“70% of greenhouse gas emissions are generated by 100 companies.”

I first heard this statement in the summer of 2017. The shock of it started a feedback loop in my head. Three simple, distinct questions emerged, loud and clear:

1. Who are these companies?

2. Why are they not taking action?

3. How does change happen?

Answering the first question was easy. The names on the list show energy companies. Coal, Oil & Gas — all the usual suspects. They drill and mine and refine the fuel (still somehow) required to run modern human life. Mainstream philosophy around climate change often focuses on the impact of consumers, on things individuals can control and choose in their daily lives, ignoring the huge emissions from energy companies. The Big 100 are carbon-colored elephants in the room.

Yes — Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. It all helps. Driving EVs, demanding ‘Certified Sustainable’ labels, and banning plastic shopping bags are easier signals of virtue and change by consumers. But the major impacts happen further upstream, behind the scenes, where the essential power of humanity is made:

Big, unsexy, global energy production.