4 ms·

Everybody wants to live a lifestyle that presently requires burning fossil fuel, buying electronics, using plastics, etc. Two possibilities: - technological ad

by GuiA 7y ago

Everybody wants to live a lifestyle that presently requires burning fossil fuel, buying electronics, using plastics, etc. Two possibilities: - technological advancement lets everyone indulge in this lifestyle without those externalities, or ones that are worse - people voluntarily dial down their consumption (of food that has flown from across the world because it’s not in season, of electronics made with rare earth metals, etc), travels, and so on. Both seem extremely unlikely and it’s hard to keep hope.

jdietrich 7y ago
There's a grotesque disparity in per-capita CO2 emissions, even between highly developed nations. America produces 16.5 tonnes per capita, Britain produces 6.5 tonnes, Switzerland produces 4.3 and Latvia produces 3.5. Turning the dial down on our consumption is eminently possible without meaningfully compromising our standard of living, we just need to give a damn. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_carbon_dioxide_emissions_per_capita https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_carbon_di...
- sneak 7y ago
  People, en masse, seem to mostly only care what their mass media channels tell them to care about. That’s not being done in the US for consumption side-effects.
- titzer 7y ago
  Latvia does not have the same standard of living as the others in the list. And still, 3.5 tonnes per capita is still 25 billion tonnes globally, and at that level, this planet is still super fucked. There are literally 300 million people in India who do not yet have electricity. Flip that over; if those 300 million people develop to European living standards in say, 100 years, we are well and truly screwed. You can just forget about it when you think about China, Indonesia, Bagladesh, and Africa. The western way of life with global capitalism just will not work, the same way that growing watermelons inside of lightbulbs is just not going to work.
gingabriska 7y ago
But what if you've no money? You can't buy those cool electronics anymore, you are forced to spend on what is more important for a minimalistic life. Wouldn't it be better if we all had less money?
wilde 7y ago
Electronics and plastics aren’t the drivers. It’s Transportation and electricity. We have the tech but not the willpower for electricity. We need to densify to get cars off the road. In many ways the single family home is the biggest driver of global warming.

by GuiA 7y ago

jdietrich 7y ago

There's a grotesque disparity in per-capita CO2 emissions, even between highly developed nations. America produces 16.5 tonnes per capita, Britain produces 6.5 tonnes, Switzerland produces 4.3 and Latvia produces 3.5. Turning the dial down on our consumption is eminently possible without meaningfully compromising our standard of living, we just need to give a damn. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_carbon_dioxide_emissions_per_capita https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_carbon_di...

sneak 7y ago
People, en masse, seem to mostly only care what their mass media channels tell them to care about. That’s not being done in the US for consumption side-effects.
titzer 7y ago
Latvia does not have the same standard of living as the others in the list. And still, 3.5 tonnes per capita is still 25 billion tonnes globally, and at that level, this planet is still super fucked. There are literally 300 million people in India who do not yet have electricity. Flip that over; if those 300 million people develop to European living standards in say, 100 years, we are well and truly screwed. You can just forget about it when you think about China, Indonesia, Bagladesh, and Africa. The western way of life with global capitalism just will not work, the same way that growing watermelons inside of lightbulbs is just not going to work.

gingabriska 7y ago

But what if you've no money? You can't buy those cool electronics anymore, you are forced to spend on what is more important for a minimalistic life. Wouldn't it be better if we all had less money?

wilde 7y ago

Electronics and plastics aren’t the drivers. It’s Transportation and electricity. We have the tech but not the willpower for electricity. We need to densify to get cars off the road. In many ways the single family home is the biggest driver of global warming.