It's like when the average person thinks they can make a difference, but they are one person in 350,000,000. What's the pollution share of an individual, just looking at that number? And the thing is, individual cars and personal air conditioners aren't the only cause of pollution... IIRC, I think the number was "7" ocean freighters pump out more sulfur emissions into the air than all automobile in the US, combined, and there are a lot more than 7 ocean freighters. Again, IIRC, industrial use was the 3rd cause of CO2 in the US, and lots comes from natural sources in the land, and lots come from a single random volcano at the bottom of the ocean that we never even knew about. And the US isn't the only polluter, we're the only major one who thinks about it. China was mentioned already today, but they are building a new coal plant
"every 7 to 10 days."
So no, the average American can do neither jack nor shit about the environment, the average individual American's impact on the environment is so minuscule that I think I have a way better chance kicking in $5 to Powerball a few times a year and winning than I have of making any kind of difference to the planet, and in fact, the cost of the electricity they use to share one facebook story after another about the environment is doing more harm than good than if they'd not be running a computing device.
People want to hate other people and be on a side and be afraid the sky is falling, they don't want to actually take any significant steps and make a difference.