Individualism, Structuralism, and Climate Change. Issue 2 (17th February 2022)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Brownstein, Michael; Kelly, Daniel; Madva, Alex
• Is Part Of: Environmental communication. Volume 16:Issue 2(2022)
• Page Start: 269
• Page End: 288
• Publication Date: 2022-02-17
• Subjects: Structural change -- individual action -- mitigation -- decarbonization; Communication in the environmental sciences -- Periodicals; 333.7
• DOI: 10.1080/17524032.2021.1982745
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1752-4032

Abstract

ABSTRACT: Scholars, journalists, and activists working on climate change often distinguish between "individual" and "structural" approaches to decarbonization. The former concern choices individuals can make to reduce their "personal carbon footprint" (e.g. eating less meat). The latter concern changes to institutions, laws, and other social structures. These two approaches are often framed as oppositional, representing a mutually exclusive forced choice between alternative routes to decarbonization. After presenting representative samples of this oppositional framing of individual and structural approaches in environmental communication, we identify four problems with oppositional thinking and propose five ways to conceive of individual and structural reform as symbiotic and interdependent.