Quote:
Originally Posted by powderjunkie
Sadly, we're both living in fantasy-land. But ~50/50 of both approaches is probably the best bet...
|
Yeah I think while it's debatable what is the easiest path to salvation here, it's pretty obvious that things are dire and really anyone who does care should try to push on all fronts.
As I said, I personally don't think you can make e dent in fossil spending through consumer action, but I do still think it's critical to try be a green consumer.
For one thing, every little bit counts.
Another reason is what I mentioned before, consumer choices affect the society, making green choices more acceptable and desirable.
There's also the fact that if you don't first have the early adopters, who create a market where green products can profitably exist, then you never get to a point where political action is feasible.
If nobody bought electric cars now, it would be completely unfeasible to consider limiting who can buy petrol cars, because there would be no realistic alternative.
If there wasn't a plethora of perfectly adequate (and constantly improving) "meat replacement" products in existence, you couldn't push for less meat use.
The easiest way to push for large changes is to keep make small changes everywhere you can. Every small change makes it easier to make the next change
Additionally, when consumers create a market for green products, they create companies that have a financial incentive to support green political action. It's ####ed that this is matters, but of course it matters.
Now whether or not we're both living in fantasy land thinking this problem might get tackled, I happen to think climate change is going to hit us much faster and harder than most people think. To an extent that I think in less than five years the debate will largely be over and we'll mostly be in collective panic mode. It's why I think top down change is possible, but it's also why I've been starting to knock things off from my bucket list.
(I'm doing pretty well. It's really just "see the Flames play live" and some sex stuff at this point, and the sex stuff I think has a high probability of happening soonish.)