When I was in elementary school, the cafeteria switched to disposable plastic trays because the paper ones hurt trees. Stupid, I know… but are today’s initiatives any better?

  • UndoLips@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    A lot of the initiatives are ineffective by design because the real goal is to give the consumers agency over the problem. Corporations have known that individual effort is a drop in the bucket but by framing the problem as not not a “corporate” problem but a “society” problem, they can keep not fixing it, for profit.

  • themoonisacheese@sh.itjust.works
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    1 year ago

    Today’s initiatives are theater.

    100 companies are responsible for 71% of the worlds emissions. The rest is also mainly companies. The idea of a carbon footprint is propaganda invented by BP (this sounds like a conspiracy but I swear it’s true, look it up). Before anything you personally can accomplish can make any difference, we would first have to significantly change society.

    • NotAPenguin@kbin.social
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      1 year ago

      Those companies pollute to produce goods and services that individuals buy.

      What does holding corporations accountable look like if not refusing to give them our money while advocating for regulation?

      Individual change is changing society.

      Throwing your hands in the air, doing nothing to change your destructive habits and just saying “but corporations” isn’t gonna help anything.

    • JasSmith@kbin.social
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      1 year ago

      The average British person emits 76 times more CO2 than the offset of one person going vegan for life. Even if everyone on the planet went vegan today, forever, their sacrifice would be undone by the number of new babies born in a single year, globally. Veganism isn’t going to solve climate change. It’s not even going to make a dent. We should be focusing on practical, real measures to reduce global CO2 output. For example, the move from coal to LNG halves CO2 output. This transition alone is an order of magnitude more impactful than the entire world going vegan for life. If you care about climate change you’ll invest your limited time and energy where it counts.

        • JasSmith@kbin.social
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          1 year ago

          You can easily be vegan while advocating for other change like less coal.

          Sorry, but major lifestyle changes are not “easy.” It’s “easy” to lose weight, and yet two thirds of Americans can’t do it. I like eating meat but would be willing to give it up if the juice were worth the squeeze. It’s not. Instead of spending your time telling people to make major lifestyle changes with almost zero impact to the climate, why aren’t you focusing on real, sustainable solutions?

          FYI the top four metrics in the image you linked are for agriculture, not meat production alone. Agriculture includes the production of plants, fruits, and grains. It’s all food production.

            • JasSmith@kbin.social
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              1 year ago

              I find it very difficult. It appears that what you find easy and what others find easy are not the same.

              • NotAPenguin@kbin.social
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                1 year ago

                What’s hard about choosing the plant based option in the grocery store or restaurant?
                It’s literally just buying a different product.

                • JasSmith@kbin.social
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                  1 year ago

                  I like meat a lot. Not eating meat will significantly degrade my standard of living.