If individual behaviour didn’t matter, Canada wouldn’t have 307% of global per capita emissions, and the US wouldn’t have 285% while Finland only has 118% and Sweden has only 71% of the world average.
I picked those European countries in particular because they’re rich, have cold winters, and have a low population density in a lot of the country.
The reality is that the US and Canada are decades behind Europe when it comes to these things. Sure, this guy in panel 2 is telling his kid to recycle, but Americans never took recycling seriously. Meanwhile in Zurich you have separate bins for green glass, brown glass, clear glass, along with the normal paper and plastic. If you don’t want to recycle, you can do that, but it’s going to cost you. You have to buy expensive special garbage bags to throw out anything that you don’t recycle.
In panel 3 the guy is shown with a bike, but less than 0.5% of people bike to work. Meanwhile, in Finland, it’s about 10% of people who commute by bike.






It really seems to me like many people really want to recycle and make a difference if they can, they just need a gentle nudge, or for it to not be too difficult. It’s just that other people don’t want to feel bad about not recycling, so they speak out against any change that makes it easier. Then there are the idiots who are in denial and think climate change is a hoax.