Introduction In recent years there has been a veritable explosion of projects designed to enable individuals to `do their bit' in the struggle to limit climate change. Previously, the focus of action had been on states and firms, but in the early 2000s this started to be complemented by a focus on individual practice. For example, in 2006 the UK envi- ronment minister proposed a system of Personal Carbon Allowances (PCAs). Others have exhorted us to go on a low-carbon diet. There are now many organisations offering to help you measure and manage your carbon footprint, or to go `carbon neutral' through carbon offsetting. Community groups have established voluntary carbon rationing systems. All of these practices have been accompanied by a plethora of books focusing on `what you can do' to help limit climate change (eg Goodall, 2007; Marshall, 2007; Reay, 2006; Spence, 2005). The common denominator in all of these projects is the focus on individual practice in relation to climate change. We invoke the metaphor of `My Space' deliberately. It is suggestive of how the forms of individualisation in these projects simultaneously operate through the sorts of communicative rationality involved like those in `Web 2.0' technologies like MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, Jaiku, Tagged, and Flickr. At the same time the phrase implies the appropriation of climate change for an individual, almost narcissistic subject, who thinks of `his or her emissions' and his or her responsibilities regarding them. But this subject, while narcissistic, is also forced to problematise his or her practices through peer pressure, comparison, and communica- tion. It is perhaps not surprising that the logic of these practices and their diffusion are informed by the character of these social networking cultures. Both operate through a communicative logic of obsession with connection to and judgment by peers, through the sense of needing to be validated through one's public presence and approbation, and of course, through constant innovation in the creation of new commodities. My Space: governing individuals' carbon emissions Matthew Paterson School of Political Studies, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON K1N 6N5, Canada; e-mail: Matthew.paterson@uottawa.ca Johannes Stripple Department of Political Science, Lund University, Box 52, 221 00 Lund, Sweden; e-mail: Johannes.stripple@svet.lu.se Received 28 April 2009; in revised form 28 August 2009; published online 1 March 2010 Environment and Planning D: Society and Space 2010, volume 28, pages 341 ^ 362 Abstract. This paper examines the recent growth in projects designed to enable individuals to `do their bit' in the struggle to limit climate change. It discusses them in relation to a long-standing critique of trends towards individualisation amongst environmentalists. It suggests that this critique misses the complex way that subjects are produced by these practices and proposes to analyse subjectification in relation to climate change through the lens of governmentality. The paper then proceeds to examine five specific sorts of practice: carbon footprinting; carbon offsetting; carbon dieting; Carbon Reduction Action Groups; and Personal Carbon Allowances. By drawing on the concept of govern- mentality we show how contemporary forms of carbon government work through calculative practices that simultaneously totalise (aggregating social practices, overall greenhouse gas emissions) and individualise (producing reflexive subjects actively managing their greenhouse gas practices). doi:10.1068/d4109