4 ms·

You're describing people as if they are selfish and don't care about the future of humanity. That's not what this is. This is a tragedy of the commons. Virtuall

You're describing people as if they are selfish and don't care about the future of humanity. That's not what this is. This is a tragedy of the commons. Virtually no single person has the power to combat climate change. If I could make a meaningful difference, I would happily trade my comfortable existence to save the planet. But I can't. Nothing I do will make a difference. So why should I reduce my carbon foot print or make any other sacrifice, when the world will be just the same with or without my sacrifice? And there you go, a few billion people thinking like me and suddenly this group has real (negative) impact.

satysin 5y ago
Yes. A person isn’t really selfish and will almost always make sacrifices to be better. But people as a whole are selfish for exactly the reasons you said. When I say people I don’t mean an individual person.
MattPalmer1086 5y ago
When I was a kid I saw a poster about littering, which made a big impact on me. The poster just had a background of rubbish covered with speech bubbles all saying "my one bit of litter won't make any difference". So while I agree that many people will not change unless they see everyone else doing it, I still think it is worth trying to make a difference on a personal level, even if only to satisfy my own conscience.
- baobabKoodaa 5y ago
  If you make a change out of a sense of moral obligation ("conscience", as you put it), that's applaudable. Moral obligation can also be a good hook to appeal to people to change their habits. However, one person's behavior has no impact. It does not "make a difference". When you say that you're "trying to make a difference", that doesn't make sense to me, because there's no plausible mechanism by which you could achieve that difference.
  - MattPalmer1086 5y ago
    It does make a small difference though, and may influence others to do the same. It may not make enough difference to fix the problem, but that is beyond my control.

satysin 5y ago

Yes. A person isn’t really selfish and will almost always make sacrifices to be better. But people as a whole are selfish for exactly the reasons you said. When I say people I don’t mean an individual person.

MattPalmer1086 5y ago

When I was a kid I saw a poster about littering, which made a big impact on me. The poster just had a background of rubbish covered with speech bubbles all saying "my one bit of litter won't make any difference". So while I agree that many people will not change unless they see everyone else doing it, I still think it is worth trying to make a difference on a personal level, even if only to satisfy my own conscience.

baobabKoodaa 5y ago
If you make a change out of a sense of moral obligation ("conscience", as you put it), that's applaudable. Moral obligation can also be a good hook to appeal to people to change their habits. However, one person's behavior has no impact. It does not "make a difference". When you say that you're "trying to make a difference", that doesn't make sense to me, because there's no plausible mechanism by which you could achieve that difference.
- MattPalmer1086 5y ago
  It does make a small difference though, and may influence others to do the same. It may not make enough difference to fix the problem, but that is beyond my control.