this post was submitted on 12 Aug 2023
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I do believe the biggest impact would come from regulating large companies and billionaires, but it’s not one or the other.

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[–] [email protected] 17 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (5 children)

Please stop listening to corporate propaganda on this subject. You have absolutely no personal responsibility to solve this problem. The idea that you have to is an invention from business. A way to make it a personal responsibility and not something businesses have to solve.

[–] [email protected] 29 points 1 year ago (1 children)

no raindrop feels responsible for the flood

Although you might feel like you don't have an impact, you are not blameless, when you buy and rely on things that harm the environment you create demand for them, and you make the companies that pollute more successful

[–] [email protected] -1 points 1 year ago

Nah sorry. We are past that. Every company that provides good, affordable products causes more damage to the environment than we ever will.

We depend on elected officials to prevent this problem for us. We have organizations who’s specific job is to do this for us. See But now they are all in the pocket of the polluters.

We lost. It’s over. It’s never going back. Just enjoy your life while you’re here. Humans are shit. Have a drink and go to bed.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I 100% agree with you. All the carbon I save in my lifetime cannot compare to what's emitted by an airline company flying empty planes just to reserve their airport terminals. https://www.nationalgeographic.co.uk/travel/2022/04/the-scandal-of-ghost-flights-are-empty-planes-haunting-our-skies

That said, I can't save the world, but I can save my tiny corner of it. Maybe I'm just a yard fence against a dam breaking flood, but something in me compels me to try. I'm not gonna lose sleep over the tiniest shred of plastic I trash instead of recycle, but I will do my best.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 year ago

If no person does anything nothing changes.

Of course your own choices in isolation don't change much. But that's like saying voting doesn't do anything because a single vote doesn't matter. We all can make choices that add up through all of society.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago

No corporation will change if you’re still buying shit from them.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

While I agree that businesses have way more direct impact and responsibilities, "it's about sending a message". If we as consumers put more priority on goods / foods that have less of a bad impact on climate change, corporations will follow that trend as well as that's where the money is.

We still have to hope that we're not misled by marketing teams too much, but if the global trend is in a specific direction it has more of a chance to contain better options. Just be aware that possibly most of your climate enhancing actions might still be bad/misled/hypocritical in hindsight, but it's better than if we don't take any action at all.

The only thing we can do is raise our chances.