When I flew to France in August, I noted in my Paulson journal about the irony of participating in an environmentally-focused fellowship while traveling by plane. Using a carbon footprint calculator, I found that my flight here generated 0.79 metric tons of carbon. To offset the emissions produced by my travel, there are a few easy steps that I implement in my daily life. I walk whenever possible, and if not I take the bus instead of a taxi. I shop at farmer’s markets and buy locally-grown produce. I cook breakfast at home and pack a lunch to bring to university with me each day to avoid buying food with lots of single waste plastic.

While these lifestyle choices are important environmentally, individual actions rarely suffice to offset major emissions that come from air travel. While I will continue to live my life as environmentally as possible, I believe that it is more pertinent to focus on changing the practices of the biggest polluters, namely large industrial and manufacturing companies. Individual actions will never be enough to offset the massive pollution caused by these businesses, so it is incumbent upon them to take responsibility and enact change.