this post was submitted on 24 Nov 2024
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[–] [email protected] 50 points 7 hours ago

If only we had recycled harder

[–] [email protected] 19 points 7 hours ago (1 children)

Honestly I'm starting to hate this narrative

For one, by far the most polluting companies are state owned coal companies in China and India. Then other state owned fossil fuel companies and then private fossil fuel companies.

So all those companies are just lower generation. So it's not like they can just stop, people need the electricity.

And it's not like nothing is being done either. Like by far the biggest polluter is China's coal industry, making up 25% of global emissions, but China is also THE global leader on clean energy investment. They are currently building more nuclear power plants than the entire rest of the world has, they are making the biggest most powerfull wind turbines in the world, etc.

And if people would stop consuming cheap, disposable shite from China, then they wouldn't use so much electricity, so would burn less coal and also you wouldn't make a bunch of shit that's just going to end up in a landfill.

[–] [email protected] 21 points 6 hours ago (1 children)

It's a multifaceted issue, but don't kid yourself

http://amp.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/2017/jul/10/100-fossil-fuel-companies-investors-responsible-71-global-emissions-cdp-study-climate-change.

China weighs in at 14.5% for coal. Another 1-point-some-odd for their Petro Chem. The issue is that there are a lot of companies that make up the remainder.

Demand definitely plays a role in all of this, but I don't think pushing green initiatives is a bad thing from the consumers and one of the only ways we can encourage these companies to do their part

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

It’s possible there’s a very specific tinge of racism and/or jingoism present in the comment previous to yours.

Multinational companies are to blame, not just India and China.

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

Really? I didn't see the racist overtones you did apparently. I read that as 'China is the largest pollution source, but only because of X Y and Z, and they're doing more to mitigate it than anyone else'.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 hours ago (1 children)

I hear your point there, you’re not wrong, but it does lay the blame at their feet then sort of back away from the stance.

The fact is, most people won’t read it all. They’re just going to see “blame India and China!”

“Phew, at least I’m off the hook.”

I don’t even like to admit the idea of the above but based on the last month (and let’s face it, very long time before that), people are willing to jump to all sorts of conclusions.

Hell, maybe I did about it sounding racist! But I don’t know the intent behind every message I read. I’m just feeling very skeptical and cautious.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 hours ago

You make some very good points. Being sceptical and cautious are important skills to have in this modern world :/

[–] [email protected] 15 points 8 hours ago (3 children)

This always gets me. They are producing stuff that we the people buy. They aren't out there just for the fun of things. Inb4 Lemmy's famous misreadings, yes it is an issue, yes we need regulation (which we will have to start again from scratch, hopefully in 4 years), yes we need renewables. But this simplistic "it's just 100 companies" is misleading AF.

[–] [email protected] 24 points 5 hours ago

Those 100 companies have made it so it's incredibly difficult not to buy from them.

Groceries? There's like 10 companies that own all of the food supply. Good luck figuring out which one's have child labor, and a horrendous environmental impact. They've very purposely masked that image.

Oh wow, everything is recyclable! No, those companies just slapped that logo on all of their products so we can ignorantly wish-cycle their garbage. Most of it ends up in the landfill.

Don't want a car? Our cities are very deliberately designed to require cars. There is a very strong private agenda against good public transportation.

Then there's the pollution. These companies pollute so much more than we know. Whether that's dumping forever chemicals into our water, or taking private jets everywhere. It's not like the label on your T-shirt tells you that.

Finally find a good company? They'll buy it up, lobby against it, or coerce them out of business. Just look how many companies Luxottica has destroyed.

There's layer after layer of obfuscation to hide what these companies are doing. It's not just a matter of picking Product A over Product B. We rarely have much choice, or the information to make better choices.

[–] [email protected] 21 points 8 hours ago (2 children)

I'll GLADLY buy the alternative that doesn't do those things. When it exists. One day.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 6 hours ago

I think the idea was "reduce consumption". As a society we buy tons of stuff, way more than 50 or 100 years ago.

[–] [email protected] -4 points 7 hours ago* (last edited 7 hours ago)

You're unfortunately about to get ratio'ed for the reasonable take.

[–] [email protected] 21 points 9 hours ago (1 children)

Humans self describe as intelligent. That always stuck with me.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 7 hours ago

Humans are so naturally stupid that they almost make AI seem intelligent.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 8 hours ago (1 children)

Can we stop buying from them please?

[–] [email protected] 18 points 8 hours ago* (last edited 8 hours ago) (1 children)

That's the best part! You can't!

Thanks to the consolidation and vertical integration of the largest multinationals, as long as you choose to live — no matter how careful and conscious your purchases — a significant proportion of it will still funnel to most of these corporations.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 9 hours ago

Well clearly it's the fault of everyone noticing the problems because like 100 years ago no one noticed the problems and so clearly they weren't happening because no one noticed and if they were happening someone would have noticed so if people just hadn't noticed they never would have happened and then no one would have noticed them which of course then means they double wouldn't have happened

It's just common sense if you think about it from that perspective

[–] [email protected] 3 points 9 hours ago

Rugged individualism strikes again.