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> Nothing about the greenest and most sustainable solution: reducing consumption. Most Americans could drop their consumption by 75% purely improving their live
by inapis 7y ago
> Nothing about the greenest and most sustainable solution: reducing consumption. Most Americans could drop their consumption by 75% purely improving their lives, before difficult decisions, many of which would also improve their lives.
As an Indian, when I see resource consumption per capita for US, it boggles my mind. But I don't believe every single American can make a significant change without institutional and government support.
Environmental impact is a function of what your society has optimized for. You can't really depend on public transport if the entire society around you is optimized and designed for cars. You'd have a tough time being a vegetarian if meat is a primary component of every meal. You can't forego flights if the rail infrastructure doesn't work well.
A similar thing happens in India. India optimizes for cheap stuff so a lot of stuff available for purchase near me is practically use & throw. I've had keyboards, monitors, powerbanks, cables die on me in 6-12 months. I'm having a hard time buying good quality stuff as India grows. That also has a significant environmental impact.
At the risk of sounding like fatalist, I won't discourage individual action. Every single step is welcome but as humans we need to significantly step up our political initiatives if we are to make a significant dent in climate change.
- javajosh 7y ago>At the risk of sounding like fatalist... No, you sound like a realist. My wife has been an ardent environmentalist her whole adult life, but she has echoed this sentiment to me, to the extent she would rather people not even recycle. It is, she says, the security theater of environmentalism. Political action is needed. In fact, I believe the populist movements around the world will soon meet with climate change environmentalism, and we will see a great voluntary contraction, supported by governments, that will indeed make a big dent on the problem. Until then, not using plastic straws and veganism is just theater.
- adamsea 7y agoThe one thing theater can do is raise the consciousness of those around the one performing and socially normalize previously “weird” behaviors, both of which are useful groundwork for effective political action.
- javajosh 7y agoMaybe, but I don't think we really know what a "good" global economic contraction will look like, or what behaviors will come with it. Although, it seems pretty obvious that gas-powered vehicles will become a rarity, and (I hope!) working from home becomes the norm, not the exception. (That last one seems like such an obvious change we could encourage NOW.)
- DonHopkins 7y agoWe should stop recycling our politicians, and throw away the old ones in a landfill.