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More like the rich won't do anything about climate change because they can do whatever they want and the poor will be made to do pointless things that don't rea

More like the rich won't do anything about climate change because they can do whatever they want and the poor will be made to do pointless things that don't really impact anything. As long as it seems like 'something is being done' it'll 'feel' like something is being done. If we really gave a shit, cargo ships with massive house sized oil burning engines would be first to go and we would move to nuclear power. We would also start producing products locally instead of shipping them halfway across the globe because people have less labor laws across the pond. Instead the government and corporations make it the middle class' problem and the best part is environmentalists actually buy this horseshit wholesale. It'd be funny if it didn't make me sad.

eynsham 3y ago
But it is the middle class’s problem. If we take the Oxfam figure that the top one per cent cause sixteen per cent of the world’s emissions, it’s impossible to achieve sufficient reductions in emissions without action by the ninety-nine per cent.⁰ And of course quite a lot of the top one per cent are in fact ‘middle class’ by Western standards. 0: https://www.oxfam.org/en/press-releases/richest-1-emit-much-planet-heating-pollution-two-thirds-humanity https://www.oxfam.org/en/press-releases/richest-1-emit-much-...
- westmeal 3y ago
  Your source also says 'The richest 10 percent accounted for half (50 percent) of emissions.'
  - eynsham 3y ago
    Right, well, again, it would be very hard to meaningfully respond to climate change ignoring half of emissions. It’s plausible that very little should be asked of the bottom half, who contribute under ten per cent of emissions if we follow Oxfam’s methodology.⁰ That would exclude nearly everybody in the West, though. And I take it that people on HN do not mean the global middle class when they say ‘middle class’. 0: https://oxfamilibrary.openrepository.com/bitstream/handle/10546/621551/cr-climate-equality-201123-en.pdf https://oxfamilibrary.openrepository.com/bitstream/handle/10...

eynsham 3y ago

But it is the middle class’s problem. If we take the Oxfam figure that the top one per cent cause sixteen per cent of the world’s emissions, it’s impossible to achieve sufficient reductions in emissions without action by the ninety-nine per cent.⁰ And of course quite a lot of the top one per cent are in fact ‘middle class’ by Western standards. 0: https://www.oxfam.org/en/press-releases/richest-1-emit-much-planet-heating-pollution-two-thirds-humanity https://www.oxfam.org/en/press-releases/richest-1-emit-much-...

westmeal 3y ago
Your source also says 'The richest 10 percent accounted for half (50 percent) of emissions.'
- eynsham 3y ago
  Right, well, again, it would be very hard to meaningfully respond to climate change ignoring half of emissions. It’s plausible that very little should be asked of the bottom half, who contribute under ten per cent of emissions if we follow Oxfam’s methodology.⁰ That would exclude nearly everybody in the West, though. And I take it that people on HN do not mean the global middle class when they say ‘middle class’. 0: https://oxfamilibrary.openrepository.com/bitstream/handle/10546/621551/cr-climate-equality-201123-en.pdf https://oxfamilibrary.openrepository.com/bitstream/handle/10...