Early January is resolution season, and in climate circles that means rehashing the same old debate: Given the enormity of the problem we’re facing, and the amount of responsibility for it that falls at the level of corporations and countries, does individual action even matter?
After all, the sum total of all climate action hasn’t gotten us to a stable place. After decades of effort—recycling, planting trees, every solar panel ever installed on a roof, all those paper straws—global warming is still accelerating. In 2024, the world burned more fossil fuels than it ever has before. Atmospheric levels of carbon dioxide are now surging at the fastest rate in human history. What we’re doing is not only not working, but we’re still actively making the problem worse.
Not only was 2024 the hottest year in history, it was also the first year to surpass the critical 1.5 degree Celsius threshold above which global warming will begin to accelerate on its own accord and some effects will become irreversible. We are leaping outside the normal operating space of our planet, and if scientists are to be believed, things will be getting pretty ugly pretty fast. This year, the warning signs looming would be almost comically bad if they weren’t so serious.
What can ordinary people even do? A common response is: vote for climate champions. Given recent events, that feels scarily feeble and unsatisfying. The richest person who has ever lived is being given free rein by a would-be authoritarian to rail against the very foundations of scientific research. By this point, it should be crystal clear: No one is coming to save us.
In this post-1.5-degree world, it’s clear that we need to go back to the drawing board when it comes to climate action. Because we are collectively heading down a path that none of us wants to go down, and we’re doing it at full speed.
The failure scenario of climate change is often described as “doing nothing” or “business as usual,” as though by simply existing we will careen to our doom. I think it’s worth remembering that what these default scenarios are actually describing is mindless consumerism and rampant extractive capitalism continuing forever. Which, obviously, is doing something.
My personal opinion—and nearly every climate scientist I’ve ever spoken with agrees with this—is that we have all the evidence we need that the only viable path forward is by radical departure from the status quo.
So what can each of us do that actually matters? If you find yourself mired in a system that’s sucking you ever forward toward mass extinction, a good first step would be to comprehensively and entirely opt out of that system.