Opinion: Have you ever gotten frustrated about how little of an environmental impact your choices seem to make?
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The environment is something that is often talked about, it is the source of life for all of us. It’s something we publicly desire to protect and revive, but we abuse and neglect it behind closed doors. So much environmental awareness and advocacy is done with the intention of good press, not just to help keep the Earth alive and well.
This is a practice known as greenwashing: the use of exaggerated environmental action as a way to gain public favor. For example, companies greenwash when they lie about a few of the details to give the impression that they are more sustainable — or “green.”.
So, do people do this, too? Is this social norm of being green actually making a difference in the actions of the masses? Or is it just changing what they say they’re doing? Can the efforts of one person even make a difference?
Often, it feels like the impact of one person won’t make a difference and that recycling and saving energy aren’t doing anything. It turns out, that’s not true.
I spent a few minutes fiddling around with the EPA Carbon Footprint calculator, and what I discovered was fascinating. Just the small changes we adopt can make a difference.
While one person buying energy-efficient light bulbs isn’t going to make a huge difference, a person buying light bulbs, an energy-efficient boiler and driving five-thousand fewer miles annually can make a huge difference.
These were the numbers I received when I plugged in the statistics of me and my roommates. With just a few small changes, like turning down the thermostat at night or reducing how much one car drives annually, it can make a huge difference both environmentally and financially — which I could argue is more important to a lot of students. Even recycling makes a huge annual difference to the emissions of each household.
I encourage you to go and try the emissions calculator to see how much of a difference you could also make. Especially in the U.S., where the emissions rate per person is the highest in the world (19 tonnes per person annually), we all need to try our best to help the planet.
For context, that is enough to match the weight of the Statue of Liberty in a year and a half per person.
We are a social species, and that is why green exaggeration has been so effective in the past. We follow other people’s leads and want to fit into the roles others are filling. So, it follows that if we all start being more sustainable at the same time, everyone will be held accountable by one another.
It is also important to mention that the biggest contributors to emissions are large energy corporations, not individuals. That still doesn’t mean that our individual actions don’t make a difference. By buying sustainable products and changing personal habits, we are “voting with our wallets.” Then, companies feel pressure to follow consumer demands and they become more sustainable.
It only takes one person to begin implementing change for others to follow. As LaMar Davis, an environmental studies major and junior at UO said, “One person can influence the collective action with their own advocation.” By that, he means that a person leading by example has a ripple effect. One person starts, ten follow and ten people follow each of those ten. Progress happens.
Be the change you want to see.

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