There’s One Good Way to Think About Your Carbon Footprint

Moreover, purchasing power sends a message to businesses that you support their investment in a climate-friendly world. There’s even public opinion polling to back this up. “For years, we’ve been asking, ‘Would you reward or punish companies for their actions?’” says Anthony Leiserowitz, director of the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication, whose team has identified a growing consumer base that is “rewarding and punishing companies for their action or inaction on climate change.” Even more people would like to do this, Leiserowitz says, but they don’t know how. “When we asked, ‘Why don’t you?’, the number one answer by far is: ‘I don’t know what companies to reward or punish.’”