this post was submitted on 16 Jan 2024
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But 58 million Americans emit as much as shell
Look the important thing is always that it's someone else's fault and if I were to change my ways it wouldn't make a difference anyway so let's just all keep doing what we're doing.
I feel like there's a middle ground where we recognize that we can take steps to not actively contribute to the problem while also squarely blaming the system for creating this.
I can't expect people to walk or cycle six miles to work in -40F temperatures when virtually no public transportation infrastructure exists in my town. (Especially applies to older people, or people with disabilities, or hell, kids whose parents drag them to some fucked up place like disconnected suburbs or remote rural homesteads).
I can and do choose to walk/cycle/skate more, turn down the heat, buy upcycled clothes, look for products manufactured in the US/Canada/Japan/Europe/etc. (not because of some sick sense of nationalism, but because they're less likely to use straight-up slave labor). I can and do choose to meet with my city council rep and offer to serve in my community in a way that will hopefully lead to positive change.
But at the end of the day, it's also important to remember that capitalism and greed are at the root of the problem, and I hope for the type of radical systemic change we really need in order to fix this.
This complexity is the problem. Thanks to insufficient funding for education, many people find it difficult to understand to understand complex problems and their full context, so they want simple "solutions" that are black and white, instead of the grey of reality.
Many people also are prone to zero sum thinking. When you tell them that everyone is responsible, they hear "We shouldn't blame corporations, YOU are to blame!"
Even though that's neither what you said nor thought.
Zero sum thinking + cognitive dissonance.
I'm not saying that we shouldn't acknowledge that the system is at fault, but we should also be able to acknowledge that change requires us to change our own habits to shift the status quo. Where I live there used to practically be no vegetarian meals other than salads and fries and now (in cities at least) you'll be hard pressed to find a restaurant that doesn't offer realistic vegan options on the menu.
That didn't happen because the system decided "wow, animal rights" but because people, with their wallet, were the voice of change. Same goes for other mentioned issues. We have a system in place in Germany that allows unlimited regional travel for a flat price of 49 euro a month (or 39 for people getting social help or even 29 euro for students). That's one thing that's trying to provide a more environmentally friendly alternative for everyone. Change is possible and your actions to contribute.
I just deteste when people act like there isn't anything we could do and that that somehow excuses their lack of effort or interest.
And conveniently, it's a "someone" that we have no feasible way to do anything about, thus meeting them more fun to complain about!