It's easy to blame consumers. We have too much junk and get a little endorphin boost when we buy more. But the reality is, evil companies are far, far worse than we know. Here's a few reasons why:

• They often lobby to have our choices removed so we need to use their product. Coal energy hasn't made financial sense in a long time, yet we still use it.

• Evil companies will do anything to save even pennies. Paper companies dumped pcbs directly into rivers for decades. At the consumer level, we didn't know this was happening. They have lobbied to push back against EPA regulations like CAFE

• The recycling logo gets put all plastics... Even though most of it isn't actually recyclable. Again, a mirage from evil companies.

• Mergers have shrunk our choices further. Almost everything in the grocery store down to just 10 companies.

I could go on, but the point is that at the consumer level we often don't have a choice. Or there's too much smoke behind the scenes for us to make an informed choice. Companies are polluting because it makes them more money, not because it saves us any.