Being even the slightest activist, there is something you will hear constantly: criticism. Especially regarding climate activism, I have heard endless streams of how one action contradicts the other, no matter what. It seems that these commentators are surprised that due to the capitalist-dominated society we live in, there is no way for an everyday person to be 100% carbon emission-free.
In the United States, things are run by the wealthy, many of whom only aim to accumulate piles and piles of money. While they make lucrative amounts of money, middle- and lower-class citizens like you and me rely on a fossil fuel-based system to just live. First, almost everything we own has been made through energy from fossil fuels. Just looking around at my desk right now, there countless items are made with plastic. In addition to common items, simple services like air conditioning, heating, transportation (public and private), and cooking all rely on gas. In California, it costs around $30,000 to install solar panels on your roof, an extreme price for many. Even then, the natural materials used to create the panels are extracted through exploitative labor. In addition to clean energy being largely unaffordable, purchasing expensive environmentally friendly and ethically made products such as clothes, electronics, and household items is unreasonable for many people. The cost barrier between lower-income communities and adapting to climate change is just one example of how perfect activism is unachievable.
The idea that you must be entirely carbon-independent is just a way to discourage you from taking any kind of action at all. Even deciding to take shorter showers or walk/bike to school are simple measures to minimize how much your carbon footprint accumulates over time.