The BBC is pushing for individual solutions to collective problems :/
Greenhouse gases emission is mostly driven by 100 companies who have their hands in everything and have a direct interest in keeping fossil fuel and other pollutive industries alive and strong.
When the BBC shows a pretty graph demonstrating that food is responsible for 26% of GG emissions, yeah, that’s a lot. Food is also something we need to consume a few times a day to live.
Is beef necessary? No, not when you have vegan options available – which is not the case for everyone. Tofu and other soy products are high in protein, and if the attractiveness of beef is that it’s tasty, well, you can still live without it (for most of history humans did not eat their cattle since they needed them to work on farms, so we’ll be fine).
Is it necessary for BP to lobby for more oil funding and buy politicians not to find anything worthwhile to lessen our dependence on fossil fuels? Yes, very much.
The dent making “smarter” food choices (even they admit their figures are based on “global consumption” and thus can change widely) will have on the environment is almost none. Not until we tackle capitalism and its race towards death.
But perhaps the best argument against individual solutions to climate change (take shorter showers – no luxuries allowed! Eat less meat – that’s for rich people! Use the train, not planes – unless it’s a private plane!) is that GG emissions are going up year after year, even though I’ve been hearing this drivel that it’s somehow my personal fault that the earth is dying for more than 20 years now.
The only instance I’d recommend people do individual solutions is when their wallet is taking the hit. Turning off lights you are not currently using in the house prevents them dying too early (because of planned obsolescence, another problem to tackle if we want to actually fight climate change) and using electricity for nothing, for which you pay.
edit: sorry lol I keep piling things on this comment, but if you want to reduce GG efficiently, start at the businesses. They don’t spend billions on advertising every year for nothing. Stop Apple from releasing a new phone every 6 months. Stop car makers from making SUVs (and even then they cheat the system lol). Don’t fault people for buying these products – it’s how capitalism functions.
The BBC is pushing for individual solutions to collective problems :/
Greenhouse gases emission is mostly driven by 100 companies who have their hands in everything and have a direct interest in keeping fossil fuel and other pollutive industries alive and strong.
When the BBC shows a pretty graph demonstrating that food is responsible for 26% of GG emissions, yeah, that’s a lot. Food is also something we need to consume a few times a day to live.
Is beef necessary? No, not when you have vegan options available – which is not the case for everyone. Tofu and other soy products are high in protein, and if the attractiveness of beef is that it’s tasty, well, you can still live without it (for most of history humans did not eat their cattle since they needed them to work on farms, so we’ll be fine).
Is it necessary for BP to lobby for more oil funding and buy politicians not to find anything worthwhile to lessen our dependence on fossil fuels? Yes, very much.
The dent making “smarter” food choices (even they admit their figures are based on “global consumption” and thus can change widely) will have on the environment is almost none. Not until we tackle capitalism and its race towards death.
But perhaps the best argument against individual solutions to climate change (take shorter showers – no luxuries allowed! Eat less meat – that’s for rich people! Use the train, not planes – unless it’s a private plane!) is that GG emissions are going up year after year, even though I’ve been hearing this drivel that it’s somehow my personal fault that the earth is dying for more than 20 years now.
The only instance I’d recommend people do individual solutions is when their wallet is taking the hit. Turning off lights you are not currently using in the house prevents them dying too early (because of planned obsolescence, another problem to tackle if we want to actually fight climate change) and using electricity for nothing, for which you pay.
edit: sorry lol I keep piling things on this comment, but if you want to reduce GG efficiently, start at the businesses. They don’t spend billions on advertising every year for nothing. Stop Apple from releasing a new phone every 6 months. Stop car makers from making SUVs (and even then they cheat the system lol). Don’t fault people for buying these products – it’s how capitalism functions.