this post was submitted on 28 Jul 2023
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[–] tasty4skin@lemmy.world 90 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (21 children)

The narrative that the average joe is to blame for this shit is so infuriating to me. Myself and 50,000 other people could start walking everywhere and it very likely wouldn’t come close to offsetting the emissions of Amazon’s fleet of trucks.

Yes individual consumption matters, but there’s a very small group of individuals called billionaires that contribute 1000x more than you or I ever could. BP invented the idea of the individual carbon footprint.

[–] SCB@lemmy.world 40 points 1 year ago (8 children)

The average person is the reason Amazon exists, so... That's still on the average person.

This is what people miss in this false dichotomy. Businesses only exist because demand exists. Countries need to start passing unpopular things like Carbon Taxes to seal the deal against climate change by hitting consumer demand and raising prices

[–] steltek@lemm.ee 8 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Oddly enough, without changing buying habits or consumer demand, I think the Amazon truck is a superior option.

  • Instead of thousands of individual trips to the store for small things, a single vehicle delivers everything
  • Instead of many hyper-local stores packed with things that may or may not eventually be sold, only things that have been purchased are shipped and transported

The trick, as you said, is to change consumer behavior and people balk at doing that, especially when it will cost more and income inequality hits harder than ever. Tax the rich, level the playing field, and the rest gets much easier.

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[–] wandermind@sopuli.xyz 4 points 1 year ago (3 children)

I'm not demanding products which harm the environment made using methods which harm the environment. Businesses make the choice to produce those things instead of carbon-neutral environmentally friendly products, so they are more at fault than the individual who buys the thing. It's extremely difficult for an individual to be able to uncover the environmental implications of everything you buy and do. The only real solution is to pass laws which properly account for the harmful externalities in the production cost, such as carbon tax. That will steer both businesses and consumers towards more sustainable decisions.

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[–] DoctorTYVM@lemmy.world 15 points 1 year ago (7 children)

If you want to kill BP, stop buying oil. The Amazon fleet is about 70,000 vehicles and they're transitioning to electric right now.

Consumers drive markets. Mega corporations aren't polluting for the fun of it. They do it because it's a byproduct of them taking our money. Stop giving them money and they stop polluting. Why else would they stop?

[–] BarrelAgedBoredom@lemmy.world 19 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (12 children)

"Voting with your dollar" is bullshit. Just stop buying oil? Ok, let me go to the no oil store and buy a new car that doesn't run on gas and isn't made with any plastic. Let me spend my entire 5 dollars worth of disposable income to buy a new vehicle. And then take that vehicle to the store that has 0 petroleum products. No cans lined with PFAS, no plastic bags, no plastic packaging, no products made entirely of plastic. Never fly again in your life, or take the bus. Don't you even think about eating out again. Live life as a hermit, make your own goods, provide your own services and maintinence to yourself to ensure an oil free existence. Better start soon too, the planets only getting hotter. Rinse and repeat x8,000,000,000.

Markets are driven by capital. Those with the most capital have the greatest influence. Your pittance of a wage isn't going to change a damn thing. 10% of the global population has 52% of the purchasing power. Even if the other 90% of us all united together at once, about a single thing, we still wouldn't have the purchasing power to overwhelm them. You can't reform a system that's made to perpetuate consumption and pollution. It's cheaper to pollute by design. Do you think it's a coincidence that bills meant to make polluting more expensive either don't get passed or are so rife with loopholes they're effectively useless? Pull your head out of your ass. If there was ever a time this shit show could be reformed, it's long gone.

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[–] raltoid@lemmy.world 11 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

While true that they're not polluting for fun, many corporations will try to avoid any anti-pollution measure that will lose them money. To the point where they spend billions of dollars every year to lobby governements, enviromental protection organizations, and drag out regulations with lawsuits. Because in the long run it's usually worth it for them to pollute, as long as the investors see enough profits in the short term.

[–] DoctorTYVM@lemmy.world 5 points 1 year ago

Of course they will. Corporations do not care. They will only do things that make them money. Either because governments threaten to take away their money. Or because markets change and they're no longer making money so they have to change.

We have seen this with so so so many industries over the centuries. Consumers change behaviours and businesses move to fit their needs. If everyone here started eating less meat there would be more investment in plant based ideas. Because they don't care about what the impacts of their company are. They care what you and I are buying.

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[–] NikkiDimes@lemmy.world 10 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Not to support Amazon, but those trucks on optimized delivery routes are likely better for the environment than individials each driving their own cars to box stores...

[–] tasty4skin@lemmy.world 13 points 1 year ago (1 children)

If only we had some nationalized way to deliver parcels on an optimized route…

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[–] aeternum@kbin.social 7 points 1 year ago (2 children)

you do realise that these companies do these things because customers buy them, right? If you didn't buy stuff on amazon, there wouldn't be any amazon trucks around.

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[–] norawibb@sh.itjust.works 7 points 1 year ago (1 children)

either way the average joe is gonna need to do something cuz the billionaires wont. lets just kill them

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[–] kromem@lemmy.world 6 points 1 year ago (2 children)

You existing is why those companies use that energy.

I agree that it's BS to put the blame on the average person's behavior.

But the blame is on us collectively.

We use a lot of energy.

[–] tasty4skin@lemmy.world 10 points 1 year ago

Those companies are the reason that energy isn’t produced with cleaner alternatives like nuclear, wind, or solar

[–] golamas1999@lemmy.world 10 points 1 year ago

Billionaires and corporations lobby governments and donate to superPACs(legal bribery) to have them promote their business interests and protect their capital.

Infinite growth is not sustainable on a finite planet. The billionaires aren’t going to save us. Buying stuff is not going to save us. Neoliberalism and Capitalism is not going to save us.

[–] placq@lemmy.world 4 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I think that billionaires are some kinde of problem but megacorps (big 9, Nestle, cocacola, fashion industry) are much worst :(

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[–] volodymyr@lemmy.world 4 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Hate to be devils advocate here, but even if billionaires contribute 1000x each, there is just one of them for 1000x1000x1000x1000x people so in total their contribution does not matter. What matters is their business choices which favor unsustainable practies for billions of people, so eventually they have a huge effect, just not directly.

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[–] sshff@lemmy.sdf.org 45 points 1 year ago (3 children)

I’m sure this will spur society to prioritise the future viability of our species survival and the state of the environment over short term quarterly profits right? … right?

[–] explodIng_lIme@lemmy.world 20 points 1 year ago (1 children)

This and other jokes you can tell yourself

[–] donut4ever@lemm.ee 8 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (6 children)

People won't care until it's in their backyard. A couple of ads from BP and they'll blame themselves a bit then start "recycling" their water bottles not knowing that recycling is bullshit.

[–] aeternum@kbin.social 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

most of australia's recycling ends up in Indonesia being melted down and thus polluting the environment anyway.

[–] donut4ever@lemm.ee 4 points 1 year ago

US trash used to go China, but now they don't take it anymore, so I don't know what landfill they threw it in

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[–] donut4ever@lemm.ee 6 points 1 year ago

Nope, they'll just crank the AC even higher and get back to watching some "neckflis".

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[–] sik0fewl@kbin.social 25 points 1 year ago (6 children)

This month is the planet's hottest on record so far.

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[–] TheFrirish@jlai.lu 16 points 1 year ago (1 children)

See you next year guys for a new record!

[–] Yo_Honcho@lemmy.world 3 points 1 year ago (2 children)

My son is 8 years old. Every summer when he is drenched in sweat, I tell him to enjoy his coolest summer.

I hope things turn around.

[–] bingbong@lemmy.dbzer0.com 14 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Please stop filling your son with existential dread, he's far too young. Sometimes things are better left unsaid, it's not like he has any polluting to stop.

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[–] CynAq@kbin.social 15 points 1 year ago

I, too, agree with the scientists that we're all well and truly fucked.

[–] shalva97@lemmy.sdfeu.org 12 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I wonder what next year will be like

[–] 99nights@lemmy.world 9 points 1 year ago

"The hottest on record"

[–] outhold@lemmy.world 10 points 1 year ago

120k years ago was about the end of the Eemian interglacial period, which was a significantly warm period.

[–] Diarrhea_Eruptions@lemmy.world 6 points 1 year ago (1 children)

How do they estimate temps so long ago? What data do they use?

[–] outhold@lemmy.world 16 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

They have various methods. One of the common ones is analyzing ice core samples. The ice sheets are accumulated over the years so each layer on ice sheets is from a certain historical period (much like tree trunks.) By analyzing the chemical status of the ice core on each layer, they can extract data, such as temperature, about a certain period.

[–] shalva97@lemmy.sdfeu.org 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

There is currently war in Europe, how bad is itfor climate change?

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