Discussion of climate, how it is changing, activism around that, the politics, and the energy systems change we need in order to stabilize things.
As a starting point, the burning of fossil fuels, and to a lesser extent deforestation and release of methane are responsible for the warming in recent decades:
How much each change to the atmosphere has warmed the world:
Recommended actions to cut greenhouse gas emissions in the near future:
Anti-science, inactivism, and unsupported conspiracy theories are not ok here.
I'm sorry but these things drive me bonkers angry
You can't ask billions of people to do shit whilst < 2700 billionaires refuse to do shit because they need their private jet to buy an apple. You can't ask me to do a huge thing with zero impact whilst oil companies actively sabotage every effort to improve the climate so that shareholders can get that extra dollar.
Free solar panels for everyone.
Free heat pumps for everyone.
We need everyone on free clean electricity now and cut all natural gas lines to homes, businesses and factories. Nothing else comes close to the impact of those and it will drive a change in other sectors like transportation when there is free clean electricity everywhere.
Stop buying so much plastic bullshit. Funkos, random knick knacks. Stop buying so much fast food. Stop driving to the end of the block. Those tips alone would probably have a observable impact if literally everyone was on board.
What if every company did something?
I mean if every one stopped ordering from temu, it's already one problem solved and we move to the next one
What if everybody did something to slow or reverse climate change? Like organize democratically to overthrow capitalism.
A better standard of living could be achieved with 30% of current production because of how incredibly wasteful and redundant capitalist production is. That leaves a ton of headroom for treats, and we can still strike a metabolic balance with our planet.
Sounds good. I'll start by telling all my corporations that blast the majority of CO2 emissions worldwide into the air to slow it down a bit.
They're mostly not blasting it directly; they're selling fossil fuels for others to blast. Changing how you commute or heat your home helps change social norms around those and lowers the rate of emissions
By God, you're right! It was me all along. I am to blame for Climate Change! Sorry guys. I'll stop Climate Change this instant. Sorry again.
I'm not saying that either. But we are at the point where it takes people showing neighbors the changes that everybody needs to make.
Good start. Then go vegetarian of even vegan and you should be good ;-)
That's all it took. The crisis has actually been over for ages ever since I have stopped eating meat. I've done it.
you should be good
Good news, the planet is now no longer on a direct course towards being rendered inhabitable due to being destroyed for profit. I. AM. GOOD.
Problem solved. Thank you so much on behalf of all future generations of the planet.
I could tell you the facts, like how stopping eating meat is one of the easiest ways to make a huge change. I could give you some studies, show you how almost every report on climate change in the last 15 years has listet going more plant based is part of their recommendations. But you know what? I'm just fucking over with people that aren't grown up enoth to even do the slightest little change in their lives.
We deserve the future that awaits us.
I'm slightly fed up with being promised that going meat free will get me a livable planet when I retire because I have fucking delivered my end of the bargain. I want my livable planet now.
It's like
"You can improve our situation if you grab a thimble and start scooping water out of the boat now."
"There's still the giant hole in the hull that brings in a lot more water than my little thimble can deal with. What do we do about that?"
"Shut up and keep scooping :D"
Yeah. The beef thing has become the main call to action while ignoring that beef consumption has been falling since the 70's. It's also not clear how much of that carbon is part of the existing carbon cycle.
The solution is adding less carbon to the existing cycle which means stopping pumping including and especially "natural" gas.
Everything else is performative.
Only when we stop adding it to our environment can we have any hope at sequestration.
That’s cool, could we also compare that to what would happen if the wealthy and corporations also put in their fair share of individual action too?
Having a consumer base that is aware of and cares about the environment is going to help a lot on that regard.
BP oil company pushed the idea that our individual carbon footprints matter so that everyone can share the blame of what the fossil fuel industry has done.
Don’t fall for it. Only corporations pollute enough to matter. Only corporations can provide alternatives to fossil fuels. Only corporations can make a meaningful reduction to greenhouse gas emissions.
The most significant difference individuals can make is to create political and legal pressure by voting and protesting.
Not only that, but only collective action and politics can give people the choices they need to reduce climate change.
It's no use telling people not to drive if there's no public transport system. And people can't individually will their energy to have a generation mix.
BP oil company pushed the idea that our individual carbon footprints matter so that everyone can share the blame of what the fossil fuel industry has done.
The article discusses this, yes - along with how the carbon footprint is a good metric for individual consumption even if corporate propaganda abuses it.
The most significant difference individuals can make is to create political and legal pressure by voting and protesting.
I agree with you that political action is vital. I don't agree that it's necessarily more significant than personal action. Feminists used to say "the personal is political", and it's still true. How you act in private demonstrates your commitment to the values you endorse in public and gives your voice more weight when you speak your values.
If you reduce your personal footprint, but never talk about it or encourage other people to do the same, your impact is limited to yourself. If you reduce your personal footprint, and make your actions contagious by talking about them with people you know and encouraging them to do the same, you can impact many more people, encourage them to follow your lead and reduce their footprint, and then they can encourage others to reduce their footprint, and so on and so forth.
Limiting the damage from climate change takes collective action. And collective action requires a community, and a community requires communication.
If you assume you are a lone individual and your personal decisions have no effect on anyone else, it's easy to imagine reducing your personal footprint is meaningless. If you see yourself as part of a community, and by reducing your personal footprint you encourage others in your community to do the same, you can see how much larger your impact can be.
The fossil fuel industry has spent a lot of money making us dependent on them. They have been so successful that the majority of us would not be able to survive without their products whether it be to get to work, power our cities, heat our buildings, etc.
So what’s a realistic approach to the problem:
Getting billions of individuals to change across the planet? Which requires most of them and their families to die?
Or
Changing a few dozen companies?
How do you expect to change those few dozen companies?
Especially if the majority of us really wouldn't be able to survive without them?
By voting and protesting to get a revenue neutral carbon tax passed. Passing legislation to end our dependence on fossil fuels. Creating the political will to hold fossil fuel companies accountable for the damage they’ve done. Taking their profits and use it to fund the work needed transition everyone away from fossil fuels not just those that can afford it.
So what’s a realistic approach to the problem:
Getting billions of individuals to change across the planet? Which requires most of them and their families to die?
AND
Changing a few dozen companies.
Changes like this don't happen in an empty space. If you have an Eco aware consumer base it help a lot.
Your plan is to require every individual on the planet to make sacrifices that could kill them and their loved ones? You think that’s actually achievable?
Did you forget we couldn’t even get everyone to wear masks during the pandemic?
Of course that plan would never work. We can prove it by showing that greenhouse gas emissions have still been increasing after the fossil fuel industry started this carbon footprint marketing campaign.
Changes like this don't happen in an empty space. If you have an Eco aware consumer base it help a lot.
No one is saying we don’t want eco aware consumers and the top polluting companies on the planet are not “an empty space”.
This is a systemic problem that requires political and legal action to fix.
Paper straws don’t reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Your plan is to require every individual on the planet to make sacrifices that could kill them and their loved ones? You think that’s actually achievable?
No. I complete not registered the second half of your sentence while quoting it. No fucking idea how that happend. Complete brain fart on my end.
Conclusion of the article sums it up best:
"Our true responsibility is to use our choices as political agents in the world to try to shift power, take power away from the people who are blocking the transition away from fossil fuels and give it to people who will lead into a livable future," [Genevieve Guenther, the author of “The Language of Climate Politics”] said.
Do what you can by yourself, sure, but only as a supplement to doing the hard work to solve the problem via collective and political action.
I agree.
But the corporations and companies that have done most of the polluting need to clean their messes up if there's going to be any change.
You, nor my neighbor, nor any of our friends dumped so much crap into nearby rivers and lakes that everything is poisoned. The corporations and companies did it.
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/08/22/business/starbucks-ceo-commute-jet-brian-niccol.html
Don’t forget, that he could just move like the rest of the employees had to.
All who works for a big company and do all they shit for them are not better than the corporatives. Follow orders is a coise.