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After a long time of tracking climate/environmental science I'm totally disillusioned with any effort by anyone in the face of modern politics, corporate domina

After a long time of tracking climate/environmental science I'm totally disillusioned with any effort by anyone in the face of modern politics, corporate dominace and the short sighted or apathetic attitudes in society. I've found the best thing is to do what you can on your own patch and your own life, where you have the actual power to change and improve things ... and ignore the fact that it's a drop in the ocean and that you are surrounded by people who are bemused or even actively hostile that your lifestyle is actually philosophically opposed to their comforting illusions. We have a farm. We plant trees and grow food. We do what we can to limit our consumption. We vote for the parties that pledge to do something (and thus never win seats). That's all you can really do.

musha68k 3y ago
I hear you, it's exhausting to fight the system in the most literal sense. You are doing the right things though, and for that I want to applaud you. I personally still don't know how to get through to most boomers, but I'm sure younger generations could scale up on many of these vectors and quickly. In the end we must. Engineers alone, without a new kind of global solidarity, conceivably will just run out of time. https://youtubetranscript.com/?v=wT6NCbFrb7c&t=852 https://youtubetranscript.com/?v=wT6NCbFrb7c&t=852 https://www.ipcc.ch/sr15/chapter/spm/ https://www.ipcc.ch/sr15/chapter/spm/ https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35231012 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35231012 https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/syr/ https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/syr/ Edit: What might feel like small contributions – in the end every action matters – and our collective efforts can create a ripple effect of positive change. You might end up encouraging others to adopt similar practices. I personally find your story very inspiring actually. And let me ask you this: What positive experiences or benefits have you enjoyed in adopting a more sustainable lifestyle personally?
- MrVandemar 3y ago
  > I personally still don't know how to get through to most boomers ... You can't. Key to solving climate and environmental problems is over-population and over-consumption. Boomers have been taught that they are entitled to big families and big cars and the latest toys. Tell them they can't have any of that, and see how popular you are. > And let me ask you this: What positive experiences or benefits have you enjoyed in adopting a more sustainable lifestyle personally? We eat like kings (my work colleagues complain about how amazing my leftovers smell when I heat them up at lunch); we have a lovely, comfortable house; and we have much reduced pressure of bills. We feel good we've preserved a little bit of untouched forest/bush, and increased the habit for the animals. We don't have children, which is good because if we did we'd be terrified for their future. But ... I still commute 4 days a week (in a small car; there's no public transport) because of other financial requirements, and a lot of our life still falls short of an ideal because the required changes to truely live sustainably lack the required institutional and government regulations (like, there's still a ridiculous amount of unnecessary plastic for everything; you can't buy an apple without a little plastic label on it). The biggest trick of the corporations was for them to move the responsibility onto us, and to have our consciences appeased by "recycling" and "buying green".

musha68k 3y ago

I hear you, it's exhausting to fight the system in the most literal sense. You are doing the right things though, and for that I want to applaud you. I personally still don't know how to get through to most boomers, but I'm sure younger generations could scale up on many of these vectors and quickly. In the end we must. Engineers alone, without a new kind of global solidarity, conceivably will just run out of time. https://youtubetranscript.com/?v=wT6NCbFrb7c&t=852 https://youtubetranscript.com/?v=wT6NCbFrb7c&t=852 https://www.ipcc.ch/sr15/chapter/spm/ https://www.ipcc.ch/sr15/chapter/spm/ https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35231012 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35231012 https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/syr/ https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/syr/ Edit: What might feel like small contributions – in the end every action matters – and our collective efforts can create a ripple effect of positive change. You might end up encouraging others to adopt similar practices. I personally find your story very inspiring actually. And let me ask you this: What positive experiences or benefits have you enjoyed in adopting a more sustainable lifestyle personally?

MrVandemar 3y ago
> I personally still don't know how to get through to most boomers ... You can't. Key to solving climate and environmental problems is over-population and over-consumption. Boomers have been taught that they are entitled to big families and big cars and the latest toys. Tell them they can't have any of that, and see how popular you are. > And let me ask you this: What positive experiences or benefits have you enjoyed in adopting a more sustainable lifestyle personally? We eat like kings (my work colleagues complain about how amazing my leftovers smell when I heat them up at lunch); we have a lovely, comfortable house; and we have much reduced pressure of bills. We feel good we've preserved a little bit of untouched forest/bush, and increased the habit for the animals. We don't have children, which is good because if we did we'd be terrified for their future. But ... I still commute 4 days a week (in a small car; there's no public transport) because of other financial requirements, and a lot of our life still falls short of an ideal because the required changes to truely live sustainably lack the required institutional and government regulations (like, there's still a ridiculous amount of unnecessary plastic for everything; you can't buy an apple without a little plastic label on it). The biggest trick of the corporations was for them to move the responsibility onto us, and to have our consciences appeased by "recycling" and "buying green".