2 ms·

Suppose (made up scenario) we can stop a million phones being discarded every week by mandating that camera modules have to be replaceable by third-parties. We

Suppose (made up scenario) we can stop a million phones being discarded every week by mandating that camera modules have to be replaceable by third-parties. We can drop that legislation tomorrow, basically no problem. Are you gonna say, no we have to wait and do cars first because a car is equal in carbon to 20 phones (or whatever). Cars are one of the large container targets, but it takes years to change urban environments, to build transportation infrastructure, to change building zones, etc., to prepare the way for people using alternative transport (or none). Unless you can win over your citizens (and politicians who are in lobbies pockets) for a grand plan like 'no more new cars from now on'.

epistasis 2y ago
That cars are such a slow mover is the reason that we need to focus on it now, rather than later. I don't think you hypothetical would change even a tiny fraction of phone replacements, but even if it did, legislative bandwidth in the US is extremely low and should be reserved for the high impact changes. Anything that distracts from the must-do messages is quite likely to be harmful. We make people jump through all sorts of hoops for plastic straws and plastic bags that have approximately zero environmental win compared to far smaller changes to their car use. The real problem is the social attitude that cars can not be touched or criticized. That needs to start changing. Our phones are not the core of climate change, our cars and all the massive environmental damage from mining the necessary minerals for them really are.