this post was submitted on 16 Feb 2024
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The memes of the climate

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The climate of the memes of the climate!

Planet is on fire!

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[–] [email protected] 36 points 6 months ago (1 children)

As long as lobbyists walk this planet ain’t shit happening.

We need to fire all lobbyists… into the sun

[–] [email protected] 24 points 6 months ago (2 children)

In theory lobbyists are exactly what we need. Professionals with real world knowledge about thier industry and section of society. You cannot expect any of the people holding office to know details about everything.

It's supposed to be like a leader surrounding himself with experts in thier fields.

... But of course in reality people want money.

[–] [email protected] 15 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Except lobbying isn't experts giving an opinion, it's rich people giving money. The only expertise the lobbyists ever have is knowledge on how to make money, since in order to get enough of it to lobby, you need to devote your life to it. The people who have enough expertise to legitimately advise the government on science don't make anywhere near enough to lobby.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 6 months ago (1 children)

This isn't entirely true. For instance, EFF and ACLU both lobby the government for legislation that they support.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 6 months ago

Using the money they're given by people like me. Money moves the gears of the government.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 6 months ago

That's yet another problem: people holding office, in charge of something they don't know shit about. Wasn't the guy in charge of the EPA an oil exec, and nobody batted an eye?

[–] [email protected] 25 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago)

I so hope that something happens from this.

Meme reaction is a very low hanging fruit, surprised Pikachu would have been another easy pick.

Source for guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/feb/15/recycling-plastics-producers-report

As always: Posting and liking memes is great, but real change comes from actions. If you are as concerned as we are about climate change, please consider joining or supporting climate activists near you.

[–] [email protected] 21 points 6 months ago

It's been a while since they tried to convince us there was some magical recycling sorting machine again. Seriously they just keep making the consumer feel like shit and place the blame on them, when the single most effective way to fix the problem is significantly reduce or eliminate the products made.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 6 months ago

Do you think the government didn't know?

[–] [email protected] 9 points 6 months ago

"Drill, baby, drill".

(US politicians aren't fixing shit.)

[–] [email protected] 4 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Haven't we already know this for a decade?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 6 months ago
[–] [email protected] 4 points 6 months ago (2 children)

Hello, this feels like an appropriate place for me to plug a service I recently discovered: Ridwell!

Obviously it sucks that most plastic isn’t being recycled and I wish this service could be offered free of charge, but if you have the means it’s a great way to reduce your plastic waste! I swear I don’t work for them, I just really like that a big chunk of my plastic waste is suddenly being repurposed instead of landfilled.

And they also help me recycle some things I’ve been collecting forever without understanding how to properly dispose of, like batteries, old clothes, and electronics.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 6 months ago (1 children)

I hope to god you are not getting scammed on just like this one did:

German documentary. Skip to minuite 57. The company did round about the same that your example does. Everyone was happy and believed them. In this specific minuite the reporters show one of the volunteering persons, that helped collect the trash for the company for years, that even her neatly packaged plastic waste from herself and her neighbourghood just simply got shipped across the sea and dumped on a landfill.

The company made some lucrative business here. On the back of naive enough citicen, that wanted to improve the situation.

https://www.ardmediathek.de/video/dokumentation-und-reportage/dokumentarfilm-im-ersten-die-recyclingluege/das-erste/Y3JpZDovL2Rhc2Vyc3RlLmRlL3JlcG9ydGFnZSBfIGRva3VtZW50YXRpb24gaW0gZXJzdGVuLzIwMjItMDYtMjBfMjItNTAtTUVTWg

[–] [email protected] 1 points 6 months ago (1 children)

I can’t get anything other than an ad to play on that site and I don’t speak German so I wasn’t able to poke around - so I’ll take your word for it. I suppose there’s definitely a risk here, but my hope is that since the plastic is being repurposed for construction in a for-profit company, there’s more incentive to actually do it. The alternative being actually recycling the plastic back into its constituent forms, which I imagine is harder and less profitable. Is the latter what the documentary company was doing?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 6 months ago

They claimed to be splitting the wastes and claimed to recylcle. The company then made deals with major companies so that they can claim, that they are recycling. The waste ended up in a landfill in a third world country. When the company was confronted they claimed it was a one time issue with a subcontractor. Business excuses as usual.

I hope the company u named is honest but I would have strong doubts. The industry is hella lucrative.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 6 months ago

This company is great but we need more.

We need governments to push for complete and proper waste disposal. You can't require people to correctly separate their garbage all the time or trust them to do it well. Have all garbage mixed, and sent to proper recycling facilities where everything is separated correctly, and where we'll try to reuse everything properly or if not possible, dispose off without polluting, without CO2 (so no burning)

We also gotta work on the other end. No more products that is more packaging than product. No more products that are containers in containers in containers in containers. When a customer buys it, it is one product in one container, period. Containers always must be as small as possible, period.

We also have to drop one day shipping and buying everything online and have everything brought to the door by car. It's hugely polluting and not needed. Yes, it's a nice little convenience, but you don't need it.

Then I can keep on going, we need to redesign and rebuild our cities. No more endless suburbs that is only one style huge houses and nothing else. It's depressing for people, you can only get in or out by car, kids can't go anywhere without their parents driving them. Make mixed use neighborhoods, with shops, bars, cares, restaurants, offices, recreational facilities all mixed in. You should be able to walk to your bakery on most places in most cities but you can't.

Basically, our current situation is just the result of a whole bunch of bad regulations pushed (mostly) by companies and people in charge of places they don't know shit about. We need to start listening to the results of scientific research and push rules that will actually make our lives better, while we still can.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 6 months ago

I feel like we should be able to have a class action to ban the use of nonbiodegradable materials in packaging. At the very least there needs to be a 100% tariff on virgin plastics

[–] [email protected] 2 points 6 months ago

Pixar exposed the Truth about how trash was processed, in Toy Story 3 (2010).

Magnetize metals, burn the rest in FIRE!

[–] [email protected] 1 points 6 months ago

*government responds to poking by adding additional taxes to consumer purchases of plastics, which they then give to the plastic manufacturers