We are ****ing ourselves and the planet hard. Really doubtful we will implement any change until it is too late.
Do some research and see where the richest people are buying property. It's very interesting.We are ****ing ourselves and the planet hard. Really doubtful we will implement any change until it is too late.
Do some research and see where the richest people are buying property. It's very interesting.
Replace maximized profits with maximized survival and you'll get it.Is it “where it will make them maximized profits”?
I think it's more interesting to grade ourselves on how we're doing with respect to our planet.
I give myself an A.
Of course, that's what most folk will think of themselves, which is part of the reason we collectively get a D at best.I think it's more interesting to grade ourselves on how we're doing with respect to our planet.
I give myself an A.
Pretty close. When I last tried to audit our household about 18 months ago we were around 80% carbon neutral but I ought to re-estimate. 100% of our individual energy consumption is pure renewables now, we try to buy only carbon neutral products and donate generously to offsets e.g. reforestation.You “couldn’t be doing any better”?
You personally produce no pollutants, waste no resources, are 100% carbon neutral, etc?
Cool beans. What have you been doing when it comes to stewardship of our planet? Any 2022 deficits you're thinking of shoring up? What grade would you give yourself, or is it easier for you to grade everyone else because heaven forbid you wouldn't want to look inward?Of course, that's what most folk will think of themselves, which is part of the reason we collectively get a D at best.
Pretty close. When I last tried to audit our household about 18 months ago we were around 80% carbon neutral but I ought to re-estimate. 100% of our individual energy consumption is pure renewables now, we try to buy only carbon neutral products and donate generously to offsets e.g. reforestation.
What about you, how are you doing versus your personal carbon neutrality targets?
I will never consider a "couldn't be doing any better" option to be meaningful in a poll or question because it's red herring and and a trap. I will not let perfection be the enemy of the good. For example, I care about this issue enough that I've been working on clean energy technologies for about 14 years. However someone could always come along and say "well you COULD have been doing it for 15!" so I'm happy to let the people who insist on perfection in others stay on their islands and continue yelling at the clouds.I don’t believe climate change can be meaningfully effected by individual action.
Also, I notice you ignored the first part of my question.
I will never consider a "couldn't be doing any better" option to be meaningful in a poll or question because it's red herring and and a trap. I will not let perfection be the enemy of the good. For example, I care about this issue enough that I've been working on clean energy technologies for about 14 years. However someone could always come along and say "well you COULD have been doing it for 15!" so I'm happy to let the people who insist on perfection in others stay on their islands and continue yelling at the clouds.
But it's good to know that you don't feel any personal responsibility as to this subject. It's too bad. There are too many people who buy goods that cannot be recycled, pile stuff into landfills, dump chemicals into their backyard lawns, then wax poetic about how respecting our planet is someone else's problem.
Cool. How much societal change have you been successful in effecting? Any events you've put together that created forward momentum? Or at least some fundraisers? I imagine you've engaged deeply with some of these capitalist corporations to influence them in the right direction... any success stories you'd be willing to share?My personal responsibility it to affect societal change. The amount of pollution I create is a literal drop in the bucket compared to capitalist corporations.
Cool. How much societal change have you been successful in effecting? Any events you've put together that created forward momentum? I imagine you've engaged deeply with some of these capitalist corporations to influence them in the right direction... any success stories you'd be willing to share?
This thread ... is mostly about ranting and pointing fingers at everyone but oneself.
I didn't rant or point fingers; I noted the fact, and it is a fact, that people in general are notoriously bad at self-evaluation in areas like this. You've got a point here, but it's not one or the other: Accepting the reality and significance of collective impacts is, if anything, a necessary precusor to accepting the reality of one's own contribution and responsibility to that problem. On their own, the sort of impacts most individuals contribute would be negligible and wide open to an "I'm not doing anything wrong" attitude... as @Questerr has suggested even having acknowledged the collective problem.I mean, C'mon. This thread including your post is mostly about ranting and pointing fingers at everyone but oneself. "Grade humanity's respect for the Earth" starts with "grade MY respect for the Earth" because that's where responsibility starts. For me, I've devoted my career to clean energy, and our household is trying to achieve carbon neutrality so I think I'm doing pretty good. What about you? What have you been doing to improve on that collective D?
Are you suggesting that your contribution to societal change is more than a drop in the bucket? Our personal ecological footprints are a tiny, tiny fraction of a very major and quantifiable problem: If our societies' environmental/sustainability track records continue to worsen, then that tiny negative score is 'offset' by a tiny, tiny fraction of basically no detectable positive results.My personal responsibility it to affect societal change. The amount of pollution I create is a literal drop in the bucket compared to capitalist corporations.
Our focus on micro-consumerist bollocks aligns with the corporate agenda. The deliberate effort to stop us seeing the bigger picture began in 1953 with a campaign called Keep America Beautiful. It was founded by packaging manufacturers, motivated by the profits they could make by replacing reusable containers with disposable plastic. Above all, they wanted to sink state laws insisting that glass bottles were returned and reused. Keep America Beautiful shifted the blame for the tsunami of plastic trash the manufacturers caused on to “litter bugs”, a term it invented.
The “Love Where You Live” campaign, launched in the UK in 2011 by Keep Britain Tidy, Imperial Tobacco, McDonald’s and the sweet manufacturer Wrigley, seemed to me to play a similar role. It had the added bonus – as it featured strongly in classrooms – of granting Imperial Tobacco exposure to schoolchildren.
The corporate focus on litter, amplified by the media, distorts our view of all environmental issues. For example, a recent survey of public beliefs about river pollution found that “litter and plastic” was by far the biggest cause people named. In reality, the biggest source of water pollution is farming, followed by sewage. Litter is way down the list. It’s not that plastic is unimportant. The problem is that it’s almost the only story we know.
He's right, as usual, though perhaps not in the way you think. The mass extinctions being caused by human activity aren't a problem for 'the planet' in the long term - it's bounced back from them many times before - just a problem for the survival of human civilization. Those who aren't troubled by the possible collapse of human civilization and billions of people dying as a consequence of the actions and social structure they support can rest easy in their self-absorbed, morally bankrupt hedonism. Hopefully they don't plan on having grandchildren.I'll let George Carlin speak for me:
We use cookies and similar technologies for the following purposes:
Do you accept cookies and these technologies?
We use cookies and similar technologies for the following purposes:
Do you accept cookies and these technologies?