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Although we are encouraged to make a positive impact on the environment, it is not always easy to do so as individuals. The most obvious example of this elite is the super-rich polluters. If you, like us are a college graduate, have a job in the white collar, or make more than $38,000 per year, then you are highly socio-economically positioned globally. You have the power and responsibility to prevent catastrophic climate change.
This group represents the top 10% of global income and is responsible to half the carbon pollution produced by households. The global 1 percent, which is responsible for 30 times more climate pollution than the 2030 sustainable limit, rises in income to $109,000 (80,000). This group collectively emits more than the 4.75 billion poorest people on the planet.
Climate pollution is mainly caused by long-distance and frequent travel by planes and cars, then home energy consumption. Global warming can be stopped by reducing fossil energy consumption quickly.
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We show that the 10% also play critical roles in climate change. These include how they spend their money, communicate with others, and what they do as citizens. These are the most impactful ways that individuals can have on businesses, governments, and society in general.
You are likely financing climate destruction through loans and investments to expand fossil fuel pipelines or power plants if you have a pension or savings accounts in an investment bank. Instead, you can shift your money away from pension funds, stocks, and banks that continue to finance fossil fuel companies to support climate stability. You can also support campaigns to get schools, universities, and businesses to stop using fossil fuels.
While social influence is linked to status, we can all influence others through our words, and especially our actions. This influence can be used with our family, friends, neighbors, and colleagues to encourage climate-friendly norms in our communities and networks. This influence can be used in a simple way: shift social media posts away form glorifying conspicuous consumptions of fat steaks and tropical holidays to more simpler pleasures with family and friends, and closer to nature.
Also, you can press for climate action at the places where you work or study. Advocate for philanthropy and speak up for policies that decarbonize industries and supply chains. Climate Solutions at Work, a Project Drawdown guide on climate solutions at work, offers practical guidance and pathways for companies to contribute to the Paris Agreement's goals.
Voting is an important climate action that citizens can take. The 18% of countries with high democratic standards are the ones that should be able to vote. Political access and influence were primarily used to support fossil fuels and corporate interests in policy-making. This can be changed by making climate a major political and electoral issue through social mobilization and lobbying. Also, by holding representatives responsible for their climate votes, directly contacting them and holding them accountable, particularly since many representatives feel very little pressure to take climate action from their constituents.
Social inequality and climate impacts are currently in a vicious cycle. Those who do the most damage suffer the most. Too often, recommendations for personal climate actions are misdirected at those with low emissions reductions like recycling or presented as universally applicable when in reality it is only the well-off that need to make changes to reduce global carbon emissions.
To move forward, we must recognize that both behavior and policy changes are required to accelerate climate mitigation. This will allow everyone to fulfill their needs without destroying the climate. Individuals who are wealthy have the special responsibility and agency to take decisive action on climate change. One key step towards a rapid, clean energy transition is reducing fossil fuel consumption. Mobilizing people to make the change is equally important.
Kimberly Nicholas is the author and editor of Under the Sky We Make. How to be human with a warming world. @KA_Nicholas
Kristian Steensen Nielson is an environmental psychologist at University of Cambridge. @kristiansn89
