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> Individual action won’t solve this problem. We need to leave the fossil fuels in the ground, which means switching energy sources, which is not something indi

> Individual action won’t solve this problem. We need to leave the fossil fuels in the ground, which means switching energy sources, which is not something individuals have much influence on. The covid shutdown should have put this myth to bed forever. Hundreds of millions stuck at home and no longer commuting took a massive dent out of carbon emissions and sent shock waves through the oil industry. Individual action can save the planet; we have to be drops in the flood. > I’m not sure we need to switch lifestyles that much, but we will need to radically change energy production. There's no way we can continue to works as we do and plan cities as we do and stem the oncoming catastrophe with any alacrity.

Loeffelmann 5y ago
Have carbon emissions decreased enough to actually matter in this time?
- dleslie 5y ago
  Yes, significantly, and almost entirely a result of individuals no longer using their cars. Note these studies took place at various different times during the lockdown, and focus on different scopes of data: https://pcc.uw.edu/blog/research/how-did-covid-19-affect-our-carbon-emissions/ https://pcc.uw.edu/blog/research/how-did-covid-19-affect-our... https://www.nature.com/articles/s41558-020-0797-x https://www.nature.com/articles/s41558-020-0797-x https://earth.stanford.edu/news/covid-lockdown-causes-record-drop-carbon-emissions-2020#gs.8054tu https://earth.stanford.edu/news/covid-lockdown-causes-record...
- skinkestek 5y ago
  > Global CO2 emissions declined by 5.8% in 2020, or almost 2 Gt CO2 – the largest ever decline and almost five times greater than the 2009 decline that followed the global financial crisis. CO2 emissions fell further than energy demand in 2020 owing to the pandemic hitting demand for oil and coal harder than other energy sources while renewables increased. Despite the decline in 2020, global energy-related CO2 emissions remained at 31.5 Gt, which contributed to CO2 reaching its highest ever average annual concentration in the atmosphere of 412.5 parts per million in 2020 – around 50% higher than when the industrial revolution began. https://www.iea.org/reports/global-energy-review-2021/co2-emissions https://www.iea.org/reports/global-energy-review-2021/co2-em...
35fbe7d3d5b9 5y ago
In what world is hundreds of millions of people drastically changing their lifestyle because they've been instructed to stay home by their governments "individual action"? That's a collective response to a crisis mandated by government.
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
- dleslie 5y ago
  Yes, the individuals were coerced to take action. Note that what many intend when referring to individual action is not that the individual _chose_ to take action, but that the individual _does_ take action. When claiming that individual action won't make a difference they're claiming that changing how we live as collective individuals won't make a difference; it doesn't matter what motivated that change for their thesis to be considered. IMHO, Governments ought to _heavily_ tax commercial office space to coerce companies to support WFH. Make it so that the opportunities to commute start to disappear.
  - 35fbe7d3d5b9 5y ago
    I don't think I've ever heard an argument that defines individual action in the way you do. Most "individual action" arguments tend to lean towards pushing people to make individual choices to reduce emissions, and many are not substantive – take shorter showers! bike instead of driving to the gym! Even the actions that are reasonable – "give up air travel" – only become significant in aggregate. > IMHO, Governments ought to _heavily_ tax commercial office space to coerce companies to support WFH. Make it so that the opportunities to commute start to disappear. I think that's absolutely reasonable and something that should happen now. But "I now work from home because my company told me to because the tax on the office/parking increased to push a shift in behavior" is absolutely not an individual choice.
    - dleslie 5y ago
      > I don't think I've ever heard an argument that defines individual action in the way you do. [...] Even the actions that are reasonable – "give up air travel" – only become significant in aggregate. One person making a change has never been a reasonable solution for global climate change; advocating for individual action has always meant making changes in the aggregate behaviour of individuals. > But "I now work from home because my company told me to because the tax on the office/parking increased to push a shift in behavior" is absolutely not an individual choice. Correct, it is not an individual choice. It is an individual action.
antifa 5y ago
We're all going to "individually" beg our bosses to let us work from home after the pandemic lol.

Loeffelmann 5y ago

Have carbon emissions decreased enough to actually matter in this time?

dleslie 5y ago
Yes, significantly, and almost entirely a result of individuals no longer using their cars. Note these studies took place at various different times during the lockdown, and focus on different scopes of data: https://pcc.uw.edu/blog/research/how-did-covid-19-affect-our-carbon-emissions/ https://pcc.uw.edu/blog/research/how-did-covid-19-affect-our... https://www.nature.com/articles/s41558-020-0797-x https://www.nature.com/articles/s41558-020-0797-x https://earth.stanford.edu/news/covid-lockdown-causes-record-drop-carbon-emissions-2020#gs.8054tu https://earth.stanford.edu/news/covid-lockdown-causes-record...
skinkestek 5y ago
> Global CO2 emissions declined by 5.8% in 2020, or almost 2 Gt CO2 – the largest ever decline and almost five times greater than the 2009 decline that followed the global financial crisis. CO2 emissions fell further than energy demand in 2020 owing to the pandemic hitting demand for oil and coal harder than other energy sources while renewables increased. Despite the decline in 2020, global energy-related CO2 emissions remained at 31.5 Gt, which contributed to CO2 reaching its highest ever average annual concentration in the atmosphere of 412.5 parts per million in 2020 – around 50% higher than when the industrial revolution began. https://www.iea.org/reports/global-energy-review-2021/co2-emissions https://www.iea.org/reports/global-energy-review-2021/co2-em...

35fbe7d3d5b9 5y ago

In what world is hundreds of millions of people drastically changing their lifestyle because they've been instructed to stay home by their governments "individual action"? That's a collective response to a crisis mandated by government.

deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
dleslie 5y ago
Yes, the individuals were coerced to take action. Note that what many intend when referring to individual action is not that the individual _chose_ to take action, but that the individual _does_ take action. When claiming that individual action won't make a difference they're claiming that changing how we live as collective individuals won't make a difference; it doesn't matter what motivated that change for their thesis to be considered. IMHO, Governments ought to _heavily_ tax commercial office space to coerce companies to support WFH. Make it so that the opportunities to commute start to disappear.
- 35fbe7d3d5b9 5y ago
  I don't think I've ever heard an argument that defines individual action in the way you do. Most "individual action" arguments tend to lean towards pushing people to make individual choices to reduce emissions, and many are not substantive – take shorter showers! bike instead of driving to the gym! Even the actions that are reasonable – "give up air travel" – only become significant in aggregate. > IMHO, Governments ought to _heavily_ tax commercial office space to coerce companies to support WFH. Make it so that the opportunities to commute start to disappear. I think that's absolutely reasonable and something that should happen now. But "I now work from home because my company told me to because the tax on the office/parking increased to push a shift in behavior" is absolutely not an individual choice.
  - dleslie 5y ago
    > I don't think I've ever heard an argument that defines individual action in the way you do. [...] Even the actions that are reasonable – "give up air travel" – only become significant in aggregate. One person making a change has never been a reasonable solution for global climate change; advocating for individual action has always meant making changes in the aggregate behaviour of individuals. > But "I now work from home because my company told me to because the tax on the office/parking increased to push a shift in behavior" is absolutely not an individual choice. Correct, it is not an individual choice. It is an individual action.

antifa 5y ago

We're all going to "individually" beg our bosses to let us work from home after the pandemic lol.