I’ve been getting a few DMs about this tweet, so I'm just going to do a thread:

My issue with individual action (but especially quizzes like this) is that it reduces a personal choice to a moral and intellectual one—without a lens of equity or accessibility. https://twitter.com/GianaAmador/status/1300922917816012801

You have to ask yourself: Who has access? Who can afford to make climate-friendly choices? And what can the consumer actually control?

For example, my parents live in a 5000 person town with:
- No access to public transportation
- No grocery store, much less one with “sustainable” options or bulk bins
- No net metering, no EV charging infrastructure
- No composting

Being able to make climate-friendly choices is a privilege. Especially when public resources are often already concentrated in wealthy, white communities.

It also commodifies those choices. It tells me that purchasing a $12 stasher bag is better than saving an old Cool Whip container, which my grandmother has literally done for decades.

I also am going to confess that I got 0/4 (ZERO!!) questions on this quiz. Do I personally love wonky back-of-the-envelope calculations about emissions? Yes! Do I think we should be asking people to make those decisions every time they're going to the grocery store? No.

The choices quickly become overwhelming/infinitely complicated:
- Cows milk vs almond milk
- Zara vs Reformation
- New car w/ high MPG vs keeping your old car w/ low MPG
- Expensive chocolate bar w/ fancy certification vs Hershey's

What’s real? What’s greenwashing?

It can also have negative communications impacts. It puts climate action into a frame of withholding/sacrifice.

What do we have to give up to make a liveable world?
vs
How do we create a future that’s better than what we have now?

CLIMATE GUILT IS NOT PRODUCTIVE.

It also makes creates a scapegoat for companies who chalk up lack of action on climate to a lack of consumer demand.

I do believe in the power of personal choice. Every little bit can help. Every little bit connects us and educates us on our consumption, emissions, and the very way the fabric of our economy is embedded in fossil fuels.

But what's more important to me is that people educate themselves on climate change and vote/advocate for change on the local, state, and federal levels.

*steps down from soapbox*