5.4 Summary of Section 5

The main learning points from Section 5 are:

• There are limits to the ability of individuals and households to reduce their carbon footprints, because they don’t directly control decisions about the production and distribution of the goods and services they consume.
• Even so, individuals can take actions to help reduce emissions as citizens and/or as active members of community organisations, pressure groups or workgroups.
• There are still many actions concerning the environment and climate change beyond the control of individuals, households and communities (‘I’ and ‘we’). These require action by governments and business at local, national and international levels (‘they’).