Affecting Global Warming

Stephen Dubner wrote today about the "degree to which behavioral changes are produced on three separate levels". These levels being the individual level, the government level, and the corporate level. Dubner downplays the influence the individual level plays in changing global warming:

"The individual level — where change seems well underway, but probably won’t amount to all that much without major institutional/structural changes."

I agree completely that without major institutional or structural changes, individuals won't affect any long lasting change in the global climate, but this is just as true for the other two levels. Without major structural changes with complicity from all three levels, there will be no sustainable movement towards lowering greenhouse emissions or curbing global warming.

Institutional and structural changes usually arise from the collective actions of individuals, not the governments or corporations who have vested interests in the current systemic structure, or else that structure wouldn't exist in the first place. It is the role of individual consumers to bring about social change, and I see that occurring as individuals become more environmentally and socially conscious. Unfortunately, this is a slow process, and the idea of global warming is still relatively new. Any alteration of consumption patters takes time to become widely accepted.

Individual change and institutional/social change go hand in hand. Do not underestimate the power of the common man to have a considerable affect on global warming. It was the collective actions of individuals who caused this mess, and it is surely within the power of individuals to fix it.