Alternatively, if it matters to you put your energy into doing something that moves the needle. And when it comes to education, lets not do industry’s work for it by regurgitating their talking points to our kids and instead educate them about the importance of organizing and actually effecting change rather than doing things that make us feel self satisfied.
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Swearing. Very mature.
But by your own words me trying to move the needle is irrelevant.
What a weird and contradicting way of looking at things, let’s not educate children because we would be regurgitating the industries mantra. Yet we should educate them about the importance of organising and effecting change. So what is it you want? For us to educate them or not?
Yeah I didn’t remotely say this.
Nor this.
You are using some of the words Ive used but reordering them to say something completely different than I said. But Ive been down this road with you before so peace out.
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Education?
No. A single solution is far too simplistic for Limie.
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Completely agree with your sentiment but wanted to comment to say that it’s really not worth worrying about takeaways and iPads charging whilst people fly in aeroplanes and eat meat (particularly beef and lamb). Every little counts but in my opinion it’s better to focus on the big ticket items.
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I never suggested at any point that we educate children by regurgitating the industries talking points but for some reason you introduced it to the conversation.
I completely agree, however, no one focuses on Taylor Swift flying her two planes all over the place.
I feel like this is argument is just hoping for our wealthy overlords to save us. The only reason industry exists is because people buy what is made. Consumer power is the most potent power we have and the only thing that can drive quick change in our market economy.
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Some of us do. But 99.999999999% of people don’t care.
I hate the fact that Liverpool Football Club flies to European games, or uses multiple coaches to travel to domestic games.
But these are things I cannot change. What I can do is not consume more than I need, and not contribute towards others’ overconsumption.
We can try to educate others, but it’s impossible to teach those who already know everything.
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If I relate it to my previous post. The demand for Taylor Swift (consumer power) excuses her reliance to use 2 airplanes to travel where ever she goes.
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It explains it but doesn’t excuse it.
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I don’t know much about Taylor Swift and her entourage, but it feels like a red herring. We could all stop flying and eating meat tomorrow, these are luxuries we don’t need, it would make a significant impact. Driving cars, heating homes, replacing concrete and steel are much more difficult problems to solve but aeroplanes and meat we could just cut out immediately with little impact to quality and longevity of life. Or we could wait for a system change, and have someone tell us to stop flying and eating meat (as I think @Limiescouse is suggesting) but why wait? It’s naive maybe to hope for mass consumer change but fuck it, I’ve got to have hope. …Imagine all the people…
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stopping flying would be to stop people travelling.
to stop people travelling (now the cats out of the bag) would be to revert to national boundaries, suspicion of other peoples and races and easy manipulation…
from a pure climate POV i can understand the point, but if we need climate action to save human kind ( which is significantly different from saving the planet because we owe it to the place) from extinction, if we stop travelling and seeing each other for the humans we are, then we probably head towards extinction even quicker …(opinion. obviously)
i dont know any stats, but im assuming travel for business which could be done via a zoom but is just a jaunt, and airfrieght for non critical items would outweigh the amount of travel allowing humans to socially interact…
maybe we should start there…tax heavily business travel, and tax even more heavily…like tax the actual fuck out of…non critical (medicines being critical obvs.) airfrieght…
no one needs the latest Barbie doll ‘within 48 hours’, no matter how much your 4 year old princess demands it…
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While getting big corporates and influential individuals to act and move the needle are important, not all of us can. But all of us can reduce usage of plastics, take public transport when we can and many other small actions. Millions of people doing small things in our own ways may not seem alot but we can move the needle in our own ways too.
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I said it before, plastic usage frustrates me alot. Because it’s a low hanging fruit for consumer change but consumers make a big fuss. In tiny Singapore, people make a big fuss when the supermarkets imposed a fee for plastic bags because traditionally we use those plastic bags for rubbish in our homes. But to me just use a recycle carrier whenever you shop? And we have a million households in Singapore. If each reduces one plastic bag a week, that’s 52 million a year. You can’t say that doesn’t make a difference and this is a tiny island nation, if all households in UK, USA, Europe, Asia do that…
You have completely miss understood my point regarding Taylor Swift and other famous people. I really can’t see how you would consider it a Red Herring, have you seen TS’s Air miles? Yet, the majority of the public are willing to accept this because they love her, want to see her. Why not hold her to account, she is a massive role model and has an active audience of millions, maybe even billions. TS has so much Soft Power, just one statement from her could influence a generation.
So stopping aeroplanes, or people eating meat could be cut out immediately…really? Do you really believe what you are saying? As @Dane alluded to, people are selfish. How many people would sacrifice a bacon sarnie or a Holiday for Climate Change? how would you manage it? There would be up roar. Yet it is something we could just cut immediately??
Out of interest, how many cars are in your household? How often do you have the heating on? Are your meals all meat free? Do you have a holiday booked this year and if so how are you getting there?
I don’t want you to answer these questions, I am purely asking you to reflect on your own carbon foot print.
I completely agree, which is why I find other people being dismissive to educating people, importantly children, strange. I accept it won’t be an immediate fix, but if we are so keen to ensure our children have a world to appreciate why do we not educate them? Teach them to understand the impact of leaving house lights on, not turning their IPads off.
It may only be a small percentage but it’s a percentage. And, with education you make people aware of the impact, us Humans can have on the world.
The UK does impose a fee for a plastic carrier bag. Originally, it was a 5p charge but now 10p, according to the government. However, it has been used by Supermarkets as another way of profiting and infact include it in their shrinkage records (theft). Morrisons charge 40p for a carrier bag and 25p for a heavy duty paper bag which I think is actually unenforceable.
In Wales they also impose a 5p charge on your paper takeaway bags.
My problem with charging for plastic bags, ULEZ/CAZ and other supposedly Government emission reducing schemes, is how much profiteering/hidden tax is made by the treasury/councils on the back of it.