• AmbitiousProcess (they/them)@piefed.social
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    6 days ago

    I wouldn’t call it capitalist propaganda to state the fact that, for example, the top 10% of wealth holders are responsible for TWO THIRDS of global warming caused by carbon emissions, with just the top 1% being responsible for 23%.

    If anything, that could be called anti-capitalist propaganda, because it actively targets the wealthiest parasitic class in our society and demonstrates that their excessive consumption, funded by the wealth they extract from people’s labor, is responsible for most of our emissions.

    Individuals can do things to lessen the impacts their consumption creates on the planet, but it doesn’t change the fact that the biggest current source of emissions is the wealthy.

    I could buy eco-friendly soap, compostable toothbrush heads, thrift all my clothes, only buy more expensive but advertised-as-repairable devices, carefully cut around small grease stains on cardboard boxes to ensure it’s recyclable, and refuse to ever buy a drink at the store and only use a water bottle instead.

    Those are all examples of actions that almost certainly would help the climate and environment more than if I wasn’t doing them… but if I’m coming back home from a long day at work for a company that sends all its profits to a billionaire who just took a private jet flight to and from lunch on some tropical island somewhere, and I just want to not feel like shit that night, is the most effective strategy really to shame me if I take a warm shower and eat some ice cream out of a non-compostable tub, or is it to concentrate everyone’s shame and collective actions onto that billionaire?

    • starman2112@sh.itjust.works
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      6 days ago

      Ever since I learned about super trawlers three times the size of the Eiffel tower, I’ve been really doomerist about my own environmental impact. The fuck am I supposed to do for the environment when we have these sins against nature just floating around in the ocean? I already don’t eat fish. If I quit using plastic straws, I could cut out 100 grams of waste every year, and the environment wouldn’t even notice

      • BCsven@lemmy.ca
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        6 days ago

        I mean sure, but also why add to the issue. The more people on board with quiting plastic use the more companies have to adapt to better solutions, and can help bring awareness. But politicians in kahootz with big corp makes real change almost impossible

        • starman2112@sh.itjust.works
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          6 days ago

          Because it makes my life easier, and doesn’t meaningfully contribute to the problem. Plastic use on this side of the grocery store does nothing to influence its use on the back end. It’s a lot easier to convince the public not to fight for regulations when you make them think that they’re making a difference by not using disposable straws and plastic grocery bags.