Corporations promote individual-focused solutions, the 'I-frame,' which they know are ineffective. BP popularized the personal carbon footprint to distract from their systemic impact and lobby against regulations that would actually force change.
Our identities, such as gender, aren't purely internal; they are social constructs defined by communities. They only become 'real' when they are affirmed through our interactions and relationships. We become who we are if people engage with us as if we are.
Many well-intentioned 'nudges' are ineffective at a systemic level. For example, defaulting consumers into green energy tariffs doesn't create new renewable energy; it simply reallocates the existing supply to different customers, resulting in no net progress.
While a defined identity provides comfort and coherence, it comes at the cost of freedom. The self is constructed within relationships and communities, which means it limits our ability to be, do, or say what we want outside of those socially affirmed expectations.
The same psychological bias that makes us resist systemic change can be a blessing. Once a new, better system is in place (like seatbelt laws or smoking bans), this bias helps us quickly adapt to and embrace the new normal, making the change permanent and widely accepted.