Individual Responsibility vs Social Reform

 Today, I mentioned to my granny that I was trying to fly as little as possible to reduce my carbon footprint. My uncle responded that that wouldn't make a difference, which started the well-worn discussion about the best way to tackle the climate crisis--to encourage individuals to reduce their carbon footprint or to push governments and states to take action. The easy answer is both--this is a battle that will have to be fought on many fronts, etc. etc. But, let's go over the arguments for either. The doctrine of individual responsibility has  a murky history as it was propagated by oil majors to obfuscate their own role in the climate crisis. From a tactical perspective, pushing a doctrine of individual responsibility can open the door to charges of hypocrisy from bad-faith actors as almost no one can lead a carbon-free lifestyle in the today's world. At the same time, there is no chance that the world can support the current ecological footprint of our class if everyone in the world had our class' standard of living. And, surely, we cannot advocate for some (actually a lot) of people to lead less comfortable lives than us. That is not a morally sound position. So, a non-sanctimonious approach to individual responsibility is that one is simply preparing for a substantially less comfortable low-carbon future. Also, if one spurns individual responsibility, surely it becomes difficult to argue that people should stop flying in private jets? Why should filthy-rich individuals not be exempt from individual responsibility for the climate crisis? However, I do feel its not simply that we should do both individual actions and agitate for systemic change. Its that we cannot do one without the other. The consumption decisions of individuals  in aggregate drive the capitalist engine, but individual actions might not add but not quickly enough to cause systemic change by itself. But, creating a critical mass of people agitating for systemic change that is not eco-fascistic requires people to acknowledge that climate change affects people to different degrees as individuals and that the biggest polluters will have to make the biggest sacrifices. Creating a low-carbon world would entail a radical reimagining of our wants and needs (and the line in between) as individuals.