Greenwashing the Blame: Why They Want You to Feel Guilty

Is your green lifestyle a scam? 😱♻️

Jun 20, 2025

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👋 Hi reader. What if everything you’ve been told about “doing your part” for the planet… was designed to distract you?

In today’s issue:
🚨 Why carbon footprints were invented by oil companies.
💸 Why green products don’t solve the problem — but green investments might.
⚠️ And why the Green Transition isn’t really about ethics — it’s about power and profit.

If you’ve ever felt guilty for not being “eco” enough, this post will set you free — and show you how to play a bigger game.

👉 The truth? You can’t recycle your way out of climate collapse. But you can reposition yourself to win this transition.

Let’s go. 🌍🔥💥

💼 Want help coping with the Transition to a War Economy?
Check out the Dual-Use Kickstart™.
A strategic toolkit to help you reposition your project, career, or business
in the age of green and dual-use innovation.

It’s short, practical, and powerful.
Ideal if you’re navigating uncertainty but want to act with clarity.

1. Greenwashing the Blame

Last week, I saw a post celebrating a woman for switching to shampoo bars.
She got 120 likes and 18 clapping emojis.

Yesterday, I saw a LinkedIn post celebrating someone for switching to bamboo toothbrushes.
It had 300 likes.

Meanwhile, Exxon posted a $10 billion profit and no one blinked.

Earlier, Shell posted €9.6 billion in quarterly profit.
Zero backlash.

We’re applauding people for refusing plastic straws while the real polluters profit in silence.

It’s not accidental.

Greenwashing isn’t just a marketing gimmick.
It’s a strategy to delay real economic transitions — and keep the green transition strategy out of reach.

You were never supposed to fix climate change alone.
But they want you to feel like you should.

Because guilt is the best distraction ever invented.

And while you sort your recycling, the real polluters get richer, unnoticed and unbothered.

And the planet keeps burning.

2. The Myth of Personal Impact (And the Power You’re Ignoring)

This is not your fault.

But if you keep believing it is, you’ll keep wasting your energy.

The biggest lie behind climate action?
That personal behavior can lead the transition.

It won’t.
At least, not alone.

And that belief, that your footprint matters more than your influence, is the core of today’s development traps.

Because it keeps you busy.
And it keeps the system exactly as it is.

This post isn’t about blame.
It’s about power during economic transitions.

Not the power of a bamboo toothbrush.
But the power to shift money, shape markets, and demand structural change.

The green transition strategy you need starts with this truth:
You’re not just a consumer — you’re a citizen, investor, and decision-maker.

And you’ve been underusing your leverage.

3. It’s Not You — It’s the System (And Here’s the Data to Prove It)

Let’s start with one fact:
Just 100 companies are responsible for 71% of global emissions since 1988 (CDP, 2017).

Read that again.
Not countries.
Not households.
Companies.

That means your decision to eat tofu or ride a bike doesn’t compete with ExxonMobil’s quarterly strategy.

3.1. Greenwashing 101: How They Sold You the Blame

Let’s start with a fact:
You didn’t invent the carbon footprint.

BP did.

In the early 2000s, the oil giant launched a global PR campaign
to shift responsibility from systems to citizens.

The goal?
Make climate change look like a personal lifestyle issue, not a structural one.

They spent millions on carbon calculators, guilt-inducing ads, and influencer messaging.

It worked.
Today, we’re still obsessing over plastic straws…
while fossil fuel profits break records.

This is textbook greenwashing…
not a solution, but a delay tactic that blocks real economic transitions.

And the longer we accept it,
the longer we stay stuck in a trap we didn’t build. (Kaufman, 2020).

3.2. You Can’t Out-Eat a Pipeline

Let’s be honest.
Your lifestyle helps, but it’s not the lever that matters most.

Avoiding beef saves around 0.8 tons of CO₂ per year.
Skipping one flight? Maybe 1.6 tons.

But switching a country’s energy grid to renewables?
That cuts millions of tons annually
(Wynes & Nicholas, 2017).

That’s the scale of a real green transition strategy.

When we focus only on personal action,
we ignore the structural reforms driving economic transitions.

Your choices count…
but they must align with system-level decisions to escape the illusion of control.

Without that shift,
we risk staying trapped in a low-impact loop.

Or worse…
feeling righteous while the system stays dirty.

3.3. Laws Move Faster Than Likes

Want real impact?
Forget going viral. Focus on structural rules.

A single carbon tax?
It reshapes entire industries.

One green public procurement law?
It flips entire supply chains overnight.

That’s how a green transition strategy works in the real world.

Meanwhile, most ESG branding campaigns?
They move hearts, not emissions.

We’re still applauding “green” slogans
while real change comes from carbon pricing, subsidies, and regulation.

This is where economic transitions begin:
when laws change how capital flows, not just how people shop.

That’s why smart businesses focus on compliance, not clout.
And citizens? They vote, not just recycle.

You don’t beat the climate crisis with a compostable fork.
You beat it with policy that redefines what gets built, funded, or banned (OECD, 2022).

3.4. Where Money Moves the Needle

Forget the tote bags.
Markets don’t respond to lifestyle, they respond to capital.

Sustainable investment is what actually shifts the system.

Green bonds.
Climate tech VC.
Sustainability-linked loans.

These aren’t buzzwords, they’re the engines of real economic transitions.

Investors are already forcing oil majors
to disclose climate risks and change strategy.

Lawsuits, divestment, and green finance
are reshaping entire industries.

So don’t just live green.
Invest green.

Move your pension.
Back sustainable funds.
Build leverage through capital.

Because if you want to make an impact,
money talks louder than moral branding.

3.5. Winners & Losers: The Green Transition Isn’t Neutral — It Picks Sides

Every transition creates winners and losers.
The green transition is no different.

Companies building batteries, renewables, and clean logistics?
They're scaling. Fast.

Fossil-heavy industries?
Losing capital, talent, and access to markets.

And it’s not just firms.
It’s entire countries.

Those with smart green transition strategies will lead.
Those without? Risk falling into modern development traps.

These are regions stuck in outdated models,
unable to attract green investment or policy support.

For individuals, too, this is a turning point.

Adapt now and benefit.
Or stay stuck… and pay more for everything from electricity to insurance.

This is no longer about ethics.
It’s about positioning.

3.6. The Consumption Trap: Greenwashing Disguised as Lifestyle

“Buy green” sounds smart.
But it often just means: buy more.

That’s the trap.
Greenwashing makes overconsumption feel virtuous.

Eco-products still consume resources.
They still create waste.
They still feed the same profit machine.

Worse, they often cost more, turning sustainability into a luxury habit for the few.

This illusion delays the green transition strategy we really need:
One based on structural reform, not upgraded shopping carts.

So no, you won’t solve climate breakdown with compostable forks and bamboo straws.

You’ll solve it by changing systems.
Not just your soap. (Hobson, 2002).

3.7. The Real Power Shift

This isn’t just about saving the planet.
It’s about who controls the future economy.

The real power shift?
It’s playing out in supply chains and strategic materials.

Lithium. Hydrogen. Rare earths.
They’re the new oil.

And whoever owns the infrastructure for solar, wind, storage, and grids
will lead the next wave of economic transitions.

The EU, U.S., and China know this.
That’s why they’re investing billions in green transition strategy, not slogans.

This is industrial policy, not personal virtue.

It’s about geopolitical positioning.
Not your reusable shopping bag.

So the question isn’t just “how do we go green?”
It’s “who profits, and who gets left behind?”

4. Yes, Individual Action Still Matters — But Not the Way You Think

Now, let’s be fair.
Your choices aren’t useless.

Eating less meat.
Flying less.
Switching to a green bank.

These things send signals.
They shift culture.
They normalize change.

But let’s not confuse a signal with a strategy.

Your efforts only move the needle when they amplify system-level pressure.

Individual action only matters when it feeds collective pressure.

Want to really help the planet?
Vote for climate legislation.
Push for sustainable procurement.
Fund climate litigation.

Support a real green transition strategy, not just lifestyle tweaks.

Because personal action, on its own,
can’t deliver the kind of economic transition this moment demands.

And if we stop at zero-waste living,
we give polluters all the time they need to keep winning.

5. Don’t Be a Consumer. Be a Power Player.

You were never meant to carry this burden alone.
And you shouldn’t.

Because personal virtue won’t stop climate collapse.
But power and capital might.

So stop asking, “What should I buy?”
Start asking, “Who profits and how do I influence that?”

That’s the mindset shift.
That’s the real green transition strategy.

Move your money.
Vote with intention.
Demand change, as a citizen, not just a shopper.

Because the real shift won’t come from bamboo forks.
It will come from procurement laws, ESG reforms, and green industrial policy (Amel-Zadeh & Serafeim, 2018 and OECD, 2022).

Sustainable investment is no longer optional.
It’s your lever. Use it.

The Green Transition is not a moral lifestyle.
It’s an economic revolution.

And the earlier you position yourself,
the more upside you’ll capture.

💬 I just explained my opinion on this. But I might be wrong. What’s yours?

Are we overrating personal action?
Or underrating how culture shapes policy?

🔥 Should we stop telling people to “do their part”
— or double down on collective guilt to build pressure?

👇 Leave a comment.

📊 Last week’s poll asked:

“What scares you most about going green?”
🎯 50% said: Getting fined by Brussels
💸 50% said: Spending too much (€€€)
🧩 Zero votes for “My startup won’t compete” or “It’s just a gimmick.”

Looks like we’ve got more fear of regulators than of rivals…
And more fear of costs than of being irrelevant.
Let’s fix that.