We are racing down a mountain at full throttle. Our children are in the back seat. The speedometer is buried. The road curves sharply ahead. On the outside of the curve is a cliff with a 200 meter drop. On the other side is a vertical rock wall.
Here are some ideas I came up with to help push people into taking action. Sure we need systemic changes like ending car dependent cities and heavily reducing fossil fuel usage. Doing nothing is smashing through the guard rail and off the cliff. Doing one is slowing enough to MAYBE survive crashing into the mountain. Doing both is slowing down enough to navigate the curve.
There are some things we CAN do.
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Start spreading the word on social media for unofficial things like moo-less Monday. Don’t eat beef on Mondays. Weather Wednesday, where you adjust or turn off your HVAC. This could be a whole other thread.
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Start getting louder and louder. Remember, we need to both act AND influence enough people for systemic changes.
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Consume less. Be as efficient with resources as possible. There tons of things you can do here that are minimal effort and barely noticeable.
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Political action. Vote. Run if you are able. Contact politicians at all levels. Talk with people about things that have benefits beyond just climate. E.g. transit reduces traffic.
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Stay strong. Don’t succumb to doomerism.
Everything you’ve suggested is equivalent to re-arranging the deck chairs on the titanic. Climate change is not driven by individual action and can’t be solved by individuals changing their consumption habits. Over 70% of greenhouse gasses are produced by less than 100 companies, companies that have lobbied for public subsidies, socialized their losses with bailouts, outlawed or bought out any competition, laid waste to our countries natural resources, ripped up efficient public transit and infrastructure, and suppressed any change to their fossil fuel monopoly. Changing our course on climate change will mean taking back control from a powerful and entrenched class of people and corporations who control all the legal means you think can be used to hold them accountable.
You’re just sharing propaganda. Those 100 companies cannot pollute without your money and consent. If everyone gets out of the car it no longer matters that the footpath is gone, you can walk on the street. The beef industry can’t use 50% of the land and emit half the methane if noone buys red meat.
Chevron and Tyson foods are responsible and you are responsible. They will never step up and they will always use the power you give them to do evil, withhold it and show those around you that it can be done. The message you are spreading is both disempowering and deflecting blame.
Theoretically, you’re completely right. But you’ll never get the required amount of people on board to make a difference. We barely got people to wear masks during COVID so that they don’t spit on each other, and that was very controversial, most didn’t believe they did anything and the only way people got convinced was when they had to pay fines for not wearing them.
If it was so problematic to get people to put some fabric on their face (that they could then pretty much ignore) in order to prevent others from getting sick and dying, how do you imagine the majority going out of their way and making their lives less convenient to prevent hell from happening in 10-20 years? If everyone stopped using cars unless they absolutely had to (and even then rented them), we’d be in a better place. But also if everyone started caring about others, became tolerant towards things they don’t understand, kept in mind what they know and what they don’t, and worked every day to better themselves, we’d live in a utopia. But neither scenarios are going to happen, so trying to convert individuals one by one is a waste of energy. I mean, go ahead, the more eco-conscious people the better, but that won’t save us.
The only entities that can realistically overpower corporations are governments and other political institutions. That’s where most of the energy must be focused.
P.S. One thing that’s kinda getting on my nerves is people proclaiming always: “Save the planet!”. The planet and its non-human nature was here long before us and will be long after us. We’re not cooking the planet to death, we’re cooking ourselves. “Let’s save ourselves”, not the planet.