Gregory's Server"Definitely a lot" understates the contribution individuals could make. Personal consumption represents 67+% of the US GDP. If everyone who ate meat simply cut their meat consumption in half, that'd be HUGE. If even 50% of individuals stopped drinking water out of plastic, that'd be HUGE. If people cut the number of air miles they traveled by 25% that'd be huge. It's important individuals be educated about their contribution to climate disaster and feel the imperative to act accordingly. They most definitely shouldn't be given a free pass simply because there are worse offenders.
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24 comments
 Yeah, I'm sometimes reduced to tears seeing the amount of plastic spilling out of trash receptacles on trash day. Sometimes it feels so hopeless.  @dangoodin @chu @ianrosewrites Well… the good news is that the whole point of this thread is that the trash you see is a tiny percentage of the plastic waste you don’t see, most of which is produced by industrial processes and distribution, not individual consumers. Their propaganda seems to have worked on you. @dangoodin @chu @ianrosewrites Let me attempt to put this a other way. It is impossible for me to care very much about the consumption habits of households when I have seen how much food and plastic are thrown away at the end of every single shift at every single restaurant and grocery store. Capitalist distribution & enforced scarcity are the main drivers of pollution & waste, not individual people making suboptimal decisions. Yes, thanks for that. I'm going to use immense amounts of single-use plastic going forward and feel perfectly fine about it. Thanks for freeing me of the effects of this crippling propaganda. @dangoodin @sidereal @ianrosewrites Hey, we're on the same team here. We have a common enemy. Eat the fucking rich.  @dangoodin @sidereal @chu @ianrosewrites The point isn’t to ramp up your own usage, it’s that the majority of the effort to reduce waste must be focused upon the corporations and governmental processes that produce the majority of that waste. Taking away subsidies for meat and granting them to plant based meats, putting severe limits on plastic usage and breaking up monopolies cuts down significantly on individual use, too. @dangoodin @sidereal @chu @ianrosewrites Yes, which is why the choice should be made easier by increasing access to sustainable and plastic free items both physically and financially, and at a time when economic inequality is through the roof and a dwindling number of corporations control markets, voting with your dollar is less and less possible for any given person. @dangoodin @sidereal @chu @ianrosewrites Yeahhhh I think we’re going to disagree here. I do not stop the buck at the feet of the people with the least amount of power. @WhiteCatTamer @sidereal @chu @ianrosewrites What about all the people with means who say fuck it? @dangoodin @WhiteCatTamer @sidereal @ianrosewrites Fuck the a holes who still buy gas guzzlers and water bottles in 2024.  @dangoodin @chu @ianrosewrites dudes. This is still a government regulation topic, not an individual once. If there's less plastic to buy, then people have less plastic in the trash. Just look to Europe. Flaschenpfand. Public recycling facilities. Recycling quota for product producers. Obligation to take back packaging at point of sale. Trash tax. Paying for plastic bags. Limiting the amount of trash that gets taken away at trash day, etc. Lots of little nudges. So you really think that a country that's on the brink of electing a dictator is going to legislate its way out of a climate disaster? @dangoodin @lizzard @chu @ianrosewrites yet a country "on the brink…" is gonna go vegetarian and stop drinking water from plastic bottles on their own? Gov regs ARE a completely valid thing to target -and very much an uphill battle, as are targeting the obscenely wealthy, who, as noted elsewhere, spew literally tons of pollutants more than most people. Doing everything you can to target the worst excesses first and hardest is basic triage- life threatening injuries should get most attention @cjpaloma @lizzard @chu @ianrosewrites Nice way to put words in my mouth I never said. Come back when you paraphrase me accurately and I'll read the rest of what you wrote. @dangoodin @lizzard @chu @ianrosewrites My message was more: Keeping at governments to appropriately regulate corporate and military responsibility is an uphill battle and a completely valid thing to continue to do. So is targeting the HUGE excess users. So is getting ordinary people to wake up and reduce their footprints. In about that order. basic triage says to prioritize the biggest bang for the buck, or you end up with nice stitches on a dead patient. sorry if you took offense @dangoodin @chu @ianrosewrites and yet you won't be able to pollute as much as a single bomb all your life. OP's point is the scale requires a proportional response to the core issue/culprit. Not saying you do the right thing in your life.  @dangoodin @chu @ianrosewrites not necessarily. People seem to only focus on dietary aspects of animal ag when making calculations like this and fail to consider the multitudes of industries dependent upon animals. The leather industry alone requires the use of billions of animals each year to produce shoes and other products. Those animals would still be raised and slaughtered even if people cut out meat and dairy. Going vegan is the only way to make a real impact. |
@dangoodin @ianrosewrites
Good point.
I honestly forget how the other side lives sometimes. Visiting friends and family outside of my downtown bubble often causes me great distress.
When I visit my cousin in the suburbs of Ottawa, the plastic they throw out during our week long visit is about what we would go through in 6months plus.
I often have to stop thinking about this because of the immense stress it causes me and I completely forget that people live like this.