On the other hand, there’s a dangerous belief that emissions are something corporations do for their own greedy purposes; if they can be curtailed, ordinary peo

On the other hand, there’s a dangerous belief that emissions are something corporations do for their own greedy purposes; if they can be curtailed, ordinary people could go about their lives in peace. This is backwards. It is consumer preferences - to drive an SUV to a detached house in suburbia, to fly home for Thanksgiving, to eat meat, etc. which inherently require massive amounts of energy. Polluting corporations happen to be the mechanism for fulfilling these demands under capitalism. If we expressed our preferences by voting instead of spending, it could just as easily be the state doing the polluting. To really address the issue requires disempowering and disenfranchising average people, denying us our customary and preferred lifestyles. This is a monumentally difficult thing to do in a system that requires the consent of the governed. Giving up your lifestyle vs. voting to give up your lifestyle (even if indirectly, by crippling the companies that provide its constituent parts) are not too different.