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Steve Westlake Profile picture
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25 Feb, 8 tweets, 3 min read
Should billionaires be "shamed" for their trend-setting contributions to planetary destruction?

The graphic below ranks billionaire emissions. It makes Gates, Bezos and Musk look quite good.

So I've added a graphic that includes the average global citizen (5t CO2)
Equity and fairness are said to be essential parts of tackling the environmental crises, so this matters.
It was actually quite tricky to put the billionaires' emissions in context of the global average because Excel only lets you zoom out to 10%, which still doesn't show the average person's emissions as anything more than a tiny slither.
This is the article the original graphic comes from.
(h/t @StuartBCapstick for flagging it)
theconversation.com/private-planes…
Shame can be used positively, according to this expert who researched and wrote a book on it...

"The power of shame is that it can be used by the weak against the strong" theguardian.com/books/2015/mar…
@GeorgeMonbiot
Another great graphic showing unequal responsibility for emissions...
More data...

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Steve Westlake Profile picture
8 Dec 20
A short thread on the risks of countries claiming to be "climate leaders":

The image of the heroic leader is ubiquitous in our popular culture, politics, business and media. This results in a tendency to exaggerate the role of leaders in both successes and failures.
An emphasis on heroic leadership can also lead to “learned helplessness” and dependency among followers. Thus followers use leaders to insulate themselves against uncomfortable feelings, and project hope and responsibility onto leaders.
Gemmill and Oakley say there is an inherent “deskilling” process in follower-leader situations, with followers becoming less functional as they attribute responsibility to the leader. Hence why bold national claims of climate leadership are risky. journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/00…
Read 7 tweets
Steve Westlake Profile picture
3 Nov 20
The pushback on @Shell's "blame-the-consumer" tweet has been brilliant and represents real progress. Long may it continue.

But...

...we do still need to talk about consumers and carbon footprints, and not give the highest emitters a free pass.

Thread
Because “consumers” are not some horizontal mass of equal beings. The disparities between the biggest and the smallest carbon footprints are absolutely vast.

The Martini glass of inequity highlights this well...
2/
The biggest consumers really are a problem for climate change. Not only do they (or we) make an oversize contribution to emissions, they also set the agenda, steer social norms, and influence what climate mitigation options are deemed acceptable. 3/ nature.com/articles/s4155…
Read 13 tweets
Steve Westlake Profile picture
27 Jun 20
Good news! Many of those who dropped litter had bought litter offsets that will, with luck, stop others littering in future. And some said they are confident Negative Litter Technologies (NLTs) will clear up lots of litter in a few decades's time.😉 standard.co.uk/news/uk/bourne…
A UK litterer said, “Actually, we are world leaders in cutting one type of litter. But we really can't control the litter from things we consume.”🤷

One of the litterers was visiting from the US. He said simply, “The American way of littering is not up for negotiation.” 🤐
An Aussie on the beach brandished a piece of litter and said: “This is litter. Don’t be afraid. Don’t be frightened.” 🤠
Read 6 tweets
Steve Westlake Profile picture
10 Mar 20
Last Sunday was a special but sad day. From 5am-5pm I was up in a beautiful 150-year-old tree in Cardiff, trying to help many others save it from the developers’ chainsaws. Ultimately though, we failed.
Thread 1/n
There were tears. On the street below local people cried as they cut the neighbouring tree first. My tears came at 2pm when the chainsaws backed away and I thought we may have won, but I was mistaken… 2/
They started to cut the tree down while I was still in it. Such is the dead-eyed resolve of the development machine. (You can see the pictures and videos from @XRCardiff @nspugh and others.) 3/
Read 19 tweets
Steve Westlake Profile picture
6 Jun 19
@keithalexander @LeeEnviron @tomhillonline @KevinClimate @ClimateBeard @MichaelEMann @penn_state @USATODAY Here's another take (from Nature Climate Change) on why personal behaviour change, particularly among elites, is crucial: "The lifestyles and consumption patterns of the super-rich strongly influence the globally growing middle classes..."
1/n
 nature.com/articles/s4155…
@keithalexander @LeeEnviron @tomhillonline @KevinClimate @ClimateBeard @MichaelEMann @penn_state @USATODAY "... who emulate upper-class consumption styles to distinguish themselves from lower classes. In addition, the super-rich have a great impact on technological innovation..." In other words, people copy the behaviour of those with high status.
2/n
@keithalexander @LeeEnviron @tomhillonline @KevinClimate @ClimateBeard @MichaelEMann @penn_state @USATODAY Here's the killer: "Our results suggest that a typical super-rich household of two people produces a carbon footprint of 129.3 tCO2e per year... and 66.5 tCO2e per year generated by... air travel." Maybe these are the people resisting a focus on individual behaviour.
3/n
Read 8 tweets
Steve Westlake Profile picture
28 Feb 19
@tomes_tanguy @KevinClimate @StuartBCapstick @kcoplan @coralsncaves @drvox I mean that giving up flying is seen as a difficult thing to do, and so is impressive. People say 'Wow, really? You don't fly AT ALL?' It seems to have a strong messaging effect that says, 'climate change must be serious if you've given up flying'.
@tomes_tanguy @KevinClimate @StuartBCapstick @kcoplan @coralsncaves @drvox Of course people react to not-flyers in different, potentially conflicting ways. In my survey I asked people to choose from the words: Surprise, Respect, Smug, Integrity, Unrealistic, Impressive, Eccentric, Pointless, Interesting. Here's what they chose... (Respect comes top)
@tomes_tanguy @KevinClimate @StuartBCapstick @kcoplan @coralsncaves @drvox The individual vs the collective: "The results of this research challenge the distinctions often made between individual and collective action to tackle climate change, and the related arguments that acting individually is pointless. Individual decisions to give up flying...(1/n)
Read 8 tweets

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