Government policy can limit climate change — but so can changing your shopping habits, say experts – By CBC Radio (CBC) / Nov 14 2021
‘Just make everything last longer and buy less,’ says sustainable design Prof. Lloyd Alter
Our planet is changing. So is our journalism. This story is part of a CBC News initiative entitled Our Changing Planet to show and explain the effects of climate change and what is being done about it.
While advocates call on governments to make stronger commitments to fight climate change, living a low-carbon lifestyle can help reduce individual impact on the planet, according to experts.
It’s often said that personal choices have little effect on reducing carbon emissions because emissions from global corporations, such fossil fuel producers, make up the majority of CO2 output. Lloyd Alter calls that thinking a “fantasy.”
“What are the fossil fuel companies doing? They’re making stuff that we buy to put in our cars. We’re buying what they’re selling,” said Alter, a professor of sustainable design at Ryerson University and author of Living the 1.5 Degree Lifestyle.
“I believe that in all kinds of these exercises that it really comes down to our personal choices.”
