We are racing down a mountain at full throttle. Our children are in the back seat. The speedometer is buried. The road curves sharply ahead. On the outside of the curve is a cliff with a 200 meter drop. On the other side is a vertical rock wall.
Here are some ideas I came up with to help push people into taking action. Sure we need systemic changes like ending car dependent cities and heavily reducing fossil fuel usage. Doing nothing is smashing through the guard rail and off the cliff. Doing one is slowing enough to MAYBE survive crashing into the mountain. Doing both is slowing down enough to navigate the curve.
There are some things we CAN do.
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Start spreading the word on social media for unofficial things like moo-less Monday. Don’t eat beef on Mondays. Weather Wednesday, where you adjust or turn off your HVAC. This could be a whole other thread.
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Start getting louder and louder. Remember, we need to both act AND influence enough people for systemic changes.
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Consume less. Be as efficient with resources as possible. There tons of things you can do here that are minimal effort and barely noticeable.
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Political action. Vote. Run if you are able. Contact politicians at all levels. Talk with people about things that have benefits beyond just climate. E.g. transit reduces traffic.
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Stay strong. Don’t succumb to doomerism.
I kinda agree with some points but overall this feels awfully close to the neoliberal idea that you can ascribe personal responsibility to a systematic problem. The great bulk of climate change is not being driven by your neighbors, but by the usual companies, which can afford to line the pockets of politicians to stay unpunished.
I’d also add a big asterisk on point 4: direct action! The solarpunk vision is built on anarchist ideals; If you’re in a situation where you can afford to, work together with like-minded individuals to bring the change you want. There’s no need to wait for some boomer politician to consider how doing or not doing something will affect their career. Sometimes asking for forgiveness is easier than asking for permission.
There’s a difference between those in control of the system assigning blame to the peasants to avoid consequence, and owning your own share of responsobility.
If you drive or otherwise consume oil and you don’t have to, you are at fault – but so is Shell for digging it up and destroying the tram. You are also at fault for giving them money, but so is Chevron for using that money to bribe the government.
Owning your personal contribution, minimizing it, and more importantly, showing others how is praxis.
Buying oil is a form of direct action helping the fossil fuel industry. So is driving because you make being outside a car just a little more unpleasant and dangerous. Buying a big car is even worse.
The only myth worse than your carbon footprint being the only thing that matters, is the idea it doesn’t matter and some nebulous “them” needs to fix it.
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Totally. Let’s change the world, and be the change we want to see in the world. And of course, understanding the complex sociological problems that lead people to not be able to afford Eco-friendly solutions while looking for ways to make that change possible. 🤗 Direct action is the way to go, voting is more of a “support” tool to kinda move the needle.
my feelings exactly, why even bring up political action in the context of something so urgent without emphasizing direct action and bottom-up political organization
Everything you’ve suggested is equivalent to re-arranging the deck chairs on the titanic. Climate change is not driven by individual action and can’t be solved by individuals changing their consumption habits. Over 70% of greenhouse gasses are produced by less than 100 companies, companies that have lobbied for public subsidies, socialized their losses with bailouts, outlawed or bought out any competition, laid waste to our countries natural resources, ripped up efficient public transit and infrastructure, and suppressed any change to their fossil fuel monopoly. Changing our course on climate change will mean taking back control from a powerful and entrenched class of people and corporations who control all the legal means you think can be used to hold them accountable.
You’re just sharing propaganda. Those 100 companies cannot pollute without your money and consent. If everyone gets out of the car it no longer matters that the footpath is gone, you can walk on the street. The beef industry can’t use 50% of the land and emit half the methane if noone buys red meat.
Chevron and Tyson foods are responsible and you are responsible. They will never step up and they will always use the power you give them to do evil, withhold it and show those around you that it can be done. The message you are spreading is both disempowering and deflecting blame.
Theoretically, you’re completely right. But you’ll never get the required amount of people on board to make a difference. We barely got people to wear masks during COVID so that they don’t spit on each other, and that was very controversial, most didn’t believe they did anything and the only way people got convinced was when they had to pay fines for not wearing them.
If it was so problematic to get people to put some fabric on their face (that they could then pretty much ignore) in order to prevent others from getting sick and dying, how do you imagine the majority going out of their way and making their lives less convenient to prevent hell from happening in 10-20 years? If everyone stopped using cars unless they absolutely had to (and even then rented them), we’d be in a better place. But also if everyone started caring about others, became tolerant towards things they don’t understand, kept in mind what they know and what they don’t, and worked every day to better themselves, we’d live in a utopia. But neither scenarios are going to happen, so trying to convert individuals one by one is a waste of energy. I mean, go ahead, the more eco-conscious people the better, but that won’t save us.
The only entities that can realistically overpower corporations are governments and other political institutions. That’s where most of the energy must be focused.
P.S. One thing that’s kinda getting on my nerves is people proclaiming always: “Save the planet!”. The planet and its non-human nature was here long before us and will be long after us. We’re not cooking the planet to death, we’re cooking ourselves. “Let’s save ourselves”, not the planet.
I can’t afford to eat beef or consume much of anything. I don’t think I am the problem here…
Would you mind not flying your private jet so much?
Everything sounds very good, but really, quite unlikely to accomplish. If world leaders don’t take this seriously, individual ideas are just wishful thinking.
The “vote” and “badger your reps” are the most important things by far.
We need genuine progressives in power to end things like fossil fuel subsidies.
If your only real options are “red neoliberal” or “blue neoliberal”, you need to make them know that pandering to polluting businesses will lose them their power, which means no more trough for their snouts.
And those letters and emails matter. Sure, they’ll probably dismiss them and swan off to be wined and dined by mining and oil companies.
But ultimately, they’re going to look out for their own self interest. They need to know that being soft on environmental issues will lose them more than it will gain them.
As far as political action goes:
Get involved in campaigns. In the US that means financially supporting state and local candidates in the primary, as well as the presidential campaign and volunteering, not just voting. It’s important to vote in those primaries too, not just in the November 2024 general election; in most districts the primary determines who will hold the seat.
Besides contacting individual politicians, you can write letters to the editor of local news outlets, ideally connecting climate to local issues.
If you happen to be near New York City, there’s a major march planned for September 17
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