The Woodside boss's attacks on my generation are blatant scapegoating – and we see straight through them
You're likely familiar with the term 'carbon footprint', which measures an individual's environmental impact. The concept communicates to consumers that we play a significant role in limiting the impacts of climate change through small daily personal choices. The carbon footprint has merit, encouraging the use of keep cups, the offsetting of emissions for a long-haul flight, improving our recycling habits, saving the planet one Tupperware container at a time. Yes, little things do add up. We have real impact.
When you realise this globally applied term was coined by an advertising firm working for British Petroleum, the landing changes.
The firm Ogilvy & Mather created the carbon footprint to deflect from the climate impact of fossil fuel giants and instead place members of the public under the microscope. If you shame a person's habits, you create division and distraction among the class of people threatening to take community action against you. It's as sinister as it is genius.
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On Tuesday, Meg O'Neill, the chief executive of Woodside, attacked young Australians for our 'ideological' stand when it comes to the fossil fuel industry. When speaking at the Australian Energy Producers conference, she said: 'It's been a fascinating journey to watch the discussion, particularly among young people who have this very ideological, almost zealous view of, you know, fossil fuels bad, renewables good, that are happily plugging in their devices, ordering things from [online fast-fashion stores] Shein and Temu – having, you know, one little thing shipped to their house without any sort of recognition of the energy and carbon impact of their actions … So that human impact and the consumer's role in driving energy demand and emissions absolutely is a missing space in the conversation.'
As a 26-year-old and a member of generation Z, I am proud to say I have never made a purchase from the fast-fashion stores O'Neill mentions. I will also be the first to admit that I am consuming more than I should be and have made purchases from questionable stores in the past. Acknowledging this flaw is important; we should all be striving to make more environmentally friendly choices. However, pointing out this prime example of a straw man argument is the more pressing point. This is the blatant scapegoating of young people while directly destroying our climate.
Meg O'Neill, is it easier to blame young people for 'plugging in their devices' than speak to Woodside's spilling of an estimated 16,000 litres of 'hydrocarbons' off Western Australia's north-west coast into the Indian Ocean just weeks ago? Yes, it may be a 'zealous' view that young people hold in wanting to stop your North West Shelf gas project, a potential 'carbon bomb' that would extend gas production until 2070, both exacerbating the climate crisis and risking ancient First Nations art at Murujuga. I would love to hear you explain how an individual buying a bathmat or earrings online compares with the 74m tonnes of CO2 that were emitted due to the sale and burning of Woodside gas last year alone.
While O'Neill thinks the 'missing space in the conversation' is the consumer's role in energy demand, I would argue the real silence in the discussion is how fossil fuel giants and the Albanese government justify approving projects that will drastically affect the planet my generation will inherit, and what part of your moral conscience allows you to blame us for it.
This relentless attempt to shift responsibility and divide us is no longer viable. We see through the spin, we can cut through the noise. There are many powerful young people advocating for a better world, one which values our planet more than the millions being funnelled into the bank accounts of big oil and gas bosses who would rather we kept quiet. If that is my ideological view, I'm fine with that.
Hannah Ferguson is the chief executive of Cheek Media Co.
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