Community Voices ⎸ The pragmatic case for climate optimism

By Charlie Sellars

In the mid-2000s, British Petroleum popularized the concept of the “Carbon Footprint.”

In the 20 years since, the environmental movement has widely and ironically adopted this framing — originally promoted by the oil and gas industry — for how to conceive of our individual environmental impact.

While the responsibility of reducing our carbon footprint has thankfully since extended to companies too (thanks to the international Greenhouse Gas Protocol), the original framing of “minimization” of our carbon footprint has nevertheless persisted.

Unfortunately, the philosophy of minimization is, psychologically speaking, easily tied to giving things up.
• What do I need to stop doing?
• What do I need to do less of?

This approach can lead to frustration or even shame, especially when comparing our actions against others:
• Why should I have to give up things I like when others aren’t?
• Why am I being judged for driving my gas car because I can’t afford (or don’t want) an EV?

And while the philosophy of minimization can galvanize some, it can also alienate others and lead to inaction. I call this climate doomism – the belief that nothing we do as individuals matters, so why do anything at all?

Unfortunately, in the eyes of the planet, climate doomism and climate denialism can be equally harmful. To the environment, the only thing that matters is whether the decisions we make as individuals and groups make the planet a better or worse place. 

But here’s the good news: what we do does still matter. The science shows there is still time to make an impact and to prevent the worst effects of climate change. I see this reinforced all the time in my day job as a sustainability leader. But how should we shift our mindsets?

Enter climate optimism.

How we can try to maximize our impact instead

Climate optimism invites us to take a different approach. Instead of shaming us into doing less to protect the environment, it asks us instead:
• How can I maximize my impact?
• What can I add to my life to help the planet?

When we take this optimistic approach, our opportunity for impact multiplies: rather than only trying to minimize our footprint at home, what if we could add sustainability into the places we spend our time that have even more reach, such as our work or our communities?

As a real-world example, I tried to apply this “maximize impact” mindset to the physical design of my book. I worked with the publisher to answer the question: “How many cool sustainability features can we add to the book?” And it turns out: the answer is a lot!

It was exciting to explore additions to my book to make it more environmentally-friendly: there were some obvious ones, such as adding recycled paper and vegetable-based inks. But there were also some that you wouldn’t expect, such as opting for sewn-thread binding over glued binding for better longevity. We even explored adding sustainable fonts that consume less ink! (Though sadly they didn’t fit with the graphic direction of the overall book.)

With this framing, climate optimism becomes a pragmatic solution to climate doomism. It’s not about feeling hopeless because we can’t do enough by ourselves, nor is it about burying our heads in the sand to ignore bad news. Rather, it is about reclaiming the joy that can come from becoming better stewards of our planet and using that joy to (re)inspire us to action.

Becoming empowered to be a climate optimist

Climate optimism is equal parts inspiration (the belief that what we do matters) and empowerment (having the tools to act upon that belief).

These ingredients are entwined in many ways. I’ve spoken to hundreds of people that have expressed that they don’t feel empowered on climate change, so they don’t feel inspired to act. 

Thankfully, from my time as a director of sustainability at Microsoft, I’ve been exposed to the industry’s most cutting-edge climate science and tools. And what I’ve learned is that recent advancements have given us profound insights to become empowered on climate change – but those tools have not yet fully diffused out to the average person (yet).

One such tool is the Life Cycle Assessment. It extends our understanding of the environmental impact of our products to include all the energy and emissions used in their supply chains on top of the energy involved with using and recycling the product. For simplicity, we can break the impact of our products into four categories:

The results from this new approach to measuring impact are astounding. For example, there is so much energy used to make and to move the phone you’re reading this article on, that you would need to use your device for over a decade before you matched the energy it took to originally make it. 

It’s not just electronics; there’s a hidden environmental cost in the making and moving of almost everything we use or consume in our daily lives (especially food). While this may shock us, this also affords us a more holistic view.

Herein lies the empowerment that underpins climate optimism; we are finally starting to see the data we need to feel confident that what we do matters. More companies than ever are using these frameworks to disclose the impact of their products. With that data can come the joy of pursuing the actions that we are personally fulfilled and excited by.

Maybe this is our invitation to learn a new skill and become tinkerers to repair our things, or our invitation to get creative in the kitchen, or to buy a fancy new electric heat pump.

Maybe this is our invitation to raise our hand at work to lead a plan to reduce waste, or to try adding a new green product to our store, or to even ask to build a sustainability plan.

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Or maybe this is our calling for civic engagement, perhaps by being thoughtful in town halls, weighing in during public comment periods, or galvanizing votes for climate-friendly politicians.

This is why I am a climate optimist. We have more tools than ever before in human history to embed sustainability into everything we might do. 

And while none of us can realistically do everything, all of us can at least do something. And when a lot of us do something, we might just be capable of everything.

Charlie Sellars is the author of “What We Can Do: A Climate Optimist’s Guide to Sustainable Living,” and a director of sustainability at Microsoft.

This column was edited by Jen Zettel-Vandenhouten.