Will Individual Actions Do the Trick? Comparing Climate Change Mitigation Through Geoengineering Versus Reduced Vehicle Emissions

Abstract Geoengineering is the focus of a large debate over potential solutions to climate change. However, in the midst of geoengineering and other large‐scale proposals, such as reducing emissions at an industrial level, the role of individual actions to reduce emissions is often overlooked. Given the current and fast‐paced changes we have seen as emissions are reduced by COVID‐19 social distancing strategies, it is time to re‐examine the impact that individual actions can have. This paper considers how one individual action (reducing carbon dioxide emissions from gasoline‐fueled private vehicles), when adopted at a global scale, may have an effect that is comparable to the effects of geoengineering. This paper also argues that the role of geoengineering as a safeguard against climate change may be encouraging complacency and reducing motivation for individual action.