This professor wants you to give up your climate guilt | Fix

<h1>This professor wants you to give up your climate guilt</h1>
 
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These days, we all could use a little good news — so we’re presenting a few of this year’s <a href="https://grist.org/grist-50/2020/">Grist 50</a> Fixers, in depth. For a quick dose of hope and optimism, meet 2020 Fixer Leah Stokes.

In Leah Stokes’ new book, <a href="https://smile.amazon.com/Short-Circuiting-Policy-Political-Development/dp/0190074264/gristmagazine">Short Circuiting Policy</a>, she investigates how electric utilities undermined and hollowed out state laws that should’ve transformed the U.S. into a renewable energy leader. Her research focuses on climate and energy policy, and she has become a go-to resource for both traditional media and social media to explain new findings on climate change.

Stokes was recently named to the <a href="https://grist.org/grist-50/2020/#leah-stokes">2020 Grist 50</a>, an annual list of emerging climate and justice leaders. She spoke to us about why the individual-martyr approach to addressing climate change is a dead end — and pointed to paths that might actually get us to a better future. Her responses have been edited and condensed for clarity.

<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-q-for-an-academic-you-have-a-big-social-media-following">Q. For an academic, you have a big social media following.</h3>

A. I do an enormous amount of media work. I do lots of radio interviews, podcasts. I talk a lot about how to talk about climate change.

<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-q-and-what-s-your-message">Q. And what’s your message?</h3>

A. Basically, burning fossil fuels is the cause of climate change — and we can stop burning fossil fuels. Step one is to stop burning fossil fuels. Step two is to sequester the carbon you’ve already burned. The real problem is: How do we reduce emissions in transportation, building, oil and gas, agriculture?

<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-q-people-obsess-over-their-personal-climate-footprint-but-you-say-that-s-a-red-herring">Q. People obsess over their personal climate footprint, but you say that’s a red herring.</h3>

A. People think: “If I recycle, I’m doing my part.” And the second thing they think is: “I fly for my job. I have kids, so I need a minivan.” And so they take themselves out of the fight. The reality is, only 3 percent of emissions in the United States come from flights.

<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-q-so-if-what-i-do-as-an-individual-doesn-t-matter-that-much-what-does">Q. So if what I do as an individual doesn’t matter that much, what does?</h3>

A. It’s not about individual change. The big lever is policy. That’s where the money is. I ran behavioral-change campaigns at the University of Toronto between 2005 and 2007, to get people to save energy. It impacted thousands of students, but at the end, I felt it wasn’t enough. The lever for individuals isn’t enough. The goal is not self-purification. The goal is institutional and political change.

<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-q-what-would-that-change-look-like">Q. What would that change look like?</h3>

A. Specifically: a federal clean-electricity standard, and significant government spending on cleaning up the electricity and transportation systems by 2030.

Meet all the rest of the Fixers, doers, problem-solvers, and visionaries on this year’s <a href="https://grist.org/grist-50/2020/">Grist 50 list</a>.

This article originally appeared in <a href="https://grist.org/">Grist</a> at <a href="https://grist.org/fix/energy/this-professor-wants-you-to-give-up-your-climate-guilt/">https://grist.org/fix/energy/this-professor-wants-you-to-give-up-your-climate-guilt/</a>.
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