Should individuals switch to heat pumps despite systemic pollution?
I've been tracking my household's carbon footprint for three years now, and the biggest chunk by far isn't my car or my flights—it's the natural gas I use for heating and hot water. Switching to a heat pump would cut that by 70%, but the upfront cost is around $15,000 after rebates. Is individual action like this even meaningful when 100 companies are responsible for 71% of global emissions? I sometimes feel like we're being told to recycle while the real polluters get a pass. But then again, if everyone waited for the system to change, nothing would ever shift. Where do you draw the line between personal responsibility and systemic change?