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this post was submitted on 10 Jun 2024
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The memes of the climate
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There is very little we can do when the primary producers or pollution are oil companies and our leaders are not willing to hold them accountable.
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Are you driving a car?
Ok, stopped going to work and am now fired. I guess I'll starve to death in a few weeks. That should reduce my impact on the climate.
Do you try to minimize your reliance on driving a car or do you throw your hands up and claim that other people need to change, not you?
This agenda of personal responsibility is exactly what keeps us from holding the true guilty parties accountable. This is like saying the abuser isn't the abuser, because you can go to therapy or leave any time. But we can't leave any time.
Love,
A work from home vegan.
What is your objective, to hold people accountable or to save the planet? Saying that individuals are responsible for the majority of climate emissions is not about shifting blame. Oil companies and bad luck (society picked fossil fuels before we really understood climate change) are to blame, but now we have to switch to damage control mode and that falls on individuals (and the government and corporations, but in a democratic free market society those both wrap back around to individuals anyways). It's just the hand that we have been dealt.
Advocating for zoning reform and reducing car dependency isn't exactly the "agenda of personal responsibility". We can make a difference in our communities and use that as a springboard to pressure politicians to make change.
It's not one or the other, it's both. Just because your reducing your climate impact is negligible doesn't mean you shouldn't try and do it.
I think it's the opposite. It's the agenda of "it's someone else's problem" is what's holding us back. It's almost a classic case of the prisoners dilemma where individuals (both people and corporations) make the decision that is less favorable for everyone overall because they are afraid of what happens if they make the best decision and no one else does.
We all have a responsibility, and if we individuals all start making better choices, then some corporations will cater to that, and it can snowball.
It's not an either or scenario. It's if we want to get there fast, which we need to, everyone rushing there right now is the best...while waiting around for others to solve the problem will not get us there fast enough.
Personal responsibility was an ad campaign created by the oil industry. Every American could reduce their carbon footprint by 90% and we still wouldn't make a dent in the carbon large corporations create.
I still actively reduce my footprint, but no matter what I do, until we hold corporations accountable it doesn't fucking matter.
Nah that isn't true though. The biggest emitters are utilities and oil companies. Cut your fossil fuel usage and the rest follows from there.
You guys act like those corporations sell if there is no demand.
It's not one or the other. It's both. We all have to change, individuals and corporations. It's the "well I don't have to do anything" people that are a big part of the problem too.
Are you an Italian actor portraying a stereotypical Native American with a single tear running down your face, being paid by big oil?
"has different opinion than me. Must be paid actor" -super genius
I was referring to the "crying Indian" ad.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iron_Eyes_Cody
I hate going out so I drive less than most people I know. It's basically to work and back and I try to make any other stops for stores and such during that commute. Not sure what more I can do than that.
You can get involved in local politics and support zoning reform. Lookup strong towns, they probably have an initiative in your area.
Depending on where you live it may not be reasonable for you to ditch your car, but you can still change your mindset. You can buy an ebike and ride it whenever possible. You can advocate for bike infrastructure and zoning reform. Its a massive uphill battle but if you genuinely care about climate change you can add your voice to the cause.
Wow this makes a lot of assumptions about privilege and class/financial circumstances.
Not everyone lives in an area where bikes are feasible.
As little as possible. I walk, take public transit or bike when safe and possible instead of driving a car. My partner and I only own 1 car as well since I need it so infrequently.
With that said, the fact that we have created such car dependent cities and towns are the direct result of oil and car companies. So they created an environment that requires people to use a car, so beyond the pollution they generate, they have forced us into a system where we have to create pollution to live. So they are still the ultimate root cause, but nice try
Great job on limiting your carbon emissions.
I think the argument of who is the "ultimate root cause" is kinda irrelevant at this stage as far as actually saving the planet goes. But when the "the vast majority of carbon emissions come from 10 companies" or whatever factoid gets brought up, usually the context is that individual contributions are meaningless. And that totally isn't true. It would be like smokers saying the tobacco industry is the ultimate root cause for their smoking addiction due to their false propaganda and advertising. Okay, that may well be true... but it's still their responsibility to quit.
Smoking is a single habit that a large percentage of people have no problem never being tempted to do.
Unsustainable practices pervade societ in a way that requires real education and lifestyle changes to avoid. It's not enough to "just stop polluting," you first need to learn how to. The fact that beef is unsustainable, that other meats are still far less sustainable than a plant-based diet, that some plant-based foods are still unsustainable. Where to get the sustainable plant-based food without them being packaged in disposable plastic -- and at prices you can afford, at the job you work at where commuting doesn't require a private vehicle. Learning that basically everything sold online from overseas is unsustainable, especially most of the stuff that advertises itself as sustainable. Learning to be content with what you have, unless it's a gas-powered dryer because wouldn't a heat pump clothes dryer be better? But really you should air dry your clothes!
Unsustainability isn't a single habit like smoking, it's entire lifestyle and thought patterns and ignorance and you have to learn about it all and change deeply ingrained habits. That's why blaming the individual is so unproductive. Governments should have responded to the danger of climate change a long time ago but chose not to, even actively accelerating it for profit. The failure lies there.
Again- this isn't about blaming the individual. I agree individuals are largely not to blame (the exception being people that know they are living an extremely unsustainable lifestyle that harms the planet and they just don't care).
My point is that, even having been dealt a bad hand, individuals still have the power to make a real difference by making environmentally conscious decisions. Therefore the narrative that corporations are to blame and therefore individual contributions don't matter is not true.