Whilst I don’t disagree with anything there, there is a more basic question people should be asking themselves: is my journey really necessary?
I’m thinking of the kind of things that are on platforms like Temu, some of which seem to have rather short fulfilment periods, but maybe I’m just mis-remembering.
Plastic junk like random toys, or clothing. The couple of days to deliver those seem to be too short for that to be surface freight.
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Here, I think this works better…
I have wondered how much could you do as an individual before your carbon footprint is actually driven by things beyond your control.
For example, buying a cauliflower but it comes in a plastic bag. Other than growing your own, which is not possible for many, you cant avoid that bag unless you choose not to eat cauliflower. 
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Temu and Shein have both been accused of clogging up air cargo routes. They also ship a large amount of fake and dangerous products.
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I agree with you but the key thing is to keep drumming to individuals that we change what we can. If it’s just one plastic straw that you can consciously choose to do without, that’s a change. The issue can be we keep focusing on the 99% of things we have no control of and then use it as a reason not to do anything about the 1% we can.
All this arguing about personal responsibility versus corporate culpability is makes me keep thinking about this GIF.
This is what I meant before (perhaps on this thread, perhaps somewhere else), that as a society we really need to focus on this as an existential threat.
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I guess it’s about how you feel about making huge personal sacrifices that might make your life far worse ( not talking about plastic straws here) if government, big business, billionaires and musicians are taking the piss and rubbing it in your face.
Moving away from plastic straws is low impact in both what it costs you in convenience and on the benefit to the environment from that change.
Excluding flights from your life may be high impact on your environmental footprint, but it might also be high impact on your life as well.
If we created a matrix of it with X and Y axis of personal impact and environmental impact, plastic straws would be as far to the bottom left as is possible. Flights might be far top right for many people.
We could all draw up these matrixes and the X axis probably would be vastly different. We all can and will choose what we can sacrifice.
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Probably because it’s not an actual solution, just as it wasn’t for Brexit, Trumpism, Covid denial and belief in ancient aliens etc.
You’re right. Ignorance is so much better.
Exactly what I meant. In a world where climate is fucked, nothing is too small and yet doing nothing at all would be the worst
Education alone does little to change that. People are already educated on climate change and the other things above - but either they don’t wish to apply that learning or it gets drowned out by others pushing a different message.
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Both apply. People talk the talk, but don’t walk the walk. It’s very similar to the NIMBY mindset: we need more housing, but don’t build it where I live.
And when they’re bombarded 24/7 by images of the “glamorous” lifestyle on television, in films and on social media, it’s difficult for the average person to resist.
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Did you ever travel when you were younger Cynical?
Yes, I did. But now that the facts are available to all, I no longer do so. I’m fortunate in that I’m within walking distance of the shops and the pub, and my friends and family are easily reached by public transport.
I agree but the road i was starting down was those super wealthy people have the largest footprints so they should be both tackled first. They also have the greatest responsibility to change.
As you progress down the scale i suspect that “responsibility”, sorry, ability to make a significant impact reduces and they already have a far smaller footprint in the first place.
Governnents are key to all of this but i dont see any making huge strides in the right direction.
Deborah Meaden says hi
i understand it doesnt resolve the problem, but having spent a life travelling and experiencing different things, does it not sadden you that one of the solutions to the problem is no one from a younger generation would get to do the same?
surely we can resolve many of the issues without restricting travel?
having said that, these all you can eat all you can drink all you can fuck travel packages to just party in a hot place add nothing to the human experience (in my opinion) so there does need to be some curbing of the tourism industry…
no one needs to take the family to bali 3 times a year
in Bali, i got chatting to some bloke from perth who was building his retirement home(in perth) worked out cheaper for him to rent a villa in Bali for the last 19 months and fly the grandkids in and out while the place was getting built, the cost of the visa was pretty insignificant…
but itd be a shame if my kids could never see the colloseum, take a train ride through switzerlands alps etc etc etc… i think that would be detrimental to us all
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I am incredibly sympathetic to your POV on this.
Being close to the Alps and the Colosseum (amongst other things of course!) is exactly the reason I chose to live in Europe.
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