this post was submitted on 10 Jul 2023
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Yes, we know, but the alternative isn't "just don't buy one because it doesn't matter anyway", it's "Do the best we can as consumers to make smart, green choices". Vote with our wallets that we do want greener alternatives rather than giving up. If a battery comes along that is more eco friendly than lithium I'll probably buy that one.
A better way to phrase what you said to encourage people to go green is to say "Absolutely going electric is a smart choice, it'll reduce your personal emissions by a substantial amount, but remember that to public transit/walking are still the greenest options. We can also always demand from the companies we buy from that they should use greener manufacturing as well."
Don't just point out the flaws in a way that comes off as "We shouldn't even try because what's the point". We can both be better ourselves and demand companies hold themselves to even higher standards, it's not one or the other.
Sorry, sometimes it’s hard to make myself understood. Consumption is not in any way a solution to climate change.
Boycotts don’t work, you can’t change the carbon impact of production at the point of consumption because the carbon has already been released. Voting with your wallet doesn’t work.
We should not spend even one iota of time concerned with how to make greener choices as individuals and instead work on stopping pollution at the point of production.
If it’s not clear: climate change comes from the release of greenhouse gasses and that doesn’t happen more or less depending on what I swipe my credit card to buy.
That's a very selfish way to look at it. "Nothing I can do so fuck it". But there is. I agree with you, we should demand change in production, but you're also being selfish just giving up and not altering your lifestyle just because "it's already been made".
Boycotts do work. If people actually followed through with them, and yeah, I'm boycotting any more fossil fuels in my house. 1 person doesn't mean a whole lot, but if cynics like you started actually changing it might.
The written word can really be a boondoggle sometimes.
At no point do I say “fuck it”. Boycotts don’t work (here I’m talking about consumer boycotts not boycotts paired with radical action like Montgomery or possibly bds). Pollution needs to be attacked at the point of production.
It’s not selfish to recognize this. It’s not selfish to suggest that the solution to climate change is not consumption. What does it look like to you to shut pollution off at the source? That’s not doing nothing.
There’s plenty of lifestyle alterations coming down the pike. No one is missing out on their medicine except through death.