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Greenhouse gas emissions are at an all-time high and Earth is warming faster than ever – report
(theconversation.com)
this post was submitted on 12 Jun 2023
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Is it really?
Do these small personal changes matter anything at all in the big picture?
It seems to me we all, like everyone living in a rich country on the entire earth, need to drastically change our way of living, in order for it to actually matter anything.
It just seems so improbable that we will be able to stop this thing, that it seems pointless to even try.
Sorry for the negativity. But I really have a hard time feeling anything other than hopelessness, and in the end indifference, when it comes to the climate crisis.
Only people who are too lazy to do anything say stuff like this. There are 8 billion of us. If everybody did something small that would make a huge difference.
I disagree with “only”. I think it oversimplifies the issue. People who aren’t lazy, but are frustrated by corporate/governmental/civil inaction, say stuff like that, too.
A disheartening number of people simply don’t accept science. Others are too selfish or greedy to do anything that doesn’t have a short-term benefit. Climate change should be recognized as an urgent threat to the entire world, but instead, it’s become politicized.
People constantly do dumb things that are against their own best interests. When considering the problem of climate change and our reactions to it, it’s easy to become exasperated.
Imo that's a harmful look on this issue. Everyone should contribute, of course, but this will never be enough. The real impact can only come from country/worldwide policy changes. Research your election candidates on those topics and vote!
It's not that they're lazy, it's that the cost of the amount of change necessary to make that huge difference cannot be afforded by the vast majority of those 8 billion people. The "small" change mentioned above about upgrading to a more efficient furnace is probably over $1000. And we constantly hear that "56% of Americans can’t cover a $1,000 emergency expense with savings". The problem could have been solved by a bunch of small changes 50 years ago. Then it could have been solved by government intervention 30 years ago. Today, we have such a wealth gap that 8 billion "small" changes (assuming "small" is something most people can actually afford) would add up to something so negligible, it honestly wouldn't be worth the effort.
I'll leave this clip here. We could have solved this with government intervention. The fossil fuel industry made that impossible through lobbying and astroturfing. Now humanity will find out the hard way why it shouldn't ever let that happen again.
I agree. I choose to participate in polluting as little as possible; but it does feel pointless so I also chose not to have children. They’ll have enough soldiers for the upcoming water wars. I’m not adding another.