People consistently say they don’t do what they believe is right regarding pollution and depletion because it won’t change the system.

I point out that independent of what anyone else does, their personal pollution and depletion will hurt people who have not consented. They rarely even minimally decrease their pollution and depletion.

I’m curious what people think they would have done under slavery, the Holocaust, Stalinism, or other dominance hierarchy.

If you found yourself magically transported to being in the group that owned slaves in a slave culture—say to become a plantation owner in the US South—would you have freed your slaves even if you knew that nobody else would and your actions wouldn’t change the system, but you would reduce the suffering of the people you enslaved?

How about in the Holocaust: would you have helped Jews, Gypsies, or others, even if you knew that nobody else would and your actions wouldn’t change the system, but you would reduce the suffering of the people you helped?

How about in a comparable situation under Stalin?

If you believe you would have acted then, what are you doing now? Do you believe it would have been easier then, or that you could have made a bigger difference then? How hard is it to avoid packaged food or vacation without flying? Do you think buying local, fresh, in-season produce and avoiding factory farmed products risks your life as much as, say, sheltering a family like Anne Frank’s or helping people as Schindler did?

If you aren’t acting now but you say and believe you would have acted then, might you be lying to yourself? Might it be worth it for you to reconsider your life choices regarding pollution and depletion, and hurting people who didn’t consent?

• ← Environmentalists argue against sustainability with me