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It's hard not to feel a little apathetic about news like this. I love my children, but I'm not sure how I will be able to explain the world/my involvement in t
by karles 3y ago
It's hard not to feel a little apathetic about news like this.
I love my children, but I'm not sure how I will be able to explain the world/my involvement in the world to them once they grow old (both are below 2 years as of today).
As an individual, I feel like I have no way of leaving the "rat race" while still being able to sustain our lives financially...
- truckerbill 3y agoWorth at least trying to push back on things. Imagine you were diagnosed with a terminal disease, that also is passed on to your offspring. Everyone tells you you're screwed, but some controversial group of doctors think there's a tiny chance they can cure you with a painful procedure. What do you do?
- userbinator 3y agoEveryone is diagnosed with a terminal disease called life.
- throwuwu 3y agoHasn’t stopped us yet
- moffkalast 3y agoOn the contrary, it's stopped everyone so far.
- throwuwu 3y agoI was referring to the original comment about continuing to try even in the face of a terminal diagnosis. So no, it hasn’t stopped us.
- jxramos 3y agono one gets out of here alive!
- truckerbill 3y agoAt the moment life is somewhat enjoyable. Unless you're living downwind from an enormous wildfire (or next to one).
- jansan 3y agoBuy an air conditioning.
- myshpa 3y agohttps://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/may/31/avoiding-meat-and-dairy-is-single-biggest-way-to-reduce-your-impact-on-earth https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/may/31/avoiding... Avoiding meat and dairy is ‘single biggest way’ to reduce your impact on Earth https://journals.plos.org/climate/article?id=10.1371/journal.pclm.0000010 https://journals.plos.org/climate/article?id=10.1371/journal... Rapid global phaseout of animal agriculture has the potential to stabilize greenhouse gas levels for 30 years and offset 68 percent of CO2 emissions this century https://www.colorado.edu/ecenter/2022/03/15/it-may-be-uncomfortable-we-need-talk-about-it-animal-agriculture-industry-and-zero-waste https://www.colorado.edu/ecenter/2022/03/15/it-may-be-uncomf... The animal agriculture industry is the leading cause of most environmental degradation that is currently occurring. https://plantbasednews.org/news/plant-based-lifestyles-imperative-survival-climate-expert/ https://plantbasednews.org/news/plant-based-lifestyles-imper... Plant-Based Lifestyles Now ‘Imperative’ For Survival, IPCC Climate Expert Says https://www.researchgate.net/publication/320356605_Agriculture_production_as_a_major_driver_of_the_Earth_system_exceeding_planetary_boundaries https://www.researchgate.net/publication/320356605_Agricultu... Agriculture production as a major driver of the Earth system exceeding planetary boundaries https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/abandon-industrial-agriculture https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/abandon-industrial-agri... "We are in the middle of the sixth extinction with as many as 274 species going extinct every day—we have lost an average of 68% of all bird, fish, mammal, amphibian, and reptile species in the past 50 years—and the decline is continuing at more than one percentage point per year. Agriculture is the largest cause of these declines—86% of those species threatened—with animal agriculture (60%) the salient perpetrator."
- ForHackernews 3y agoDon't have kids; eat whatever you like. Your own impact pales next to N^N impact of your descendents.
- jvanderbot 3y agoDemographic collapse is also a very bad thing. And it's even more of a tragedy of the commons than simply not eating meat/dairy.
- throwuwu 3y agoIf you’re really concerned then change careers to a field that is working on tech to improve the human condition. Short list: 1. Nuclear physics 2. Robotics and automation 3. Space engineering and rocketry 4. Materials science 5. Biotech Even if you can’t reskill to work directly on the tech you can still contribute using your existing skills. If you want your kids to have a future then you need to build it for them.
- sambull 3y agoSo use more.. to one day maybe save the lucky ones.
- throwuwu 3y agoNo, make everything especially energy as cheap and efficient as possible so that everyone gets richer and healthier and can contribute to solving humanity’s problems.
- lm28469 3y ago> make everything especially energy as cheap and efficient as possible so that everyone gets richer and healthier That's like.... the root cause of our issues
- throwuwu 3y agoYou think we might be better off burning wood and dung instead of solar and nuclear? Carbon free energy requires high technology global civilization. If you make everyone poorer then say goodbye to science and technology, no one cares about those when they’re worrying about how to heat their home and put food on the table.
- lm28469 3y agoCan't win a race with a moving finish line. It's never enough, we always want more We could live completely on renewable energy if we lived like our grandparents, we don't do it, because we want more, more food, more gadgets, more services more entertainment, more tech, more money, more health, &c. it never ends, because we don't have a goal. "get healthier and richer", the vaguest goal you can come up with
- boredemployee 3y agoHonestly, as a midclass/poor class individual (+90% of the people), what could one do anyway? Food itself is a luxury for many people/countries. Imagine asking for poor people to go vegan or to buy electric cars. The most important and impactful decisions are confined to the hands of a few billionaire families around the world.
- juujian 3y ago> Honestly, as a midclass/poor class individual (+90% of the people), what could one do anyway? Are you asking us, or are you asking yourself?
- boredemployee 3y agoI'm accessing a forum with a number of people greater than 1. So the idea is that the question is for other people besides myself.
- juujian 3y agoWell, we don't know the circumstances of your life, where you live, what resources you have. That all determines what possibilities exist for you to engage yourself.
- guy98238710 3y agoPlant-based food is actually cheaper, at least the ordinary stuff like bread, pasta, legumes, oat flakes, and even the hated sugar. And so is public transportation where available.
- myshpa 3y ago> Food itself is a luxury for many people/countries. That's why you'll find most vegans/vegetarians in low-income countries. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veganism_by_country#Demographics https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veganism_by_country#Demographi... (the list seems incomplete, e.g. missing Ethiopia) > Imagine asking for poor people to go vegan Global study shows vegan and vegetarian diets cheapest option in high-income countries https://www.ox.ac.uk/news/2021-11-11-sustainable-eating-cheaper-and-healthier-oxford-study https://www.ox.ac.uk/news/2021-11-11-sustainable-eating-chea... Study: Grocery Costs on a Vegan Diet Are 40 Percent Lower Than Diets with Meat https://thebeet.com/study-grocery-costs-on-a-vegan-diet-are-40-percent-lower-than-diets-with-meat/ https://thebeet.com/study-grocery-costs-on-a-vegan-diet-are-... Vegans found to have highest amount of disease-fighting biomarkers https://news.llu.edu/research/vegans-found-have-highest-amount-of-disease-fighting-biomarkers https://news.llu.edu/research/vegans-found-have-highest-amou... > The most important and impactful decisions are confined to the hands of a few billionaire families around the world It's true that inequality (of power distribution) is a big part of the problem. But meat & dairy production is fueled by demand. So it's something we can collectively influence by individual actions. Veganism is on the rise, the animal industry is already scared of its dwindling profits.
- LeifCarrotson 3y agoI'm happy to explain why I bike to work. I'm happy to explain why our lawn is not irrigated or manicured like our neighbors, and why we planted those native wildflowers in our flowerbeds. I'm happy to explain why we eat less meat than his grandparents or friends, why we buy organic produce at the farmer's market. I'm happy to explain why we spent that time working on insulating the attic, or why we planted those trees. I'm less happy to explain why we own two ICE vehicles (even if the one doesn't see many miles), or why we take a plane on 1,000 vacations, or why we run the air conditioner in summer. Why we choose to live on a multi-acre lot on a cul-de-sac far from public transport, why we buy produce in single-use plastics when the farmer's market is closed. Why, in spite of all these choices, our lifestyle costs more than $50,000 per year with commensurate energy usage, when the global average necessary to avoid global warming is far less than that. I'm happy to explain how the project I recently did at work is saving a local foundry upwards of 50 kWh, every hour, for some 16 hours per day 6 days per week; that industrial-scale energy savings eclipses all the efforts I've put into our home. I'm less happy to explain how I kind of defaulted into this job that only incidentally occasionally helps out with reasonably important problems, rather than explicitly aiming to be involved in solutions to what a reasonable, rational person would conclude are the most important problems facing our world today. (There's an LG Chem EV battery plant going in 45 minutes away, should I spend an additional 1.5 hour commute per day away from my son and sacrifice my comfy family-oriented job, to contribute to an important industry?) Said 6yo just spent the weekend 'helping' me install some off-grid solar at the homestead my wife's cousin and her husband just bought in northern Michigan. She just retired from the military at just over 30 years old after saving money fanatically, and is farming a few acres. They have a carbon impact that's a fraction of my own, which is a fraction of my parents'. She's a great example. But that may still not be enough, and it's not particularly realistic to take 9 million plus down-state residents and have them all move north to a couple dozen wooded acres; her plan only works because there's a city of 40,000 people with a Menards, Meijer, and Farm and Fleet half an hour away. I think that all the small choices I make, even if they come from good motives, are disingenuous greenwashing if you reasonably forecast required emissions and hypothetical global development/equality. Our current capitalist, globalist system only works if there are growing populations of billions in poverty, working for the American dream, and industrial externalities being ignored. GDP and carbon emissions are tightly correlated, and achieving carbon neutrality or going carbon negative requires rejecting our financial targets. I fear that rejecting that option will paint us in a similar light as we view non-participants or opponents of the civil rights movement that our parents and grandparents represent - choices that were a product of our times, but which were wrong then and are wrong now.
- AbrahamParangi 3y agoYou’re not responsible for the state of the world, at least not meaningfully more than your parents and your children are. If we’re doing it wrong, we’re all doing it wrong together. Might as well make the best of it.
- CalRobert 3y agoTurn your career towards addressing the problem. climatebase.org is one good place to start. https://workonclimate.org/ https://workonclimate.org/ is good too. Also consider running for office.
- sixothree 3y agoYour kids are going to be alive in the year 2100. That seems like an awful thing to force onto someone.