The top 10 percent of wage earners worldwide cause 25 to 43 percent of “environmental impact,” while the lowest 10 percent of wage earners only cause about three to five percent according to Thomas Wiedmann, author of “Scientists’ warning on affluence.”
Students learning about climate change for the first time often hear the argument that choosing environmentally friendly alternatives is the only way to have a meaningful impact on climate change. The blame is on the student for the trash in our ocean, gas emissions in our atmosphere, and deforestation harming our forests. This mindset needs to shift. Rather than attacking the consumers for the environmental problems our world has been facing, we should focus on big corporations that are actually the root cause of climate change. That way, we can help our planet efficiently.
The waste that one individual creates is inconsequential compared to that of large companies. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in the article “National Overview: Facts and Figures on Materials, Wastes and Recycling” the average U.S. citizen produces nearly five pounds of municipal solid waste everyday, which equates to 1788.5 pounds yearly. When taken as a standalone figure, the instinctual response may be to blame consumers for this amount of waste production. However, when taking into account the facts about corporations, the story changes. As reported by FV Recycling in the article “Surprising Statistics About The Waste That Businesses Produce,” which references a guide written by the EPA, the manufacturing industry is responsible for producing around 1800 pounds of waste for a single worker per year.
This industry is far from small. More specifically, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics in the article “A look at manufacturing jobs on National Manufacturing Day,” the manufacturing industry has almost 13 million employees. Combining this with the data from the EPA, it appears that this industry alone produces over 22 billion pounds of waste every year. Thus, top manufacturing corporations are producing billions more pounds of waste than the average citizen per year. This figure doesn’t even take into account any carbon emissions, excess products, or other waste created during the production of parts.
Some may wonder, “Why can’t consumers just pick more environmentally friendly brands to support? Why blame the companies?” The reason is because they lack access. Oftentimes, green alternatives are not sold at the same low prices as name brands, meaning those with lower incomes can’t afford to shift their lifestyles in that way. Another possibility is that stores only carry products from large corporations, leaving customers with few options. Even if this wasn’t the case, our energy would be better spent focusing on the more urgent problem, which is wasteful companies.
The manufacturing industry is not a unique case. Many big corporations also create high levels of waste that quickly overshadow that which individuals produce. The rich CEOs of these companies — who create more waste in a year than an average person can produce in their lifetime — should be the ones to face repercussions for their actions, not consumers. The corporations responsible for polluting the earth for their own gain should be targets for reform in order to make the most impact on climate change. If attention is diverted to limiting the waste of individuals one at a time, the potential to make planet-saving changes will vanish.
