Green lifestyle choices won’t solve the climate problem

Check out this article by Gar Lipow on why individual choices to be green may not help in the long run. He argues that sustainability is a collective affair requiring collective solutions. Further, he posits that governments (especially the U.S.) do not spend enough on public goods:

"Setting an example by doing some simple, logical things to reduce an individual environmental footprint is wonderful. But ultimately, we will not make up, through private spending or lifestyle changes, for the fact that we currently don't invest enough in public goods. Nor will we privately make up for the fact that much of our public spending is directed to the wrong public goods".

He uses the example of railways versus highways in the U.S. to illustrate his point:

"The road to our current predicament was long, and built on public policy and public investment. Take the gradual reduction of freight rail in this country, for example. We have less than half the miles of freight-rail track we had at the peak of freight-rail shipping; that is a result of a massive public investment in public highways -- which do not in fact pay for themselves [PDF]. In our system, rail pays property tax and highways don't, much of the so-called gas tax is really diverted sales tax, and railroads also pay fuel taxes but don't get fuel tax money back the way highways do".

While I agree with many of the points raised in this article, I still believe that individual actions (i.e. using less water, using public transit over driving, for example) can go a long way insofar as we have the communication channels to support these activities. Investment in public goods has been declining, no doubt, but we live in an era where communication via social media and public events can at least harness and shift those "individual actions" into a more collaborative and collective effort.

The age of information is a powerful one and the more individuals arguing for their green choices -- via the web, telling their friends and peers and sharing in schools and workplaces -- the more weight these arguments will have when presented to politicians.

Once the information sharing begins along with collectively arguing for the benefits we can indeed derive from public goods, people may become less apathetic and more vocal to their politicians. These collective efforts can demand change and lead to benefits for all.