What If People Don’t Need to Care About Climate Change to Fix It?
What If People Don’t Need to Care About Climate Change to Fix It?
“I think the debates on climate change are far too politicized, and that’s doing a disservice to making progress,” says researcher Hannah Ritchie.
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We can't fix it. We have no power. I'm a vegetarian. How many animals have I saved? Did they shut down the factory farms? Have I made an impact? I quit driving. Has the air gotten cleaner? Global temperature gone down? I don't take vacations. I rarely leave my home. What's gotten better through my piddling sacrifice? Nothing. There's no point in any of it. Capitalism won. Greed won. The poorly educated won. It's over.
one comment that came up in the context of yet another of the Blizzard scandals – “You, as an individual, boycotting Blizzard will have no noticeable effect on their bottom line, BUT it will have far more of an effect on your ability to live with yourself.”
Yeah that's how you cope. That's the feel good and superiority people really wanted when they take a stance. World's burning, but I'm a good person! The world is still burning.
People doing something SHOULD feel good, because they are trying, even if it fails, if that's a 'cope' than whatever. Would you rather the world burn and everyone still be a dick?
i think we should organize better to have actual impact as a group.
we are many and they are a few, the idiots in the middle can always be swayed to the side of truth.
I disagree. We should do what's right because it is right not because it makes us feel good. That's why we're on the situation we're in. People will not give up their comforts to make things better for the planet and by extension its people.
I didn't say they should do things because they feel good, but it's natural to feel good if you've done something that helps others. My mom drilled it in my head well, that we do what's right because it's the right thing to do, not for any reward even praise or celebrity or whatever.
Yes, we can; and we do it by achieving the power to set the rules of society so that people do the right thing by default, whether or not they care
I was young once too.
You can't vote the right people in because the system is set up and run by the wrong people. Choice is an illusion just as any perceived power is.
This depends a lot upon which country.
The path to power in some is indeed determined by elections. Not all, and some countries are mixed, like the US, where gerrymandering limits the impact of elections in large areas
We can't fix it. We have no power. ... There's no point in any of it. Capitalism won. Greed won. The poorly educated won.
Developed countries are getting more of their power from renewables every year. Solar and wind are now more cost effective than fossil fuels for bulk generation. The US has lowered its GHG emissions 3% by reducing dependence on coal this year.
Most importantly, policies that encourage renewable use are coming into effect. The next few years should see gradual declines in GHG output.
It's over.
There is no "over". As long as we keep emitting, we need to cut back. We'll find a sustainable level eventually - it's only a question of when.
Whatever you need to tell yourself to keep at it.
There's no need to be harmful, if you've given up you don't need to encourage others to do the same. But as others have said it's far from over, we are only still able to fight because so many of us are trying to do something. If we had no ability to change anything, the capitalists wouldn't work so hard to keep us sequestered and depressed.
Actually very good point and excellent use of the word sequestered
I'm not being harmful. I'm saying things you don't want to hear because your values are the opposite. We're still fighting issues that have plagued the world for generations. Any progress you see only comes before 3 steps backward. I get that you draw comfort from the idea that you and others make a difference, but objectively you've done nothing.
How can you say objectively people have done nothing? There is no control to base such a statement on, there is no way to know where we would be as a society without people doing the things they have done. Related to climate, without any fights for protections where do you think levels of industrial pollution would be today? If you see no progress at all maybe your time frame is too limited.
What do you even think my values are? I saw another comment of yours says we should do what is right because it's what's right, not because it's what feels good. I agree with that sentiment, I don't think our values are so different but I don't know. Even if we are defeated and climate collapse and global authoritarian tyranny or whatever hellscape is inevitable at this point, what else do we have to do? I would rather know I did what I could than give up too soon.
If we win this, it'll be due to the effort of people like you making that sacrifice, so thank you.
I saw an research years ago saying that donating for a ngo or militating politically in a party was more effective than recycling or going vegetarian. This issue would not be fixed individually as neo liberalism tries to sell to us, we have to make big polluters accountable and also, transitioning to green energy is expensive, only governments and big companies can do it
Hey! You're just like me! A vegetarian with a minimalist lifestyle! It might not help the planet much, but it certainly helps my bank account. I own a house and have 6 figures in savings while most people my age are still paying off student loans.
Consumerism and living in constant debt are just too normalized. The very idea of companies like uber eats blows my mind, and yet it's a successful company. Not only are you going to pay a lot of money for something you could make yourself for very little, but you're also going to pay even more for someone to bring it to you when getting it yourself is essentially free?? I'm not being cheap, I'm being efficient! How many companies need to be put in-between you and eating food?
You can't expect to fix systemic problems with individual action. But you can hope to. Hope is a powerful motivator even if it is not necessarily rational. We rarely run on logic, usually action is spurred by our emotions.
Accepting defeat is counterproductive. Progress is made by people being willing to fight for their ideas whether in a metaphorical or a real sense. People died to fight for a 40 hour work week. People died to fight against slavery. People died to fight for democracy and free speech.
Or more accurately, they were and continue to be killed (sacrificed) in an attempt to uphold the status quo.