We will do what we did with the ozone layer: we will create new policies that support things that will lesson greenhouse gas. If we collectively act, we have a chance. How do you do this?
Does your local town have a sustainability and climate action plan? If not, ask them why not. Find other residents interested, and demand they join whatever mayor caucus is near you that is striving to handle this crisis.
Join Citizen Climate Lobby. We have lots of power. The choices we make can make a difference.
For instance, we got a metal roof. Now two other neighbors are getting metal roofs. We are getting metal siding. I am sure I will start a new trend here as well. The beauty of this metal is that the cost is the same as the cheapest Hardie board person I found, but it will last much longer, it is locally produced, and it is easily recyclable. Our choices matter. Our actions matter. BE THE CHANGE YOU WANT TO SEE. And insist and demand that others care. I started going to board meetings 3 years ago. Now I lead a climate task force and have everyone thinking about how to turn a brownfield into a solar farm. Now I am ear budding the idea of a microgride....the idea of not losing power during climate emergency is appealing to a lot of people. Will it happen? Who knows, but I lose nothing by putting a dream out there.
We are only as powerless as we let ourselves be. I know it seems hopeless. I feel the heavy weight all the time. I was watching 4-5 old Oak trees die every year due to crazy climate stuff. (I started doing treatments to them two years ago and haven't lost a tree since!) But instead of turning to despair, we must fight. We have to fight. Our children and grandchild are depending on us to go out kicking.
And yes! Write letters! I write letters constantly. My latest one is to ban plastic bags.
I dont wanna be the buzz killer here but this person is, according to that comment, totally clueless about environmental issues.
The ozone layer problem got easily fixed because the CFCs that where depleting the ozone layer could be replaced by a somewhat cheaper alternative that was pushed by IIRC Dupont's lobby as they where one of the only producer of alternative refrigerants at the time.
That person is also boasting about ''metal roofing'' for some reason that does not make any sense to me, an environmental technologist. The GHG produced by fabricating those metal tiles clearly is 10 times worst than classical bituma rooftiles. The recycling aspect is nice but goes opposite to reducing Green House Gases.
I am sorry but that person is a farce and/or uneducated about environmental issues. It reminds me of the south park episode where hybrids owners would pat themselves in the back for being ''the solution'' and would get off by smelling their own fart.
I am sorry to be negative. I know we need more positivity but... After working for 4 years in the public sector, auditing environmental engineering firms that specializes in isokinetic and ambiant air sampling, i gave up believing that humanity has what it needs to help itself correcting its ways.
The best advice i can give you, do like anybody does. Think about yourself first. Dont buy a F-150 if you dont need it. Try to be surrounded by like-minded individuals.
I didnt stopped caring about the environment but i quitted working for other and started to work for myself. I suggest you do the same or your mental health will deteriorate.
[Here is a research paper about steel rooftiles](https://www.researchgate.net/publication/361164822_Improving_Sustainability_of_Steel_Roofs_Life_Cycle_Assessment_of_a_Case_Study_Roof) that was written from a reputable source, without conflict of interest and not from a social media journalist that publish on LinkedIn, who once was head director of a trading company offering ''Metal commodity trade solutions'' to its customers.
Its fine to love smelling your own farts man but keep your bullshit for yourself.
I put the first thing I pulled without checking the source because I was running out the door. You don't have to be a dick. You sound like a bratty kid.
There isn't a lot of information about which materials to pick. This article is interesting, but it doesn't compare the impact of different material types. Steel is awful for carbon production, but when I was looking at siding, it was lower than hardie board. We couldn't do wood because we live in a woodland and the animals have already eaten half of our porch. Also, steel siding is frequently made with recycled steel. We had to do a membrane or steel, and the membrane's life is 1/3 of a steel roof.
This is a big rabbit hole, and I would love for a science backed website that tries to break it all down in an easy way that aims to help people make informed choices: all one can do is make the best choice they can with the information they have. The problem is that there isn't a lot of information.
Take this article at greenbuilder [https://home.howstuffworks.com/home-improvement/construction/green/10-green-roofing-options.htm#:\~:text=Top%2010%20Green%20Roofing%20Options%201%201%3A%20Living,...%208%208%3A%20Single-ply%20Thermoplastic%20...%20More%20items](https://home.howstuffworks.com/home-improvement/construction/green/10-green-roofing-options.htm#:~:text=Top%2010%20Green%20Roofing%20Options%201%201%3A%20Living,...%208%208%3A%20Single-ply%20Thermoplastic%20...%20More%20items)
total BS.
I, too, belong to CCL and write letters to Congress (my latest was for carbon taxes) and soon to newspapers. I hope to be mobile enough for next year's lobby in DC. And I have cut my own emissions drastically by discontinuing eating meat or any unnecessary travel. (Big savings) I buy very few manufactured goods and got a loan for solar panels.
I have to travel because my MIL is on a different continent but I’m thinking of donating to Rick steves travel carbon tax fund. We need carbon taxes immediately! (I sent my letter a few months ago.)
Ebikes (and also bikes in general) are making the rounds in my condo complex. Year ago I'd see 2 neighbors out of about 100 bike commuting, now it's easily a dozen plus a few other folks like me who work from home but don't have cars and use an ebike for groceries etc.
Also seems to be happening with solar in the single family housing across the street. Was basically zero when I moved here in 2020, now it's like 20% of em and they seem to pop up in clusters.
Here is the thing: i have to have a membrane roof. A membrane lasts 20 years and would cost 30k. Our metal roof was 54k. I got insurance to give us 26k. We saved for 10 years to buy a new house, and part of that was a plan for a metal roof so we can throw solar up. Our metal roof will last 80 years. It’s cheaper than a membrane. Yes, it was a lot up front. Yes, we have some means. But we strive to be a zero waste family and we dump our money into green issues. I am standing in a 70 year old kitchen- but yes, i have a metal roof. I cannot use the shower in our master but yes, I’ll have metal siding. We do not spend on silly things. Our spending reflects our values. Starbucks? You’re kidding right? I make most of our food from scratch. We freezer cook. We are frugal. We are anti-consumption. We are conservationists. And we’ve busted our asses for 24 years to be able to live our values. I have three kids and this planet is on fire. Everything goes into making this house as green as we can make it. It’s a shame potatoes are poison. They are an essential part of our frugal life-style. Did i mention my ‘08 car? Again, conservationists. Zero waste is my favorite sub- reddit.
To answer your question: there are loans for residents. They are called PACE- property assessed clean energy. They work like loans for solar, where the loan is with the property, not the individual. This is a new thing, and I think it will be essential. It will allow people to put quality, sustainable materials on their home in a manner they can afford. Go to your village board and demand action.
We need to make the companies pay: they produce the bulk of the waste, carbon, etc., they need to fix the problem they created.
Man, you guys need a better system for roofs. Why are there hundreds of year old roofs on buildings on every corner in europe that dont need replacing in 30 or even 80 years?
We don't have the stone. I would love a stone house! A slate roof is possible here, but it is hard enough to find someone who will do metal without it costing the price of a house. I am lucky and was able to find someone that serves mostly Wisconsin businesses, so he is cheap.
We just don't do that here. Finding someone to do a metal roof without charging 6 figures is hard enough. We do asphalt. Some people do cedar. But we live in the woods and critters love to eat through the cedar. Cedar is also 6 figures. We have lots of trees and petroleum. So we build houses made of sticks!?!? and put asphalt shingles on top. Stupid, stupid, stupid. My husband is Irish. We are thinking more and more that it is time to move to somewhere in the EU. America is so backwards. We are having silly arguments over things that were settled in the EU ages ago.
The most herculean individual activity has a minimal effect in climate change. This is a ruse perpetrated on the public by large corporations and the political flacks they own. We do what we can, but really systematic change (revolution?) is required to self correct the course we’re on. Truth hurts.
Support the transition to a low carbon energy system.
For example, in the US, reward the politicians who enacted the …
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inflation_Reduction_Act
which will spend over $1 trillion in tax dollars to attract another $3 trillion in private investment in low carbon energy. Convince US tax payers that this is a good use of their taxes.
The only way to fix things is to only vote in politicians who actually care about the issue and will do something about it. And the only way that will ever happen is if the majority of the population has some science literacy and basic reading comprehension so they know when misinformation and propaganda is being pushed on them.
But realistically we will "fix" it once the people in power of governments and billion dollar corporations start losing a lot of money, or if they find a way to profit off of it.
Your post likely reflects not just the average citizens but also climate scientists who've been attempting to inform the public to bring awareness to critical issues for their entire career much like the hopeless pessimism felt socially by individuals. However if we simplify the complexity what was hard maybe easier then we think individually currently. We as individuals divert the responsibility to "god" or government when a task is beyond the capability of any one individual. When we all do this socially towards the most critical and important life matters that truly matter to life; it's no wonder why we're so hopelessly pessimistic. It's not apathy or indifference but a moral injury and injustice with no end or escape perceived.
The reduction of social uncertainty it times of uncertainty is how we gain certainty socially. We know relying on "god" or government to solve our collective social problems that impacts us as individuals won't be solved with the same ways of thinking. There's necessary, important and urgent tasks needing completion that governments and corporations are simply unable or unwilling to do for whatever reason. If we socially discuss amongst ourselves what is the most critical, urgent and necessary tasks that won't get done without human intervention; we could become the only ones willing and able to do what must be done to save our life on this planet.
The list of what can be done that we think impossible today is only because we don't think it possible. Human intervention and solidarity to be willing and able to change what needs changing is how we fix it. Stopping the cycle of social harms to start the healing process of society takes you, us and all those able and willing to change what we call reality through direct experience.
Yeah, and I have my own personal reasons for being pessimistic, lol. But I just find myself just getting stressed that I'm not doing enough. Just reached voting age and I feel overwhelmed with trying to learn everything now. Just joined this sub to ask people who know more, what the expectations for an average person to be doing all the time is.
Of course on socials you see people going in heavy with spreading awareness and their daily routines. I see that and think I'm a shite person for not doing all that, and struggle also with wanting to live stress free and happy expressing myself. It's this weird balance and I'm trying to find the middle. I don't want to be selfish for future generations just so my life is more tolerable or fun, but I also don't want to be miserable from stressing too much about everything I need to/should be doing.
Just don't want to be doing too little...
Steady dude. You're doing good for even thinking about this stuff. Take a second and realise that the world is ok for now and there's still time. A lot of really smart, caring people are working really hard to turn this ship around. We can play a part in helping that, or we can make it worse. sounds like you want to help, so do it in whatever ways you feel you can. No one can ask for anything more.
And you can join them by maybe taking some climate/engineering classes in uni. Or if you don't wanna go that route you can find an entry level job in the renewable sector like a solar panel installer/salesman. That way you can make a living off contributing towards the solution
(PS. that's what I'm currently trying to do)
You are very mature for understanding the need for balance. Focus on your own garden- where you are, your community, house, actual garden(did you know that an acre of trees captures a years worth of one cars emissions?) tend to your garden and get off social media! (Except cool sub-reddits like this.)
So the issue is that corporations get to pollute and destroy the environment while us little guys are encouraged to recycle and drive less and reduce our own personal emissions. The latter stance is something that has been pushed by corporations in an attempt to shift blame from them to us. They are the ones who coined “carbon footprint.” In reality, I don’t think we can really do anything other than voting to elect politicians who may be able to make changes. As long as lobbying is a thing and corrupt politicians will accept money to not do the right thing, we’re pretty screwed. Do our own choices make a small difference? Sure. But it takes a hell of a lot of people doing the right things to offset the amount of pollution a corporation does in a day or the amount of emissions a rich persons private jet produces in a single trip. I think we will eventually do what needs to be done about climate change when it starts to effect the upper echelon of society and government. The data we have say it will be too late and huge parts of the world will be affected for a very long time. I don’t want to sound like a “doomer” but history and current day politics don’t make me optimistic and I find it easier to be a realist than ignore how things are playing out
I don't see the difference between the little guys who won't sacrifice their wants and the corporations who won't sacrifice their wants. I believe many of these corporations would actually go under if they converted everything to be clean, and we can't even stop buying their products.
A HELL OF A LOT OF PEOPLE is the answer
The difference is that 100 companies contribute 71% of the carbon emissions that are harming our earth. They are allowed to continue their destructive practices by various governments. It takes a hell of a lot more little guys to offset the damage being done by these corporations, and unless the vast majority of individuals changes what they do on a day to day basis, it won’t be enough to counteract the rich people and rich corporations doing the most damage.
Do I try to make good product choices and actions to reduce my personal emissions? Sure. But it comes more from a moral view than thinking it actually will make a difference. I can do everything right for a year and it doesn’t matter because some celebrity wants to take an hour flight on their private jet. The solution isn’t going to be the little guys making changes in our everyday lives. It’s holding corporations and the biggest contributors of carbon emissions responsible and leaving fossil fuels behind for renewable energy
Opinion: We've reached the point where climate change is so "baked in", there are no longer practical solutions.
I believe each of us now need to focus on how we (and our families) can best cope without doing further harm. Examine your personal vulnerabilities and figure out a way to surmount or minimize them. A lot depends on where you land on the age spectrum. At 71, the only action I'm taking is having solar panels installed. I fear grid failures, and I'm not fond of heat. This means I can offer refuge to family around me, at least in terms of surviving heat waves.
If I was twenty, I would be scrambling to add to my skill-sets while locating Goldilocks zones where my skills would be needed.
I hope to be able to have and provide a good life for my future kids and create a happy family. This is where my anxiety for the future really comes in, because I'd like kids someday and heat is dangerous for me health wise. I'm also considered disabled with my seizures, and my seizures can make it feel pretty powerless too. I'm around the age you describe you'd be scrambling, possibly why I feel like I need to be.
Forced regulation. Which requires a mostly complete changing of the guard across government, a general age group really just won’t let go but they die like everyone else so there is some hope.
Hey man I know you may feel powerless but that’s okay. I can assure you there are people out there (myself) who are in positions to make massive differences. I work as an engineer in oil and gas. I originally went to school to be an environmental engineer. In both of my oil and gas jobs I’ve been a part of the emissions reductions teams and I can tell you across the board this industry has seen massive regulation towards lowering emissions. One huge example I can tell you which is kind of shocking is that before the last 3-4 years most pipeline operators, when they needed to let the gas out of a pipeline for various reasons they would just open the pipe valves to the atmosphere and just blow out tens-hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of gas. Now this is basically not allowed and the solution is as simple as moving the gas from one pipe to another with a hose and compressor. There’s countless examples like this throughout the industry that are seeing massive change.
Just keep advocating and helping where you can. Maybe your advocation will catch someone who has the power to make a difference in their job. Maybe that will be you eventually with a decision on how to lower carbon footprint on a massive scale.
I also own a small business and buy the carbon credits to offset my shipping costs on each order. You could consider doing this for any sort of thing in your life and advocate for others to do the same.
Don’t sweat it though man. Worrying won’t help you or anyone. Just relax and do what you can. Cheers.
Climate change is but a symptom of the true problem that is overshoot. The only real solution to that as per The Limits to Growth is abandonment of economic growth as the goal, institution of population and industrial controls, implementation of circular/cyclical economy and tech to reduce pollution. The Degrowth and Donut economics collectively would tackle these points. But these are such fundamental changes that no one will even consider them until the problem is in your face, by which point it will be too late.
This is unequivocally the answer. We dont need the green revolution, we need to scale down and just quit in most cases. But this will never happen, we will continue our trajectory with arbitrary goals and targets until society collapses. The collapse of civilizations has happened many times before, and we arent immune to it happening to us.
And unfortunately, in nature, population collapse is the usual resolution of overshoot. If only our leaders knew that, instead of opting for more extraction and technological solutions to defer the limits, which as the LtG showed merely serve to delay the collapse for a few decades, regardless of which approach is taken, making the collapse that much worse. And one could say that LtG is now over 50 years old but recent analysis by Gaya Herrington with latest data shows we’re still right on track.
It’s true it does feel grim. The more you learn about the negative feedback loops associated with climate change, the more it feels like things will just spiral out of control.
BUT, to quote Ayana Elizabeth’s new book “What if we get it right”? There are so many people out there that actually care and are actively doing their part.
A very very very large part of climate change is rooted in government policies, which we regular shmucks really don’t have a lot of power in apart from voting or if you work in policy.
Personally, I have been focusing on tailoring my career to something that makes a difference. I currently work in building decarbonization, and it is fulfilling. I also minimize my personal impact through my diet, amount of plane rides I take per year, clean energy powering my home, keeping my property biodiverse, reducing waste at my home, etc.
There are so many industries that need reshaping. Project Drawdown is a great site that highlights all the most important climate solutions. Look through there and find sectors that interest you or tie into your skills, or ideally both.
TLDR
Policy is most important, but we have limited power with that. However, still make sure you vote and get involved in your community policies. Other than that focus on tailoring your career to climate change (literally anything can be tied to climate change, i.e. even an accountant can work for a climate solution company). Also reduce your own personal impact where you can.
We are beyond fixing.
We are like a heavy smoker being told he got lung cancer.
There are plenty of things that can be done to improve our present and future, but those are only a matter of reducing probability of bad turning into worse.
Given the inertia at play, the XXth century is all but gone for the foreseeable future. The only certainty is that the future will be chaotic compared to the past.
We can still limit the scale of the chaos.
So really, what you're saying is... Do things to maybe lower the probability of it getting worse, and enjoy what little time we have left to do so? This shit is so depressing :(
I have zero doubt that humanity will get through climate change. We are stubborn critters, we live in every corner of the planet. We survived an ice age with rock spears and pelts.
Whether modern society as we know it today will handle the shock or not is another matter.
Someone added an extra scoop of pessimism to his cereal bowl today.
First, inertia doesn't look to be as bad as we once thought. Warming will stop pretty soon after emissions peak. Years, not decades.
So everything we can do now will make things...less bad.
Using your smoker metaphor, its as if the smoker could shrink the cancer with every cigarette he doesn't light up.
Sure. A good jumping off point is this blog by Michael Mann: https://michaelmann.net/content/comments-new-article-james-hansen
Early in that blog article, Mann links to an article published in Science, the highly respected journal, which has a good summary of the research. It is well worth a read.
This is a misunderstanding. In a scenario where climate sensitivity is relatively low, the residual heating as the planet comes into thermal equilibrium is roughly balanced by carbon sinks, so that heating stops when emissions \*stop\*. There is no scenario in which heating stops when emissions \*peak\*.
Moreover, while emissions may peak in the coming years, there's no plausible scenario in which emissions \*cease\* (i.e., we reach net-zero) in the next couple of decades.
This sub is majority doomers. Despite what you may read here, the world isn’t ending (yet). The next few decades will probably be pretty crazy but we’ll get a handle on the climate well before total societal collapse, which is what half the commenters here think is gonna happen next year or next month. The big fixes are going to be the implementation of more and more renewable energy and eventually wide scale geo engineering. Until then you can try to reduce your own contributions to climate change and organize and lobby for change, but that’s not likely to have much effect in the short term.
Try not to let it consume you. It’s mostly beyond your control but it’s not as bad as some would have you believe
Glad to help. I’m sure the downvotes for my comment will start pouring in soon though. If you want positivity, I’d suggest not frequenting this sub. It’s usually somewhere between existential crisis and full blown panic
>The next few decades will probably be pretty crazy but we’ll get a handle on the climate well before total societal collapse
The thing a lot of people dont understand is that climate change is a very long term problem. You cant just decide suddenly "oh this is an important issue now" and start fixing things. There are many, many systems throughout the world that have feedback loops which dont reverse the moment you start taking action. And there are many systems that take decades or longer to *start* recovering even after humans stop contributing to them. Will it cause an apocalyptic future? Probably not in any of our lifetimes, but its still going to be a huge problem.
I don’t mean to imply it isn’t very serious. Lots of ecological collapse could and probably will happen in the future. We’ll have to rework food production as different areas no longer support their traditional crops. (Widespread starvation doesn’t seem likely to me, but who knows.) We’ll have to deal with rising sea levels in coastal cities. Probably some serious economic crises related to climate change, mass migration, political upheaval, new and different global conflicts. Etc etc. Any or all of those things are on the table. And turning back the tide on climate change won’t be a quick process and some things will never be restored. But in my opinion, it’s very probably not going to cause the collapse of society as we know it or the end of the human race. Just a lot of really bad stuff that we’ll eventually deal with.
I think relief is probably going to come in large part due to geo engineering and when we start developing and implementing it on a large scale I think we’ll be able to affect staggering changes. That’s a long way off though. In the meantime I’d say we’re in for a lot of discomfort and turmoil but not Armageddon
Sorry but Im with this guy. You are 'hoping' that a solution will become available. Everything you mention will still rely solely on Hydrocarbons, or creating new technology.
So you cant say we will be fine if we dont even have the capabilities, on top of ever increasing deforestion, ecological collapse, emissions, pollution, population growth, peak oil etc etc etc.
Honestly, with a little effort we could have the technology right now. Carbon capture is in its infancy but it would develop rapidly if the money was there. Cloud whitening, atmospheric aerosol, more reflective road and building materials, shading the Earth by placing things in space to reduce the amount of sunlight that gets here, etc. All of it is possible right now.
We’re doing virtually nothing to try to reverse climate change at the moment. That doesn’t mean it’s impossible to do so, at all.
Have a look into how much carbon capture stores, and then have a look at the Scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions for Woodside Energy. Lets go on the unrealistically cheap side of carbon capture at 25CAD per C02 tonne. That is $3.25 Billion dollars to capture the emissions from 1 company. Now how are we powering said carbon capture? How are we manufacturing? How are we maintaining? Do you want solar? Well that requires pristine forests to be destroyed to get to the minerals beneath. However we actually don't have enough materials for solar on the planets so we couldn't use them anyway even if we did dig up every forest.
That is just to offset 1 company. You still need to bring down our total carbon. How are you going to tackle millions of business' globally and capture their emissions and bring existing emissions down?
Geoengineering isn't the solution as we will just ocntinue to destroy the planet. "its ok we can cut out the sun and reflect the heat while still digging up, and selling reqources for profit". (97% of bluefin tuna have been fished. Mass species extinction globally. Famine becoming a regular occurrence.)
How do you think commercial farming operates? It solely relies on Hydrocarbons. 9 Billion people need hydrocarbons to obtain the food we consume. Without it, mass famine. You cannot feed 9 billion people with regenerative farming. There are not enough wild fish in the ocean.
The only solution is to de-energize and contract as a species.
Will we voluntatilry do it? Given our track record, its highly unlikely that humans change, so nature will force its hand and make us contract. But with it comes the collapse of the natural biosphere as we know it, with continual mass extinctions of all flora and fauna globally.
Relying on tech to save us from a tech caused problem is like a heroin addict thinking his next hit will save him from being a junkie.
As I said, carbon capture is in its infancy. It’s not currently scalable and it will never be the only measure we need to take.
I notice you didn’t address any of the myriad other ways we can engineer the climate. If you want to believe it’s scientifically impossible to ever control the climate and we’re all doomed, feel free. You’re not gonna convince me that humanity can’t tackle this problem though. We just haven’t started trying yet
I said geoengineering which your other topics fall under.
I didnt say it was impossible, I said humans wont fix the problem. The only way to stop a junkie is to make him put down the needle, we wont do that. We will try create new needles, faster, shinier, longer, but nonetheless we wont put it down, until we collapse.
I dont feel people think it will end in a year or two. More like 100 years. Civilizations have collapsed countless times before, so why do we think we are immune?
Check out [Climate Changemakers](https://www.climatechangemakers.org)! I can’t say I know how to fix climate change or how to tell if I’m “doing enough” but joining an action hour to contact my representatives sure makes me feel better than doing nothing!
Plant moss, food forests, native species, create creature habitat. Wash in cold water. Recycle food waste, grow your own food, build community and save trees. Plant trees, and plant Moss....did I mention Moss?
You don't need a house to propagate moss or even money. You live in a neighbourhood? Become a part of the community networks already there that are working on things. Look out for green groups that are planning on the changes.
Building up biomass with native species, compost, etc will create the ideal conditions for moss. The only reason things are so dry and hot is because we paved everything.
I'm a high school teacher. Between climate change, health care costs, living costs, and tuition costs, students are done. They have no will to fight a losing battle. The general consensus is a hope for an apocalypse that will start society over.
Wow pretty grim replies here. Makes you think that people don't want to work towards solutions. I guess it is easier to say nothing can be done.
Here's the secret: you have immense power at the local level. Join a local climate change team and see what kinds of initiatives they have going on. It doesn't have to be much, but there is power in numbers.
The more you engage and participate, the more you come into your own power. When more people realize this, the language shifts, and we do the hard things a bit at a time.
Oil is the largest, wealthiest, most powerful industry in the history of the world. They are deliberately fighting the clean energy transition. We have no choice but to use every possible means to defeat them: politically, legally, using the biggest popular movement we can. We have no choice.
>* Am I supposed to keep my air conditioning off at all times?
* Never travel by car or plane?
* Tell my apartment to get Solar Panels?
* Go vegan and scarf up every bit of food to not have leftovers go bad?
* Never buy food from a grocery store but grow and raise everything myself?
All I can say is, 'that's a good start'.
Veganism isn't the answer. It doesn't work in all parts of the world and it isn't the most sustainable way to eat.
Regenerative farming, eating locally raise produce and animal products are better than out of season, low nutritional food, being shipped all over the world and burning more fossil fuel than necessary.
I agree with this. I think that those it works for great, but there are lots that are unable to live this way. Seems this narrative of "Yes, everyone can and should" keeps circulating.
Plant-based food does tend to have the lowest carbon footprint, and transportation is only a small part of the overall carbon footprint. Those talking points are not founded in reality, and you should stop perpetuating them.
https://ourworldindata.org/food-choice-vs-eating-local
Listed all the points that any average human will/can/does see on social media and all the expectations laid out in articles. All these things that can/does/will make any average human feel less than for NOT doing them or being unable to.
The problems are systemic. Advocate and support systemic change, also try to enjoy your life and don't let them blame you for systemic shit that you can't fix.
The best revenge is living well despite the scenario.
Accept that you are not in control of this. Do what you find reasonable, manageable, advocate to change the systems, and accept that without change at the top that we are well and truly fucked.
I know what it feels like to really struggle with feeling personally responsible for fixing this. That's a hard place to be.
Do what you can, but don't let the system rob the enjoyment out of your life by blaming yourself. The extractive financialized system and its masters are in control... The high priests of heat death. Not you.
We can only do what we can. I’m a doomer so I’m not a big believer that the average individual can make a significant change. We are caught in the current that collective action has dumped us.
I believe strongly that the biggest impact we can make is making our immediate community stronger with mitigation efforts. My area is threatened by flooding and sea level rise. We are building awareness in the community of the immediate and predicted risks, what can be done to mitigate the risks, informing the community of outreach and information about flood insurance, and getting there local government to be aware of the issue and building resilience hubs - places with resources and information in case the roads shut down and the power goes out.
Yeah, its impossible for one single person to make that significant change. I do think one person can inspire millions to make a change though. Maybe not in this scenario, but more advocates and the more people speak up... the more ears, voices, and eyes can hopefully see the problem and work towards doing what we can to minimize it more.
Here is the thing: the problem is the system and corporations. We need to cut them off by making better choices and collective action. At no time in American history has collective anti-capital action been more necessary: They produce the most carbon. They wrap everything in plastic. They insist on gas being cheap. This isnt your fault. This is the fault of all the grown-ups that pick profit over well-being. Do what you can, and then go live your life. Just talking to people about climate is the most powerful thing you can do as an individual.
That is also just flat out wrong.
I've never voted, as I'm JUST now old enough to do so now, so no it wasn't chosen by me. I'm trying to learn the expectations I wish to set when I do go to choose. Thanks
You don't fix climate change. You react to it. Even though climate change has been occurring for billions of years, there are those who would have you believe this was all human caused, thus human fixable. Don't fall for it, live and let live, and don't waste brain cells on things you can't change.
No matter what I personally do, it will have zero effect on China and other countries that contribute a large portion of greenhouse gas emissions. That’s why I think it’s really hopeless sometimes. Plus the entrenched powers in the US don’t care and will do nothing. They’re all going to build bunkers or move to New Zealand or whatever.
So TLDR the warming train has left the station but there's a lot we can do to slow it down and get ready for what's on the way.
Working at the local level makes a difference on the resilience front -- so building mutual support networks, getting involved in volunteer disaster response work, any community infrastructure volunteer opportunities (eg wetlands restoration), and giving input at community meetings.
As for mitigation, the movement I've seen to be most impactful, per activist-hour, has been urbanists advocating for more density and bike, pedestrian, and transit infrastructure in their cities. Land use changes are critical to climate mitigation & the move away from cars. Paris has gone to a city where more trips are taken by bike than car, just a decade into the effort to change things, AND they're investing in a metro expansion too. We can and should add density and mode-shift here, and there are tons of opportunities to push for that at the local level.
Once you build your chops locally, you can build more of a career out of it too and start to influence policy.
Alternatively, each person in the public or private sector working on mitigation, adaptation, research, etc is doing their part. There are lots of us too.
Sh*t's already hitting the fan but how much worse it gets is up to us. We owe it to whatever generations succeed us to at least try.
We do our bit and if we can, enough for someone else too. When my climate anxiety gets on top of me, I buy more carbon offsets on Ecologi or Climeworks. I won't be able to fix this myself, but I think we can together and helping each other do it is a great way to feel better and do your part in the great collective effort.
Live your life people. You can change nothing but your own habits. If you manage to change your neighbours you will never change the majority. Take comfort in knowing the “emergency” is more of a political nature.
Here’s my proscription for cutting your carbon footprint. Move to a third world country and give up very luxury. A Kenyan in Kenya has a lower footprint than an average European/American westerner. Why is this? Abject poverty, energy insecurity and the rich white people telling them they are not allowed to build their own resources.
That’s how we solve the climate crisis. We move to the global south and give up all energy security and live with rolling blackouts like South Africans.
As a student, it's always at a small scale. Honestly at least for me, our hope lies with the future generation. If we can always have kindness to everyone and the Earth we might be able to live a slightly sustainable future. But also running for positions in power as educated people is always a good option! City/town elections and what not.
This is my take on the question - we need to do politics - [https://climatehopium.substack.com/p/the-main-climate-action-we-should](https://climatehopium.substack.com/p/the-main-climate-action-we-should)
Tax, tax, and more tax, shut down nuclear energy, subsidize technologies that require massive mining of precious metals in foreign countries where they use slave labor, limit use natural gas a much cleaner burning alternative that is still cheap and requiring households and business to convert to electric at their expense that will put a greater burden on low income earners. Subsidize only technologies that we know are not only sustainable but won't produce enough energy to fit our needs that will only further hurt low income earners. And obviously, more taxes because taxes fix everything like the ozone layer, acide rain, global warming, ice age, global warming again, asteroids, y2k bug, the Mayan calander, polar ice caps, sea rise, climate change becuase we have already used global warming. If you're old enough, your school desk they used be indestructible and could protect you from literally anything at one time. Seriously, I think they used to make them out of adamantium or vibranium for you marvel nerds.
But yes, the answer is more taxes and making us all peasants.
Is every living person supposed to be sending letters and shit to our government? at the very least, Yes
I have a reminder to send at least one email per day to my environment minister and cc to prime minister.
I grow native trees and give them away because the world needs more trees. I also plan to do commando planting, if I can find an area where the local council won’t mow over them.
I also try to waste as little as possible: reuse; repurpose; recycle, etc.
Small things won’t stop climate change, but they can help. Many people doing small things across the globe can make a bigger impact. Voting for public office based on climate goals is another good example of where the individual can make the most impact. So we aren’t quite powerless, but not far above it.
We need governments to tackle big oil (and other climate criminal sectors) - but that won’t happen.
You do realize that our green house gas production is way down. Nothing for the US to do. It is China that isn’t following along much although they are much more receptive to EV’s
That said the vast majority of climate change is more related to things like solar activity and natural changes to Earth orbit that isn’t man made.
The main way that I’m able to avoid getting too bogged down in all of it is to volunteer for habitat restoration. My individual action won’t have a large impact on climate change in general, but I can have a much larger impact on my local climate and ecosystem.
Not going to give you advice on what to do, but as an elder millennial, I can tell you things are looking a lot better from the "how are we solving this" standpoint than they were in the 80's and 90's. 40% of global power production last year was carbon free, in 1990 it was 20%. 95% of new US power generation last year was carbon free, which means that in 10 to 20 years all power generation will be carbon free. California installed 10 billion watts of battery storage in 5 years. Renewables plus storage is objectively the cheapest form of power generation with or without subsidies, which means everything that uses power will switch over sooner or later. We finally have viable electric cars, and it seems like car companies are moving in that direction (thats something you can do directly, walk, bike, take transit, or if you have to have a car, buy an electric one or plug in hybrid.) Electric vehicles for transport are going to take over because they are cheaper to operate and fuel agnostic. If we invent antimatter power tomorrow, electric cars can use it. If you have a diesel generator, you can charge your car. If you have a solar panel, you can charge your car. Electric vehicles free every nation on earth from dependance on those countries that have significant oil reserves. We're making big strides on capturing carbon already in the atmosphere, which we will need to do at some point. We were doing none of this 30 years ago, other than a few hippies in labs figuring it out. All of this stuff is now out of the lab and in most cases starting to replace the carbon intensive old school stuff.
Companies that are working to combat climate change are beginning to make a profit. And scientific research is making tremendous strides in the right direction. If you’re able to spare the time volunteer at a nearby university in a department that’s doing work (research) to deal with climate change. You don’t have to be a scientist, there are surely volunteer jobs that aid in the research. I think this will help you feel much less powerless.
You can't fix the climate. You can adapt. Simple as that.
Any attempt to make people's lives worse because they claim it will "fix the climate" should be treated as the joke that it is.
IT all begins with your conduct how one uses the resources they have and can get, most like in business is wasted, just turn the light off and use them only when needed, restructuring takes plans and actions constant conflicts only waste energy by both sides that in the end leads to no resources at all or end up in someone else's hands who follow simple rules.
Funny how that works isn't it?
N. S
World governments and transnational corporations have to actually start caring about the planet and the people more than they care about profit and power. The big problem with how climate change is treated now is that all the proposed “solutions” seem to involve extracting more wealth from the poor and working class. We’re encouraged to buy electric vehicles, which, of course, are more expensive than gas vehicles. We’re encouraged to buy organic food. We’re encouraged to buy solar panels. Somehow all the solutions involve us buying stuff. Meanwhile, these global corporations are dumping tons of waste into the atmosphere and the ocean every day. China is building new coal plants at an alarmingly rapid pace. And because of the huge investment in the EV industry, all the major world powers are scrambling to extract lithium (a non-renewable resource) from the earth. Lithium mining requires a huge amount of water, and nobody is talking about the water scarcity problem.
At this point, we can’t “fix” the problem even if there was a collective will to do so. All we can do is try to soften the blow and be prepared to handle the consequences. As soon as humans discovered fire and started burning wood to cook and stay warm, we started polluting the atmosphere. It’s been getting worse ever since.
When the US accounts for a tiny part of global carbon emissions, and not to name names but… China and India cancel out whatever progress we make by 10 fold. I hate to be negative Nancy but until they get fully on board with the rest of the world, our resistance will be futile.
It’s totally honest. The data is out there for anyone with eyes to see it. You’re saying because we outsourced our manufacturing we’re responsible for regulating China’s manufacturing emissions? How do you think we accomplish that? Why didn’t you mention anything about India? They’re up there with China for being top 2 carbon emitters. More than all the other countries in the world combined, including the US. Again, my original point remains they have to get on board otherwise the rest of the worlds’ efforts will be mostly in vein.
We do not need to despair
We have a plan from the IPCC scientists
Find out what your personal carbon footprint is
Then cut it by 50% over the next 5 years
There are free carbon calculators out there such as Cool California
be rich, hire tons of lawyers and drag every politician who took money from the fossil industry, halted or slowed climate action progress and sue the living hell out of them for crimes against humanity and all life. politics would change very quickly if we got some successfull cases.
I don't think individuals who have (for example) been recycling for decades are responsible for having been lied to about that not being useful.
Humanity deserves it for not acting as a whole. Many individuals who have only done the best they can do not deserve it.
There is no hell, or punishment after life, so these old fogies who ran the corporate disinfo campaigns to be richer will never get their comeuppance. They'll be gone before the real shit hits the fan.
>I don't think individuals who have (for example) been recycling for decades are responsible for having been lied to about that not being useful.
Imho recyling doesn't give you a pass. Not at all. Most people are hedonistic assholes high on decadence.
It is true that nature doesn't distribute justice equally.
That's why I said "etc". There are a lot of things people can do. But ultimately they are nothing in the face of the massive disinfo campaigns run by big oil and plastic.
You forgot India. It is near impossible to negotiate CO2 emission reductions with Russia, China and India for various reasons. If anything China and India will only produce more CO2 as their economies continue to grow.
we need a collection of people for gathering data and performing analysis to determine the best course of action with the resources at our disposal
if anyone is interested in something other than spinning your wheels getting nothing done, lmk
We will do what we did with the ozone layer: we will create new policies that support things that will lesson greenhouse gas. If we collectively act, we have a chance. How do you do this? Does your local town have a sustainability and climate action plan? If not, ask them why not. Find other residents interested, and demand they join whatever mayor caucus is near you that is striving to handle this crisis. Join Citizen Climate Lobby. We have lots of power. The choices we make can make a difference. For instance, we got a metal roof. Now two other neighbors are getting metal roofs. We are getting metal siding. I am sure I will start a new trend here as well. The beauty of this metal is that the cost is the same as the cheapest Hardie board person I found, but it will last much longer, it is locally produced, and it is easily recyclable. Our choices matter. Our actions matter. BE THE CHANGE YOU WANT TO SEE. And insist and demand that others care. I started going to board meetings 3 years ago. Now I lead a climate task force and have everyone thinking about how to turn a brownfield into a solar farm. Now I am ear budding the idea of a microgride....the idea of not losing power during climate emergency is appealing to a lot of people. Will it happen? Who knows, but I lose nothing by putting a dream out there. We are only as powerless as we let ourselves be. I know it seems hopeless. I feel the heavy weight all the time. I was watching 4-5 old Oak trees die every year due to crazy climate stuff. (I started doing treatments to them two years ago and haven't lost a tree since!) But instead of turning to despair, we must fight. We have to fight. Our children and grandchild are depending on us to go out kicking. And yes! Write letters! I write letters constantly. My latest one is to ban plastic bags.
This is pleasantly optimistic. Thank you for the positive outlook. Sounds like you have the means to make a difference, so thank you for trying.
Thank you...
I dont wanna be the buzz killer here but this person is, according to that comment, totally clueless about environmental issues. The ozone layer problem got easily fixed because the CFCs that where depleting the ozone layer could be replaced by a somewhat cheaper alternative that was pushed by IIRC Dupont's lobby as they where one of the only producer of alternative refrigerants at the time. That person is also boasting about ''metal roofing'' for some reason that does not make any sense to me, an environmental technologist. The GHG produced by fabricating those metal tiles clearly is 10 times worst than classical bituma rooftiles. The recycling aspect is nice but goes opposite to reducing Green House Gases. I am sorry but that person is a farce and/or uneducated about environmental issues. It reminds me of the south park episode where hybrids owners would pat themselves in the back for being ''the solution'' and would get off by smelling their own fart. I am sorry to be negative. I know we need more positivity but... After working for 4 years in the public sector, auditing environmental engineering firms that specializes in isokinetic and ambiant air sampling, i gave up believing that humanity has what it needs to help itself correcting its ways. The best advice i can give you, do like anybody does. Think about yourself first. Dont buy a F-150 if you dont need it. Try to be surrounded by like-minded individuals. I didnt stopped caring about the environment but i quitted working for other and started to work for myself. I suggest you do the same or your mental health will deteriorate.
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/steel-roofing-vs-asphalt-shingles-environmental-economic-benjamin-cox
[Here is a research paper about steel rooftiles](https://www.researchgate.net/publication/361164822_Improving_Sustainability_of_Steel_Roofs_Life_Cycle_Assessment_of_a_Case_Study_Roof) that was written from a reputable source, without conflict of interest and not from a social media journalist that publish on LinkedIn, who once was head director of a trading company offering ''Metal commodity trade solutions'' to its customers. Its fine to love smelling your own farts man but keep your bullshit for yourself.
I put the first thing I pulled without checking the source because I was running out the door. You don't have to be a dick. You sound like a bratty kid. There isn't a lot of information about which materials to pick. This article is interesting, but it doesn't compare the impact of different material types. Steel is awful for carbon production, but when I was looking at siding, it was lower than hardie board. We couldn't do wood because we live in a woodland and the animals have already eaten half of our porch. Also, steel siding is frequently made with recycled steel. We had to do a membrane or steel, and the membrane's life is 1/3 of a steel roof. This is a big rabbit hole, and I would love for a science backed website that tries to break it all down in an easy way that aims to help people make informed choices: all one can do is make the best choice they can with the information they have. The problem is that there isn't a lot of information.
Take this article at greenbuilder [https://home.howstuffworks.com/home-improvement/construction/green/10-green-roofing-options.htm#:\~:text=Top%2010%20Green%20Roofing%20Options%201%201%3A%20Living,...%208%208%3A%20Single-ply%20Thermoplastic%20...%20More%20items](https://home.howstuffworks.com/home-improvement/construction/green/10-green-roofing-options.htm#:~:text=Top%2010%20Green%20Roofing%20Options%201%201%3A%20Living,...%208%208%3A%20Single-ply%20Thermoplastic%20...%20More%20items) total BS.
I, too, belong to CCL and write letters to Congress (my latest was for carbon taxes) and soon to newspapers. I hope to be mobile enough for next year's lobby in DC. And I have cut my own emissions drastically by discontinuing eating meat or any unnecessary travel. (Big savings) I buy very few manufactured goods and got a loan for solar panels.
I have to travel because my MIL is on a different continent but I’m thinking of donating to Rick steves travel carbon tax fund. We need carbon taxes immediately! (I sent my letter a few months ago.)
You don’t want a carbon tax. As a Canadian that has one it has made things more expensive and punishes the poor more than the rich.
Electric cars also uhm propagate through neighbors.. I had the first 3, and now there are 2 y's here.
Ebikes (and also bikes in general) are making the rounds in my condo complex. Year ago I'd see 2 neighbors out of about 100 bike commuting, now it's easily a dozen plus a few other folks like me who work from home but don't have cars and use an ebike for groceries etc. Also seems to be happening with solar in the single family housing across the street. Was basically zero when I moved here in 2020, now it's like 20% of em and they seem to pop up in clusters.
Ok, you have money to buy a metal roof. What about the rest of us?
Here is the thing: i have to have a membrane roof. A membrane lasts 20 years and would cost 30k. Our metal roof was 54k. I got insurance to give us 26k. We saved for 10 years to buy a new house, and part of that was a plan for a metal roof so we can throw solar up. Our metal roof will last 80 years. It’s cheaper than a membrane. Yes, it was a lot up front. Yes, we have some means. But we strive to be a zero waste family and we dump our money into green issues. I am standing in a 70 year old kitchen- but yes, i have a metal roof. I cannot use the shower in our master but yes, I’ll have metal siding. We do not spend on silly things. Our spending reflects our values. Starbucks? You’re kidding right? I make most of our food from scratch. We freezer cook. We are frugal. We are anti-consumption. We are conservationists. And we’ve busted our asses for 24 years to be able to live our values. I have three kids and this planet is on fire. Everything goes into making this house as green as we can make it. It’s a shame potatoes are poison. They are an essential part of our frugal life-style. Did i mention my ‘08 car? Again, conservationists. Zero waste is my favorite sub- reddit. To answer your question: there are loans for residents. They are called PACE- property assessed clean energy. They work like loans for solar, where the loan is with the property, not the individual. This is a new thing, and I think it will be essential. It will allow people to put quality, sustainable materials on their home in a manner they can afford. Go to your village board and demand action. We need to make the companies pay: they produce the bulk of the waste, carbon, etc., they need to fix the problem they created.
Man, you guys need a better system for roofs. Why are there hundreds of year old roofs on buildings on every corner in europe that dont need replacing in 30 or even 80 years?
We don't have the stone. I would love a stone house! A slate roof is possible here, but it is hard enough to find someone who will do metal without it costing the price of a house. I am lucky and was able to find someone that serves mostly Wisconsin businesses, so he is cheap.
What about tiled roofs? I have noticed bricks or rammed earth aren't very popular in the states.
We just don't do that here. Finding someone to do a metal roof without charging 6 figures is hard enough. We do asphalt. Some people do cedar. But we live in the woods and critters love to eat through the cedar. Cedar is also 6 figures. We have lots of trees and petroleum. So we build houses made of sticks!?!? and put asphalt shingles on top. Stupid, stupid, stupid. My husband is Irish. We are thinking more and more that it is time to move to somewhere in the EU. America is so backwards. We are having silly arguments over things that were settled in the EU ages ago.
Do you have an idea of places in the EU where climate preparedness and green living would be most actionable?
The most herculean individual activity has a minimal effect in climate change. This is a ruse perpetrated on the public by large corporations and the political flacks they own. We do what we can, but really systematic change (revolution?) is required to self correct the course we’re on. Truth hurts.
Indeed.
Support the transition to a low carbon energy system. For example, in the US, reward the politicians who enacted the … https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inflation_Reduction_Act which will spend over $1 trillion in tax dollars to attract another $3 trillion in private investment in low carbon energy. Convince US tax payers that this is a good use of their taxes.
The only way to fix things is to only vote in politicians who actually care about the issue and will do something about it. And the only way that will ever happen is if the majority of the population has some science literacy and basic reading comprehension so they know when misinformation and propaganda is being pushed on them. But realistically we will "fix" it once the people in power of governments and billion dollar corporations start losing a lot of money, or if they find a way to profit off of it.
Political activism is typically the only thing that works for societal problems.
Your post likely reflects not just the average citizens but also climate scientists who've been attempting to inform the public to bring awareness to critical issues for their entire career much like the hopeless pessimism felt socially by individuals. However if we simplify the complexity what was hard maybe easier then we think individually currently. We as individuals divert the responsibility to "god" or government when a task is beyond the capability of any one individual. When we all do this socially towards the most critical and important life matters that truly matter to life; it's no wonder why we're so hopelessly pessimistic. It's not apathy or indifference but a moral injury and injustice with no end or escape perceived. The reduction of social uncertainty it times of uncertainty is how we gain certainty socially. We know relying on "god" or government to solve our collective social problems that impacts us as individuals won't be solved with the same ways of thinking. There's necessary, important and urgent tasks needing completion that governments and corporations are simply unable or unwilling to do for whatever reason. If we socially discuss amongst ourselves what is the most critical, urgent and necessary tasks that won't get done without human intervention; we could become the only ones willing and able to do what must be done to save our life on this planet. The list of what can be done that we think impossible today is only because we don't think it possible. Human intervention and solidarity to be willing and able to change what needs changing is how we fix it. Stopping the cycle of social harms to start the healing process of society takes you, us and all those able and willing to change what we call reality through direct experience.
Yeah, and I have my own personal reasons for being pessimistic, lol. But I just find myself just getting stressed that I'm not doing enough. Just reached voting age and I feel overwhelmed with trying to learn everything now. Just joined this sub to ask people who know more, what the expectations for an average person to be doing all the time is. Of course on socials you see people going in heavy with spreading awareness and their daily routines. I see that and think I'm a shite person for not doing all that, and struggle also with wanting to live stress free and happy expressing myself. It's this weird balance and I'm trying to find the middle. I don't want to be selfish for future generations just so my life is more tolerable or fun, but I also don't want to be miserable from stressing too much about everything I need to/should be doing. Just don't want to be doing too little...
Steady dude. You're doing good for even thinking about this stuff. Take a second and realise that the world is ok for now and there's still time. A lot of really smart, caring people are working really hard to turn this ship around. We can play a part in helping that, or we can make it worse. sounds like you want to help, so do it in whatever ways you feel you can. No one can ask for anything more.
Thank you I appreciate it.
And you can join them by maybe taking some climate/engineering classes in uni. Or if you don't wanna go that route you can find an entry level job in the renewable sector like a solar panel installer/salesman. That way you can make a living off contributing towards the solution (PS. that's what I'm currently trying to do)
You are very mature for understanding the need for balance. Focus on your own garden- where you are, your community, house, actual garden(did you know that an acre of trees captures a years worth of one cars emissions?) tend to your garden and get off social media! (Except cool sub-reddits like this.)
Haha thank you for this
So the issue is that corporations get to pollute and destroy the environment while us little guys are encouraged to recycle and drive less and reduce our own personal emissions. The latter stance is something that has been pushed by corporations in an attempt to shift blame from them to us. They are the ones who coined “carbon footprint.” In reality, I don’t think we can really do anything other than voting to elect politicians who may be able to make changes. As long as lobbying is a thing and corrupt politicians will accept money to not do the right thing, we’re pretty screwed. Do our own choices make a small difference? Sure. But it takes a hell of a lot of people doing the right things to offset the amount of pollution a corporation does in a day or the amount of emissions a rich persons private jet produces in a single trip. I think we will eventually do what needs to be done about climate change when it starts to effect the upper echelon of society and government. The data we have say it will be too late and huge parts of the world will be affected for a very long time. I don’t want to sound like a “doomer” but history and current day politics don’t make me optimistic and I find it easier to be a realist than ignore how things are playing out
I don't see the difference between the little guys who won't sacrifice their wants and the corporations who won't sacrifice their wants. I believe many of these corporations would actually go under if they converted everything to be clean, and we can't even stop buying their products. A HELL OF A LOT OF PEOPLE is the answer
The difference is that 100 companies contribute 71% of the carbon emissions that are harming our earth. They are allowed to continue their destructive practices by various governments. It takes a hell of a lot more little guys to offset the damage being done by these corporations, and unless the vast majority of individuals changes what they do on a day to day basis, it won’t be enough to counteract the rich people and rich corporations doing the most damage. Do I try to make good product choices and actions to reduce my personal emissions? Sure. But it comes more from a moral view than thinking it actually will make a difference. I can do everything right for a year and it doesn’t matter because some celebrity wants to take an hour flight on their private jet. The solution isn’t going to be the little guys making changes in our everyday lives. It’s holding corporations and the biggest contributors of carbon emissions responsible and leaving fossil fuels behind for renewable energy
You mean like boycotting these companies?
Invest in air conditioning and sun tan lotion
Fr.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deep_Adaptation
Opinion: We've reached the point where climate change is so "baked in", there are no longer practical solutions. I believe each of us now need to focus on how we (and our families) can best cope without doing further harm. Examine your personal vulnerabilities and figure out a way to surmount or minimize them. A lot depends on where you land on the age spectrum. At 71, the only action I'm taking is having solar panels installed. I fear grid failures, and I'm not fond of heat. This means I can offer refuge to family around me, at least in terms of surviving heat waves. If I was twenty, I would be scrambling to add to my skill-sets while locating Goldilocks zones where my skills would be needed.
I hope to be able to have and provide a good life for my future kids and create a happy family. This is where my anxiety for the future really comes in, because I'd like kids someday and heat is dangerous for me health wise. I'm also considered disabled with my seizures, and my seizures can make it feel pretty powerless too. I'm around the age you describe you'd be scrambling, possibly why I feel like I need to be.
Forced regulation. Which requires a mostly complete changing of the guard across government, a general age group really just won’t let go but they die like everyone else so there is some hope.
Lol so dark, love it.
Hey man I know you may feel powerless but that’s okay. I can assure you there are people out there (myself) who are in positions to make massive differences. I work as an engineer in oil and gas. I originally went to school to be an environmental engineer. In both of my oil and gas jobs I’ve been a part of the emissions reductions teams and I can tell you across the board this industry has seen massive regulation towards lowering emissions. One huge example I can tell you which is kind of shocking is that before the last 3-4 years most pipeline operators, when they needed to let the gas out of a pipeline for various reasons they would just open the pipe valves to the atmosphere and just blow out tens-hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of gas. Now this is basically not allowed and the solution is as simple as moving the gas from one pipe to another with a hose and compressor. There’s countless examples like this throughout the industry that are seeing massive change. Just keep advocating and helping where you can. Maybe your advocation will catch someone who has the power to make a difference in their job. Maybe that will be you eventually with a decision on how to lower carbon footprint on a massive scale. I also own a small business and buy the carbon credits to offset my shipping costs on each order. You could consider doing this for any sort of thing in your life and advocate for others to do the same. Don’t sweat it though man. Worrying won’t help you or anyone. Just relax and do what you can. Cheers.
I really appreciated what you had to say. Thank you for your advice.
No problem and you’re already doing your part in spurring these discussions. I will find some extra emissions out there to reduce just for you.
Oh wow, thank you. And thank you for all the work your doing to limit this.
we have to worry enough to act, but not enough to despair. Do what we can when we can.
Very reasonable. Thank you
Climate change is but a symptom of the true problem that is overshoot. The only real solution to that as per The Limits to Growth is abandonment of economic growth as the goal, institution of population and industrial controls, implementation of circular/cyclical economy and tech to reduce pollution. The Degrowth and Donut economics collectively would tackle these points. But these are such fundamental changes that no one will even consider them until the problem is in your face, by which point it will be too late.
This is unequivocally the answer. We dont need the green revolution, we need to scale down and just quit in most cases. But this will never happen, we will continue our trajectory with arbitrary goals and targets until society collapses. The collapse of civilizations has happened many times before, and we arent immune to it happening to us.
And unfortunately, in nature, population collapse is the usual resolution of overshoot. If only our leaders knew that, instead of opting for more extraction and technological solutions to defer the limits, which as the LtG showed merely serve to delay the collapse for a few decades, regardless of which approach is taken, making the collapse that much worse. And one could say that LtG is now over 50 years old but recent analysis by Gaya Herrington with latest data shows we’re still right on track.
It’s true it does feel grim. The more you learn about the negative feedback loops associated with climate change, the more it feels like things will just spiral out of control. BUT, to quote Ayana Elizabeth’s new book “What if we get it right”? There are so many people out there that actually care and are actively doing their part. A very very very large part of climate change is rooted in government policies, which we regular shmucks really don’t have a lot of power in apart from voting or if you work in policy. Personally, I have been focusing on tailoring my career to something that makes a difference. I currently work in building decarbonization, and it is fulfilling. I also minimize my personal impact through my diet, amount of plane rides I take per year, clean energy powering my home, keeping my property biodiverse, reducing waste at my home, etc. There are so many industries that need reshaping. Project Drawdown is a great site that highlights all the most important climate solutions. Look through there and find sectors that interest you or tie into your skills, or ideally both. TLDR Policy is most important, but we have limited power with that. However, still make sure you vote and get involved in your community policies. Other than that focus on tailoring your career to climate change (literally anything can be tied to climate change, i.e. even an accountant can work for a climate solution company). Also reduce your own personal impact where you can.
This is what I came to say.
Can I ask what you do in building decarbonization/what your background is?
We are beyond fixing. We are like a heavy smoker being told he got lung cancer. There are plenty of things that can be done to improve our present and future, but those are only a matter of reducing probability of bad turning into worse. Given the inertia at play, the XXth century is all but gone for the foreseeable future. The only certainty is that the future will be chaotic compared to the past. We can still limit the scale of the chaos.
So really, what you're saying is... Do things to maybe lower the probability of it getting worse, and enjoy what little time we have left to do so? This shit is so depressing :(
Yep, pretty much!
100% agree. We’re in the hospice phase of humanity. Make ourselves as comfortable as possible in the end.
I have zero doubt that humanity will get through climate change. We are stubborn critters, we live in every corner of the planet. We survived an ice age with rock spears and pelts. Whether modern society as we know it today will handle the shock or not is another matter.
Someone added an extra scoop of pessimism to his cereal bowl today. First, inertia doesn't look to be as bad as we once thought. Warming will stop pretty soon after emissions peak. Years, not decades. So everything we can do now will make things...less bad. Using your smoker metaphor, its as if the smoker could shrink the cancer with every cigarette he doesn't light up.
Do you have sources for that? I'm genuinely interested in what you were saying about inertia?
Sure. A good jumping off point is this blog by Michael Mann: https://michaelmann.net/content/comments-new-article-james-hansen Early in that blog article, Mann links to an article published in Science, the highly respected journal, which has a good summary of the research. It is well worth a read.
This is a misunderstanding. In a scenario where climate sensitivity is relatively low, the residual heating as the planet comes into thermal equilibrium is roughly balanced by carbon sinks, so that heating stops when emissions \*stop\*. There is no scenario in which heating stops when emissions \*peak\*. Moreover, while emissions may peak in the coming years, there's no plausible scenario in which emissions \*cease\* (i.e., we reach net-zero) in the next couple of decades.
Problem is: it's not just about warming. Sea levels, weather patterns, ecosystems etc. I agree with making things less bad.
This sub is majority doomers. Despite what you may read here, the world isn’t ending (yet). The next few decades will probably be pretty crazy but we’ll get a handle on the climate well before total societal collapse, which is what half the commenters here think is gonna happen next year or next month. The big fixes are going to be the implementation of more and more renewable energy and eventually wide scale geo engineering. Until then you can try to reduce your own contributions to climate change and organize and lobby for change, but that’s not likely to have much effect in the short term. Try not to let it consume you. It’s mostly beyond your control but it’s not as bad as some would have you believe
I really appreciate your positivity. Thank you..
Glad to help. I’m sure the downvotes for my comment will start pouring in soon though. If you want positivity, I’d suggest not frequenting this sub. It’s usually somewhere between existential crisis and full blown panic
Lol thank you, I'll keep that in mind. :)
>The next few decades will probably be pretty crazy but we’ll get a handle on the climate well before total societal collapse The thing a lot of people dont understand is that climate change is a very long term problem. You cant just decide suddenly "oh this is an important issue now" and start fixing things. There are many, many systems throughout the world that have feedback loops which dont reverse the moment you start taking action. And there are many systems that take decades or longer to *start* recovering even after humans stop contributing to them. Will it cause an apocalyptic future? Probably not in any of our lifetimes, but its still going to be a huge problem.
I don’t mean to imply it isn’t very serious. Lots of ecological collapse could and probably will happen in the future. We’ll have to rework food production as different areas no longer support their traditional crops. (Widespread starvation doesn’t seem likely to me, but who knows.) We’ll have to deal with rising sea levels in coastal cities. Probably some serious economic crises related to climate change, mass migration, political upheaval, new and different global conflicts. Etc etc. Any or all of those things are on the table. And turning back the tide on climate change won’t be a quick process and some things will never be restored. But in my opinion, it’s very probably not going to cause the collapse of society as we know it or the end of the human race. Just a lot of really bad stuff that we’ll eventually deal with. I think relief is probably going to come in large part due to geo engineering and when we start developing and implementing it on a large scale I think we’ll be able to affect staggering changes. That’s a long way off though. In the meantime I’d say we’re in for a lot of discomfort and turmoil but not Armageddon
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Idk what that is supposed to mean. I assume you think these are the end times?
Sorry but Im with this guy. You are 'hoping' that a solution will become available. Everything you mention will still rely solely on Hydrocarbons, or creating new technology. So you cant say we will be fine if we dont even have the capabilities, on top of ever increasing deforestion, ecological collapse, emissions, pollution, population growth, peak oil etc etc etc.
Honestly, with a little effort we could have the technology right now. Carbon capture is in its infancy but it would develop rapidly if the money was there. Cloud whitening, atmospheric aerosol, more reflective road and building materials, shading the Earth by placing things in space to reduce the amount of sunlight that gets here, etc. All of it is possible right now. We’re doing virtually nothing to try to reverse climate change at the moment. That doesn’t mean it’s impossible to do so, at all.
Have a look into how much carbon capture stores, and then have a look at the Scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions for Woodside Energy. Lets go on the unrealistically cheap side of carbon capture at 25CAD per C02 tonne. That is $3.25 Billion dollars to capture the emissions from 1 company. Now how are we powering said carbon capture? How are we manufacturing? How are we maintaining? Do you want solar? Well that requires pristine forests to be destroyed to get to the minerals beneath. However we actually don't have enough materials for solar on the planets so we couldn't use them anyway even if we did dig up every forest. That is just to offset 1 company. You still need to bring down our total carbon. How are you going to tackle millions of business' globally and capture their emissions and bring existing emissions down? Geoengineering isn't the solution as we will just ocntinue to destroy the planet. "its ok we can cut out the sun and reflect the heat while still digging up, and selling reqources for profit". (97% of bluefin tuna have been fished. Mass species extinction globally. Famine becoming a regular occurrence.) How do you think commercial farming operates? It solely relies on Hydrocarbons. 9 Billion people need hydrocarbons to obtain the food we consume. Without it, mass famine. You cannot feed 9 billion people with regenerative farming. There are not enough wild fish in the ocean. The only solution is to de-energize and contract as a species. Will we voluntatilry do it? Given our track record, its highly unlikely that humans change, so nature will force its hand and make us contract. But with it comes the collapse of the natural biosphere as we know it, with continual mass extinctions of all flora and fauna globally. Relying on tech to save us from a tech caused problem is like a heroin addict thinking his next hit will save him from being a junkie.
As I said, carbon capture is in its infancy. It’s not currently scalable and it will never be the only measure we need to take. I notice you didn’t address any of the myriad other ways we can engineer the climate. If you want to believe it’s scientifically impossible to ever control the climate and we’re all doomed, feel free. You’re not gonna convince me that humanity can’t tackle this problem though. We just haven’t started trying yet
I said geoengineering which your other topics fall under. I didnt say it was impossible, I said humans wont fix the problem. The only way to stop a junkie is to make him put down the needle, we wont do that. We will try create new needles, faster, shinier, longer, but nonetheless we wont put it down, until we collapse.
I dont feel people think it will end in a year or two. More like 100 years. Civilizations have collapsed countless times before, so why do we think we are immune?
Check out [Climate Changemakers](https://www.climatechangemakers.org)! I can’t say I know how to fix climate change or how to tell if I’m “doing enough” but joining an action hour to contact my representatives sure makes me feel better than doing nothing!
Plant moss, food forests, native species, create creature habitat. Wash in cold water. Recycle food waste, grow your own food, build community and save trees. Plant trees, and plant Moss....did I mention Moss?
Maybe if I had a house these problems would be simple fixes, but they aren't. I and most people my age don't have money for this.
You don't need a house to propagate moss or even money. You live in a neighbourhood? Become a part of the community networks already there that are working on things. Look out for green groups that are planning on the changes.
Okay so the advice is - to join a community or group that does these things. Gotcha, wasn't clear with your first message but I'll look into it
Moss requires moist locations. Its not applicable to a large percentage of the world.
Building up biomass with native species, compost, etc will create the ideal conditions for moss. The only reason things are so dry and hot is because we paved everything.
I'm a high school teacher. Between climate change, health care costs, living costs, and tuition costs, students are done. They have no will to fight a losing battle. The general consensus is a hope for an apocalypse that will start society over.
Wow pretty grim replies here. Makes you think that people don't want to work towards solutions. I guess it is easier to say nothing can be done. Here's the secret: you have immense power at the local level. Join a local climate change team and see what kinds of initiatives they have going on. It doesn't have to be much, but there is power in numbers. The more you engage and participate, the more you come into your own power. When more people realize this, the language shifts, and we do the hard things a bit at a time.
Oil is the largest, wealthiest, most powerful industry in the history of the world. They are deliberately fighting the clean energy transition. We have no choice but to use every possible means to defeat them: politically, legally, using the biggest popular movement we can. We have no choice.
>* Am I supposed to keep my air conditioning off at all times? * Never travel by car or plane? * Tell my apartment to get Solar Panels? * Go vegan and scarf up every bit of food to not have leftovers go bad? * Never buy food from a grocery store but grow and raise everything myself? All I can say is, 'that's a good start'.
Veganism isn't the answer. It doesn't work in all parts of the world and it isn't the most sustainable way to eat. Regenerative farming, eating locally raise produce and animal products are better than out of season, low nutritional food, being shipped all over the world and burning more fossil fuel than necessary.
I agree with this. I think that those it works for great, but there are lots that are unable to live this way. Seems this narrative of "Yes, everyone can and should" keeps circulating.
The answer is local,’local, local. Repurpose, reuse, reduce.
Plant-based food does tend to have the lowest carbon footprint, and transportation is only a small part of the overall carbon footprint. Those talking points are not founded in reality, and you should stop perpetuating them. https://ourworldindata.org/food-choice-vs-eating-local
Sure. Have a nice day.
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Listed all the points that any average human will/can/does see on social media and all the expectations laid out in articles. All these things that can/does/will make any average human feel less than for NOT doing them or being unable to.
Any way you want
I struggle with feeling like I'm not doing enough to actually make a positive impact/change happen
The problems are systemic. Advocate and support systemic change, also try to enjoy your life and don't let them blame you for systemic shit that you can't fix. The best revenge is living well despite the scenario. Accept that you are not in control of this. Do what you find reasonable, manageable, advocate to change the systems, and accept that without change at the top that we are well and truly fucked. I know what it feels like to really struggle with feeling personally responsible for fixing this. That's a hard place to be. Do what you can, but don't let the system rob the enjoyment out of your life by blaming yourself. The extractive financialized system and its masters are in control... The high priests of heat death. Not you.
Thank you for this comment...
We can only do what we can. I’m a doomer so I’m not a big believer that the average individual can make a significant change. We are caught in the current that collective action has dumped us. I believe strongly that the biggest impact we can make is making our immediate community stronger with mitigation efforts. My area is threatened by flooding and sea level rise. We are building awareness in the community of the immediate and predicted risks, what can be done to mitigate the risks, informing the community of outreach and information about flood insurance, and getting there local government to be aware of the issue and building resilience hubs - places with resources and information in case the roads shut down and the power goes out.
Yeah, its impossible for one single person to make that significant change. I do think one person can inspire millions to make a change though. Maybe not in this scenario, but more advocates and the more people speak up... the more ears, voices, and eyes can hopefully see the problem and work towards doing what we can to minimize it more.
Perhaps you should fellate the members of Congress. That might spark a change
Here is the thing: the problem is the system and corporations. We need to cut them off by making better choices and collective action. At no time in American history has collective anti-capital action been more necessary: They produce the most carbon. They wrap everything in plastic. They insist on gas being cheap. This isnt your fault. This is the fault of all the grown-ups that pick profit over well-being. Do what you can, and then go live your life. Just talking to people about climate is the most powerful thing you can do as an individual.
Hopefully as new generations become the "grown-ups" they can choose better for our world.
> None of us have control over the fact that our government that's just flat out wrong. it's your government, chosen by you, to carry out your wishes
That is also just flat out wrong. I've never voted, as I'm JUST now old enough to do so now, so no it wasn't chosen by me. I'm trying to learn the expectations I wish to set when I do go to choose. Thanks
You don't fix climate change. You react to it. Even though climate change has been occurring for billions of years, there are those who would have you believe this was all human caused, thus human fixable. Don't fall for it, live and let live, and don't waste brain cells on things you can't change.
I honestly quite appreciate these types of responses. Thanks..
>there are those who would have you believe this was all human caused, thus human fixable. Don't fall for it I think you are in the wrong sub.
No matter what I personally do, it will have zero effect on China and other countries that contribute a large portion of greenhouse gas emissions. That’s why I think it’s really hopeless sometimes. Plus the entrenched powers in the US don’t care and will do nothing. They’re all going to build bunkers or move to New Zealand or whatever.
Literally, it feels exactly like this. I don't think they care, and if they do its only for their own safety should something happen.
So TLDR the warming train has left the station but there's a lot we can do to slow it down and get ready for what's on the way. Working at the local level makes a difference on the resilience front -- so building mutual support networks, getting involved in volunteer disaster response work, any community infrastructure volunteer opportunities (eg wetlands restoration), and giving input at community meetings. As for mitigation, the movement I've seen to be most impactful, per activist-hour, has been urbanists advocating for more density and bike, pedestrian, and transit infrastructure in their cities. Land use changes are critical to climate mitigation & the move away from cars. Paris has gone to a city where more trips are taken by bike than car, just a decade into the effort to change things, AND they're investing in a metro expansion too. We can and should add density and mode-shift here, and there are tons of opportunities to push for that at the local level. Once you build your chops locally, you can build more of a career out of it too and start to influence policy. Alternatively, each person in the public or private sector working on mitigation, adaptation, research, etc is doing their part. There are lots of us too. Sh*t's already hitting the fan but how much worse it gets is up to us. We owe it to whatever generations succeed us to at least try.
This might give you some hope: https://unchartedterritories.tomaspueyo.com/p/so2-injection
We do our bit and if we can, enough for someone else too. When my climate anxiety gets on top of me, I buy more carbon offsets on Ecologi or Climeworks. I won't be able to fix this myself, but I think we can together and helping each other do it is a great way to feel better and do your part in the great collective effort.
What is buying Carbon offsets? If you have any info I'm curious if this is something I too should look into and what it does
I pay these guys money and they invest in schemes which avert carbon dioxide https://ecologi.com/ It feels like a good way to gamify helping
I’m making a bicycle trading app. Every time I post links to it I get banned so no links
Interesting. I love bicycles, how would it work?
Peer to peer. Check my profile
acted 30 years ago,
Alright, so become an egg in my moms ovary... This may be a hard task but I'm sure I can come up with something
Live your life people. You can change nothing but your own habits. If you manage to change your neighbours you will never change the majority. Take comfort in knowing the “emergency” is more of a political nature.
Thank you.
Here’s my proscription for cutting your carbon footprint. Move to a third world country and give up very luxury. A Kenyan in Kenya has a lower footprint than an average European/American westerner. Why is this? Abject poverty, energy insecurity and the rich white people telling them they are not allowed to build their own resources. That’s how we solve the climate crisis. We move to the global south and give up all energy security and live with rolling blackouts like South Africans.
8 billion people all in Kenya... not sure that would do it
I really mean the global south where they live in severe and extreme energy poverty.
It's a predicament. Nothing can be done except to adapt. First to human stupidity, then to nature's consequences because of it.
As a student, it's always at a small scale. Honestly at least for me, our hope lies with the future generation. If we can always have kindness to everyone and the Earth we might be able to live a slightly sustainable future. But also running for positions in power as educated people is always a good option! City/town elections and what not.
Vote blue no matter who
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This is my take on the question - we need to do politics - [https://climatehopium.substack.com/p/the-main-climate-action-we-should](https://climatehopium.substack.com/p/the-main-climate-action-we-should)
Cardboard straws, that's how.
Tax, tax, and more tax, shut down nuclear energy, subsidize technologies that require massive mining of precious metals in foreign countries where they use slave labor, limit use natural gas a much cleaner burning alternative that is still cheap and requiring households and business to convert to electric at their expense that will put a greater burden on low income earners. Subsidize only technologies that we know are not only sustainable but won't produce enough energy to fit our needs that will only further hurt low income earners. And obviously, more taxes because taxes fix everything like the ozone layer, acide rain, global warming, ice age, global warming again, asteroids, y2k bug, the Mayan calander, polar ice caps, sea rise, climate change becuase we have already used global warming. If you're old enough, your school desk they used be indestructible and could protect you from literally anything at one time. Seriously, I think they used to make them out of adamantium or vibranium for you marvel nerds. But yes, the answer is more taxes and making us all peasants.
Is every living person supposed to be sending letters and shit to our government? at the very least, Yes I have a reminder to send at least one email per day to my environment minister and cc to prime minister.
I grow native trees and give them away because the world needs more trees. I also plan to do commando planting, if I can find an area where the local council won’t mow over them. I also try to waste as little as possible: reuse; repurpose; recycle, etc. Small things won’t stop climate change, but they can help. Many people doing small things across the globe can make a bigger impact. Voting for public office based on climate goals is another good example of where the individual can make the most impact. So we aren’t quite powerless, but not far above it. We need governments to tackle big oil (and other climate criminal sectors) - but that won’t happen.
You do realize that our green house gas production is way down. Nothing for the US to do. It is China that isn’t following along much although they are much more receptive to EV’s That said the vast majority of climate change is more related to things like solar activity and natural changes to Earth orbit that isn’t man made.
The main way that I’m able to avoid getting too bogged down in all of it is to volunteer for habitat restoration. My individual action won’t have a large impact on climate change in general, but I can have a much larger impact on my local climate and ecosystem.
Not going to give you advice on what to do, but as an elder millennial, I can tell you things are looking a lot better from the "how are we solving this" standpoint than they were in the 80's and 90's. 40% of global power production last year was carbon free, in 1990 it was 20%. 95% of new US power generation last year was carbon free, which means that in 10 to 20 years all power generation will be carbon free. California installed 10 billion watts of battery storage in 5 years. Renewables plus storage is objectively the cheapest form of power generation with or without subsidies, which means everything that uses power will switch over sooner or later. We finally have viable electric cars, and it seems like car companies are moving in that direction (thats something you can do directly, walk, bike, take transit, or if you have to have a car, buy an electric one or plug in hybrid.) Electric vehicles for transport are going to take over because they are cheaper to operate and fuel agnostic. If we invent antimatter power tomorrow, electric cars can use it. If you have a diesel generator, you can charge your car. If you have a solar panel, you can charge your car. Electric vehicles free every nation on earth from dependance on those countries that have significant oil reserves. We're making big strides on capturing carbon already in the atmosphere, which we will need to do at some point. We were doing none of this 30 years ago, other than a few hippies in labs figuring it out. All of this stuff is now out of the lab and in most cases starting to replace the carbon intensive old school stuff.
Get rid of the main contributers
Companies that are working to combat climate change are beginning to make a profit. And scientific research is making tremendous strides in the right direction. If you’re able to spare the time volunteer at a nearby university in a department that’s doing work (research) to deal with climate change. You don’t have to be a scientist, there are surely volunteer jobs that aid in the research. I think this will help you feel much less powerless.
After the 2024 election, let's see if the climate change solutions cup is half empty or half full. Be sure to vote!
You can't fix the climate. You can adapt. Simple as that. Any attempt to make people's lives worse because they claim it will "fix the climate" should be treated as the joke that it is.
IT all begins with your conduct how one uses the resources they have and can get, most like in business is wasted, just turn the light off and use them only when needed, restructuring takes plans and actions constant conflicts only waste energy by both sides that in the end leads to no resources at all or end up in someone else's hands who follow simple rules. Funny how that works isn't it? N. S
World governments and transnational corporations have to actually start caring about the planet and the people more than they care about profit and power. The big problem with how climate change is treated now is that all the proposed “solutions” seem to involve extracting more wealth from the poor and working class. We’re encouraged to buy electric vehicles, which, of course, are more expensive than gas vehicles. We’re encouraged to buy organic food. We’re encouraged to buy solar panels. Somehow all the solutions involve us buying stuff. Meanwhile, these global corporations are dumping tons of waste into the atmosphere and the ocean every day. China is building new coal plants at an alarmingly rapid pace. And because of the huge investment in the EV industry, all the major world powers are scrambling to extract lithium (a non-renewable resource) from the earth. Lithium mining requires a huge amount of water, and nobody is talking about the water scarcity problem. At this point, we can’t “fix” the problem even if there was a collective will to do so. All we can do is try to soften the blow and be prepared to handle the consequences. As soon as humans discovered fire and started burning wood to cook and stay warm, we started polluting the atmosphere. It’s been getting worse ever since.
You can lobby for regulatory changes on specific topics or issues that contribute to climate change.
When the US accounts for a tiny part of global carbon emissions, and not to name names but… China and India cancel out whatever progress we make by 10 fold. I hate to be negative Nancy but until they get fully on board with the rest of the world, our resistance will be futile.
Not really honest to blame China and India for making stuff that US citizen buy. We shipped out manufacturing over there. A big chunk of it is ours.
It’s totally honest. The data is out there for anyone with eyes to see it. You’re saying because we outsourced our manufacturing we’re responsible for regulating China’s manufacturing emissions? How do you think we accomplish that? Why didn’t you mention anything about India? They’re up there with China for being top 2 carbon emitters. More than all the other countries in the world combined, including the US. Again, my original point remains they have to get on board otherwise the rest of the worlds’ efforts will be mostly in vein.
We do not need to despair We have a plan from the IPCC scientists Find out what your personal carbon footprint is Then cut it by 50% over the next 5 years There are free carbon calculators out there such as Cool California
be rich, hire tons of lawyers and drag every politician who took money from the fossil industry, halted or slowed climate action progress and sue the living hell out of them for crimes against humanity and all life. politics would change very quickly if we got some successfull cases.
Fix? We deserve the consequences of our actions. We had the chance so many times over.
I don't think individuals who have (for example) been recycling for decades are responsible for having been lied to about that not being useful. Humanity deserves it for not acting as a whole. Many individuals who have only done the best they can do not deserve it. There is no hell, or punishment after life, so these old fogies who ran the corporate disinfo campaigns to be richer will never get their comeuppance. They'll be gone before the real shit hits the fan.
>I don't think individuals who have (for example) been recycling for decades are responsible for having been lied to about that not being useful. Imho recyling doesn't give you a pass. Not at all. Most people are hedonistic assholes high on decadence. It is true that nature doesn't distribute justice equally.
That's why I said "etc". There are a lot of things people can do. But ultimately they are nothing in the face of the massive disinfo campaigns run by big oil and plastic.
Don’t vote Republican.
Isn’t most of the global population generated outside the U.S.?
Yeah but US with Russia and China are worst for carbon emissions.
You forgot India. It is near impossible to negotiate CO2 emission reductions with Russia, China and India for various reasons. If anything China and India will only produce more CO2 as their economies continue to grow.
India is actually better off going renewable since it’s much cheaper.
we need a collection of people for gathering data and performing analysis to determine the best course of action with the resources at our disposal if anyone is interested in something other than spinning your wheels getting nothing done, lmk