guilty immediately, right?
Leena Mudawi: That’s Kim Cobb, Director of the Institute at Brown for Environment and Society, and she says this concept isn’t always that useful.
Kim Cobb: Because carbon is everywhere in our life, just because energy is everywhere in our life, and many times we don’t really have choices about how we use it every day.
Alina Ikram: And that feeling of guilt is actually by design.
Megan Hall: What do you mean?
Alina Ikram: Back in the early 2000s, as people started becoming more aware of climate change, a company called BP, short for British Petroleum, helped to push the idea of the carbon footprint.
Megan Hall: Wait, an oil company told people to track their own emissions?
Leena Mudawi: Yeah! BP is one of the world’s biggest oil & gas companies, both of which are fossil fuels: the main things driving global warming…
Kim Cobb: Which of course, is a way to shift awareness away from the role of oil majors and other fossil fuel companies in perpetuating the status quo in our over-reliance on fossil fuels.
Megan Hall: Let me get this right—one of the companies that’s responsible for pumping extreme amounts of carbon pollution into the air invented the carbon footprint so all of us would feel bad about the choices we make?
Alina Ikram: They didn’t come out and SAY that was the reason, but… it makes sense.
Leena Mudawi: The carbon footprint idea gave people a way to think about how their own choices affect climate change.
Alina Ikram: Which made it easier to forget how much power companies and governments have over the bigger picture.
Megan Hall: We talk about how our choices affect the planet on this show. That’s actually a main focus of Possibly. Are these kinds of questions just a distraction from what big corporations are doing?
Alina Ikram: Not entirely—Kim says, don’t give up on thinking about your own climate impact…
Kim Cobb: Those two things can be true at the same time. Our individual choices do matter every day. But it’s also true that we need to come together in large numbers and elect leaders that will enact policies to make it a lot easier to do the right thing.
Leena Mudawi: She says climate responsibility lives in both everyday life, and in collective action. So, if you care about this issue, take a moment and ask yourself,
Kim Cobb: What are the levers for change that you are reaching for as an individual?
Leena Mudawi: This is more useful than just “How bad is my footprint?” Because it’s easy to get stuck feeling guilty, or fixating on things that are hard to change.
Alina Ikram: Instead, Kim says it’s more effective to think about what you can actually do.
Kim Cobb: We want to think about our universities, our places of worship, our kids’ schools, our places of work. All those are organizations where individuals come together in fairly large numbers, and they form a collective.
Leena Mudawi: For years, we’ve been taught to see climate change through the lens of our own habits and our own guilt, but the reality is, there’s so much more we can do together—especially when we demand action from the people and companies with the most power over this crisis.
Leena Mudawi: So climate change doesn’t need to feel so personal.
Megan Hall: Great, thanks Leena and Alina.
That’s it for today. You can find more information, or ask a question about the ways your choices affect our planet, at ask possibly dot org. You can also subscribe to Possibly wherever you get your podcasts or follow us on social media at “ask possibly”
Possibly is a co-production of Brown University’s Institute for Environment and Society, Brown’s Climate Solutions Initiative, Ocean State Media, and WBRU.
