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Also: "Just 90 companies caused two-thirds of man-made global warming emissions" https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2013/nov/20/90-companies-man-made-globa

by rhcom2 8y ago

Also: "Just 90 companies caused two-thirds of man-made global warming emissions" https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2013/nov/20/90-companies-man-made-global-warming-emissions-climate-change https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2013/nov/20/90-compa... Individual behavior obviously matters but it's a drop in the bucket compared to corporate polluters.

organsnyder 8y ago
Aren't the customers of those companies also culpable?
- rthomas6 8y ago
  YES. I really dislike the insinuation that all those companies could voluntarily change their behavior and stay in business. There's no incentive for them to eat the cost of that negative externality, and their competition would immediately come along and take their customers by offering the same products at a cheaper price. We are the ones buying the cheap crap. It's cheap, we want it, so we buy it. Those companies might be enabling us, but if they didn't provide it, another one would step in. This is why regulation is so important vs. pure advocacy and technology solutions. Consumers are buying things without paying for the harm that product inflicts on the environment.
- IdiocyInAction 8y ago
  Absolutely. The reality is, if people actually cared, they could do a lot by not consuming as much. But they do not and we have to act appropriately.
Synaesthesia 8y ago
We need systemic change because there’s demand for what these companies are producing. For example there can be subsidies, or at least an end to oil subsidies!
- chrisco255 8y ago
  Are there oil subsidies? I thought there was a Federal tax on gas...the opposite of subsidies?
  - Rebelgecko 8y ago
    Depending on what you consider a direct subsidy, the US subsidizes fossil fuels to the tune of $5-15 billion per year. There was a study that came out claiming that around half of US oil production is only profitable because of these subsidies.
    - testrun 8y ago
      Do you have a link to that study?
      - Rebelgecko 8y ago
        https://www.nature.com/articles/s41560-017-0009-8 https://www.nature.com/articles/s41560-017-0009-8
  - JetSpiegel 8y ago
    I would consider the trillions spent on the Iraq Wars a substantial oil subsidy.

by rhcom2 8y ago

organsnyder 8y ago

Aren't the customers of those companies also culpable?

rthomas6 8y ago
YES. I really dislike the insinuation that all those companies could voluntarily change their behavior and stay in business. There's no incentive for them to eat the cost of that negative externality, and their competition would immediately come along and take their customers by offering the same products at a cheaper price. We are the ones buying the cheap crap. It's cheap, we want it, so we buy it. Those companies might be enabling us, but if they didn't provide it, another one would step in. This is why regulation is so important vs. pure advocacy and technology solutions. Consumers are buying things without paying for the harm that product inflicts on the environment.
IdiocyInAction 8y ago
Absolutely. The reality is, if people actually cared, they could do a lot by not consuming as much. But they do not and we have to act appropriately.

Synaesthesia 8y ago

We need systemic change because there’s demand for what these companies are producing. For example there can be subsidies, or at least an end to oil subsidies!

chrisco255 8y ago
Are there oil subsidies? I thought there was a Federal tax on gas...the opposite of subsidies?
- Rebelgecko 8y ago
  Depending on what you consider a direct subsidy, the US subsidizes fossil fuels to the tune of $5-15 billion per year. There was a study that came out claiming that around half of US oil production is only profitable because of these subsidies.
  - testrun 8y ago
    Do you have a link to that study?
    - Rebelgecko 8y ago
      https://www.nature.com/articles/s41560-017-0009-8 https://www.nature.com/articles/s41560-017-0009-8
- JetSpiegel 8y ago
  I would consider the trillions spent on the Iraq Wars a substantial oil subsidy.