Thread by @ssteingraber1

I disagree with this article. And not because its author identifies me as a “long-time critic of the Sierra Club.” (Which is true.) But because its premise is wrong. 1/

Yes, Actually, Individual Responsibility Is Essential to Solving the Climate Crisis sierraclub.org/sierra/yes-act…

No one is disputing that solving the climate crisis necessitates huge changes in individual behavior. Example: Every burner tip in every gas-fired furnace in every basement across the land is connected to a fracking well. Ergo, yes, all need to change the way we heat our homes 2/

What’s in dispute is whether changes in individual behavior is a starting or an end point, cause or consequence, of transformational change. Do we shame, cajole, urge, scold ourselves, one by one, to replace furnaces w heat pumps? Or push for policy change to enable the switch?3/

And what is “responsible” behavior?” Is promotion of veganism responsible if it helps drive out family dairies and replaces meadows and pastures with carbon-intensive suburban development? Or meth labs and rural blight? Reductionist carbon counting can’t solve for pattern. 4/

Finally, the decision to have children or not—which belongs to women alone—simply cannot be be viewed through the lens of climate “responsibility.” It’s dangerous talk to suggest that any group of people can be viewed as carbon-emitting units and the fewer of them the better. 5/

It’s appalling to talk about children this way—who will pay the highest price for a problem they didn’t create. Reminder: Overpopulation claims have a long tangled history with genocide and fascism.

Give us a green energy system so a baby is not the opposite of a carbon offset

And who gets to decides if it’s individually “responsible” or not to give your first child a sibling and therefore the bond of brother or sisterhood that may serve as a key source of love, support, and community cohesion in a time of climate crisis? Who has the right to decide?

So, filling my alleged role as a “longtime critic of the Sierra Club” I say to SC: Knock it off. We don’t need you to be the individual responsibility police or the fertility police. Go do your job. Start by calling for a national ban on fracking.