As climate change becomes more and more of a pressing matter, methods for people to minimize their damage have appeared in every direction. Whether it be metal straws, veganism, living zero-waste, or any other type of sustainable lifestyle, the responsibility to combat climate change has been firmly placed in our hands. There are people putting their absolute best efforts into getting rid of their carbon footprints, yet facing no results because they are fighting an uphill battle against corporations who contribute enormous amounts of pollution. 

Firstly, I want to clarify that I am not discouraging attempts to live more eco-friendly. Of course, there’s no harm in taking shorter showers and biking everywhere, but as pessimistic as it may seem, you’re likely not making a huge impact. Only 100 companies make up 71% of all Greenhouse Gas emissions. Any effort that an individual puts into helping the planet is overwhelmingly undone by companies profiting from the use of fossil fuels. Some of the corporations have even come forward and declared that they are making attempts to be a part of the solution for climate change. However, the actions taken to accomplish this reflect very little effort. 

I would argue that instead of sacrificing comfort and convenience direct your energy towards demanding that investors in these companies move towards clean energy. Of course, corporations such as Chevron and Royal Dutch Shell likely will not decide to stop capitalizing off of the industry that has given them incomprehensible amounts of wealth for the last century. However, it is already becoming risky for investors to hold investments with fossil fuel companies as the world is rapidly making the shift to clean energy. In the long run, investors will not economically benefit from staying with these oil and coal conglomerates. The pressure to curb the climate crisis should truly be placed on these investors as they have the most means to do so. Many large companies such as Google and Ikea are already switching to 100% clean energy, and it’s likely that more will follow. It’s undeniable that one day fossil fuels will be a dead industry due to the lack of renewability in the resources, the question is whether this decline will occur smoothly or will it be a struggle to the last second. 

Ultimately, remember that corporations and investors are responsible for the majority of climate change, and while they have the ability to halt the crisis we’re in, they choose not to.