4 ms·

Carbon footprint is a term invented by BP to deflect blame away from entities such as themselves onto individuals. Individuals as in regular people of course.

Carbon footprint is a term invented by BP to deflect blame away from entities such as themselves onto individuals. Individuals as in regular people of course. But really, so-called carbon footprint is more of a systemic issue than some naughty sin/indulgence that the rich commit.

kisamoto 4y ago
While it may have been popularized by BP this is by no means a reason to ignore the emissions caused by an individual. Call it something else if you'd like but individuals do cause emissions and they should take responsibility to lower and remove them.
- avgcorrection 4y ago
  Individuals cause emissions but it’s not rational to make that the locus of attention. Not rational if you want to lower emissions, that is. It is rational for BP’s marketing department, however.
  - lwouis 4y ago
    The top of the pyramid are important because they set what the majority of us will want to emulate. If Swift is flying her private jet, then young high-schooler and adults will calibrate on that and fly to Thailand for the holidays because they perceive it desirable to fly around. If we had influencers who would take a stand, it would be very beneficial at global scale actually. Let's say the top football/soccer players would decline to attend the world cup because having A/C'd stadiums in Qatar, and flying both the athletes and the fans there is generating large emissions. If they took that stand and shared it to their 50M followers-each mimetic fanbase, the benefits for society would be wonderful. It's worth pursuing exemplarity of our elites because it sets the flagpost for everyone else. Redefining success from rolex, sport car, big house, to let's say skilled handcraft, raising horses, and living in a small rural community; that would really be beneficial to us all.
    - avgcorrection 4y ago
      Do you want to buy a Rolex if Swift wears one? Or Celine Dione or whatever your idol is.
      - lwouis 4y ago
        People buy rolex to imitate "successful" people. Very few buy rolex because it's useful to them or they are into clock engineering. Rolex doesn't output ads that explain how the clock works; instead they pay celebrities to show up with their watches ostensibly. Look around you at society. People buy brand cloth like $300 white tshirt because of the brand logo on it. I think it's pretty established how humans behave on that regard. Now if you're not convinced (it seems), i suggest you google some sociology studies and look into something more scientific than my example. Feel free to share if my observations are proven untrue.
lwouis 4y ago
I think it's fair to say that most people that have to take a car to work are stuck in the system, and that it would be hard or impossible to change that (city center rent being too high, no jobs outside the mega-cities, etc). However for the rich, options are plentiful. Taylor swift has really every options available to her. She could stop working all together. She's set for life already. She could work only on local concerts. She could do a "slow" world tour and take the boat to do it, as a symbol. She doesn't have to fly to LA for a fun diner with a celebrity friend. Etc etc. Millionaires and billionaires definitely can decide what they want to do. They don't answer for anyone for food and shelter. They make their own rules. In that sense, i think it's fair for the rest of us to judge them hard for a lavish lifestyle that inspires the masses, and really goes against humanity's survival.
- avgcorrection 4y ago
  Swift could also use her time and energy to focus on what policies on a national scale can help lower emissions, and figure out what it would take for us to make political change towards a sustainable first-world lifestyle (political as in: a movement to make it feasible to live closer to work, to make mass transit better… not individual nonsense microchoices). I’ll judge her more harshly for that.
  - lwouis 4y ago
    I don't think she has the baggage to think about such complex topics. She's a singer. I think it's too much to expect her to rethink our society model. On the other hand, i think as an ordinary citizen, she knows that private jets pollute a lot. And that she can do something about easily.

kisamoto 4y ago

While it may have been popularized by BP this is by no means a reason to ignore the emissions caused by an individual. Call it something else if you'd like but individuals do cause emissions and they should take responsibility to lower and remove them.

avgcorrection 4y ago
Individuals cause emissions but it’s not rational to make that the locus of attention. Not rational if you want to lower emissions, that is. It is rational for BP’s marketing department, however.
- lwouis 4y ago
  The top of the pyramid are important because they set what the majority of us will want to emulate. If Swift is flying her private jet, then young high-schooler and adults will calibrate on that and fly to Thailand for the holidays because they perceive it desirable to fly around. If we had influencers who would take a stand, it would be very beneficial at global scale actually. Let's say the top football/soccer players would decline to attend the world cup because having A/C'd stadiums in Qatar, and flying both the athletes and the fans there is generating large emissions. If they took that stand and shared it to their 50M followers-each mimetic fanbase, the benefits for society would be wonderful. It's worth pursuing exemplarity of our elites because it sets the flagpost for everyone else. Redefining success from rolex, sport car, big house, to let's say skilled handcraft, raising horses, and living in a small rural community; that would really be beneficial to us all.
  - avgcorrection 4y ago
    Do you want to buy a Rolex if Swift wears one? Or Celine Dione or whatever your idol is.
    - lwouis 4y ago
      People buy rolex to imitate "successful" people. Very few buy rolex because it's useful to them or they are into clock engineering. Rolex doesn't output ads that explain how the clock works; instead they pay celebrities to show up with their watches ostensibly. Look around you at society. People buy brand cloth like $300 white tshirt because of the brand logo on it. I think it's pretty established how humans behave on that regard. Now if you're not convinced (it seems), i suggest you google some sociology studies and look into something more scientific than my example. Feel free to share if my observations are proven untrue.

lwouis 4y ago

I think it's fair to say that most people that have to take a car to work are stuck in the system, and that it would be hard or impossible to change that (city center rent being too high, no jobs outside the mega-cities, etc). However for the rich, options are plentiful. Taylor swift has really every options available to her. She could stop working all together. She's set for life already. She could work only on local concerts. She could do a "slow" world tour and take the boat to do it, as a symbol. She doesn't have to fly to LA for a fun diner with a celebrity friend. Etc etc. Millionaires and billionaires definitely can decide what they want to do. They don't answer for anyone for food and shelter. They make their own rules. In that sense, i think it's fair for the rest of us to judge them hard for a lavish lifestyle that inspires the masses, and really goes against humanity's survival.

avgcorrection 4y ago
Swift could also use her time and energy to focus on what policies on a national scale can help lower emissions, and figure out what it would take for us to make political change towards a sustainable first-world lifestyle (political as in: a movement to make it feasible to live closer to work, to make mass transit better… not individual nonsense microchoices). I’ll judge her more harshly for that.
- lwouis 4y ago
  I don't think she has the baggage to think about such complex topics. She's a singer. I think it's too much to expect her to rethink our society model. On the other hand, i think as an ordinary citizen, she knows that private jets pollute a lot. And that she can do something about easily.