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Seems implausible to me that this is a problem that's going to be solved by asking people to make personal sacrifices. The numbers don't add up. When the op sa
by csallen 7y ago
Seems implausible to me that this is a problem that's going to be solved by asking people to make personal sacrifices. The numbers don't add up.
When the op says, "we should focus on…" I assume he's talking about policy, technology, etc., not individual concessions.
The best argument I can imagine for encouraging individual concessions is that, if the campaign to do so is massively successful, it might create a new norm, which will increase public awareness, which will increase public support for new policies and participation in the development of new technologies. But imo that's an unnecessarily roundabout course to chart.
- TheSpiceIsLife 7y agoThere are people who believe that is an essential course to chart because with out the will to change we are nothing. I’m not saying that is or isn’t my perspective, just pointing out that it is a perspective that may hold some validity.
- csallen 7y agoTotally, and this is the perspective I'm responding to. I don't think it's necessarily invalid. But I do think it's very easy to get sucked into a mindset of, "Let's shame individuals into making sacrifices," without actually doing the math on whether or not that's an effective approach.
- TheSpiceIsLife 7y agoYep, that’s it, shifting the Overton window to better practices.
- bennofs 7y agoOn the other hand, it also seems implausible to me that the problem can be solved if everyone on the world would produce a few tones of carbon emissions each year by flying. So either flights need to become so expensive that they remain a privilege for the rich or they need to be limited in some other way. I agree that flights are perhaps not the most urgent issue. But encouraging people to fly more is still wrong. When possible, we should avoid flights.