NPR has an article on personal actions you can take to help with climate change. (all valid, but all miniscule impact on the problem, IMHO.) -- i.e. no "stop driving, start bicycling/walking places", no "stop flying around for vacation", no "move down the food chain and preferably become vegetarian" #climatehttps://www.npr.org/2023/10/08/1202152408/climate-change-action
When I give a public seminar, I always dedicate a whole page to GOTV and figuring out Who represents the audience I am speaking to.
The need for government level action which many people collectively can have a big voice — is the biggest missing part. Consider adding a slide like this to the bottom of your conclusions or intro slides for folks to just copy down the info.
@ai6yr To be fair, “eat more sustainably” and “swapping out beef with almost anything else” is essentially moving down the food chain.
I would have liked to have seen them report on the massive carbon emissions of billionaires.
Collective action of the middle class in the world’s currently fossil-fueled nations is crucial, but the billionaire class thinks they’re too important to give up their private jets & yachts.
@ai6yr I think there are things that can't be really said today. The climate folk talk about their enemies the oil companies or their enemies the doomers. The one thing they don't talk about is that the vast majority of normies actually understand the problem and do not feel motivated to act.
Massively change the way we use transportation, particularly in car-centric cities (ie my area, Southern California) -- so you don't have to drive to shop/get to work/etc. The Netherlands, Boston, Portland, and other walkable/bikeable cities/countries are a far better model than suburban sprawl and Walmart for CO2 emissions from transport.
(continued)
Shop as local as possible -- local produce, things that don't need to be flown/shipped across a country. Better yet, grown in your backyard or on your rooftop. Transportation is a huge chunk of our emissions. (continued)
It's heretical to the model of consumption our economy is built on, but stop buying new stuff (ie move away from a "consumer economy" dependent on people buying and more and more stuff, replacing things constantly"). Long lasting items, which can be repaired, and stop buying new ones every two years. Buy used stuff, fix it. (continued)
Go full into climate disaster preparation mode. Even if we stop emissions on a dime tomorrow (hint: we will not), extreme weather is going to get worse. We need to prepare both individually and on the community level for extreme rainfall events, massive wildfires, slower moving and more dangerous hurricanes, glaciers melting, droughts and lack of water -- the full gamut of risks has and will increase. (continued)
That means: prepare people for heatwaves. Invest so that the less fortunate have the resources and help to also be able to adapt (weatherization/assistance with installing air conditioning and paying for it/community centers available with AC/power for heatwave events, etc.) Incentivize landlords to make these changes, with tax credits/assistance so renters also get these benefits. (continued)
Massively disincentivize unnecessary travel (ie. air travel, traveling on cruises)... somehow? Increase rail and other more climate friendly travel options (i.e. in the US would require massive investment, unlikely... but really necessary). (continued)
This also probably heretical... but. I love kids. I have two. But, the overall human population is exploding, and we're well, well above what is probably the carrying capacity of the earth without fossil fuel inputs. We need to figure that out, because, if the oil spigot stops, we have a huge issue feeding our massive population.
(as an aside... on my hill, we have rabbits. Probably 5-10. Every year, they have between 6 and 15 in a litter... The population explodes. But, between coyotes, hawks, and owls/etc., usually, there are 5-10 rabbits again by the end of the season, due to predation. Where I grew up, all the neighbors had 8-10 kids. Those kids all had 6-10 kids themselves, and now they're on to grandkids. One family on our street now has an extended family of over 100.... (aside from autos, no human predators)
@BakerRL75 LOL... I recall hauling two little kids at full sprint across an airport terminal due to a short connection, and the wife was running (she is NOT a happy traveler), and that was not fun.
@ai6yr As a military mom my kids were seasoned car travelers by the time they were five, and a delight on the road. But they turned into little hooligans in an airport.
@ai6yr so what you're saying is we need to genetically engineer apex predators to be compatible with the modern world so they can start thinning the human herd? I've always been in favor of bringing back the California grizzly... Just do it Planet of the Apes style where they're also hyper intelligent. Actually that would make an excellent horror movie...
Or I suppose we could stop vaccinating. Well actually quite a few communities are so maybe it'll be a self correcting problem soon. 🤔
@douglasvb 😬 Yeah, I have no idea. As a species, we have succeeded due to our ability to procreate. It seems to be one of our favorite past-times. Our music, movies, and culture is centered on it. But... Maybe virtual girlfriends and boyfriends and AI relationships are not all bad? LOL.
@ai6yr After that guy in Japan lost his AI wife because the software stopped being supported, I'm not so sure that's a great idea unless it's all written with FOSS in mind 😅
Were there sufficient predation and disease, we'd be like every other animal that overpopulates its environment. Instead we'll be like some animals when they catastrophically overpopulate and then massively crash and take some of the regional environment with them. Except it'll be the whole planet.
@ai6yr Or maybe we'll get lucky and a post-scarcity utopia will soon take hold, and the population will naturally level out and decline.
Oooor... we end up with the Star Trek future where there have to be some major planet-wide wars first before we get to utopia. Plus a few massive alien attacks. Then the population becomes sustainable and the extras go out into the stars.
@ai6yr Although something that never has been dealt with head-on in Star Trek is how colonizing other worlds works out at the local level... Are we going to do the same thing to aliens like we as a species did to each other when we colonized places where people already lived? 🤐
are these large USA families a cultural/religious thing? Here in Northern Europe our populations are declining, there are fewer babies/kids around (schools are even closing down in some areas) and families are a lot smaller..
@ai6yr that’s what I always think, that yes we could have lots of people but can we actually provide all those people with the same standard of living (theoretically) or better ? Is it sustainable on this planet with its resources in dire straits? I think most folks don’t think about the energy and resources they just see physical room for people …?
@chickenjane88@ai6yr
A lot of a person's environmental footprint does not directly relate to their quality of life though.
Does a vegetarian have a lower quality of life than a meat and potatoes guy?
Does someone who can walk to their job and shopping have a lower quality of life than someone who drives a car every day?
I would say in both cases definitely not, in fact the lower impact choice is also better for life satisfaction and health.
We become trapped in these dead ends of thought when we equate resource consumption with better living. #degrowth
@ai6yr Lots of communities rely on tourist $$$. Virtual reality tours we could "experience" at home are an option, but many of the most respected figures in our culture have constantly advised us to travel to broaden our minds.
@ai6yr Liberty Utilities incentivized my landlord to request a box full of crap that I can’t use because it doesn’t fit my faucets. The pool noodles to put on my heating pipes might help, I plan to tackle that project pretty soon. I have to move everything out of the utility closet to do it but I’m totally willing to do that. I can guarantee my elderly neighbors who have stuff packed in there like a puzzle will not be doing that.
but the faucet aerators and the window seal was a waste of money for this unit. I just got brand new windows two summers ago. But Liberty Utilities got to spend some money and my landlord got a tax break. But I don’t think mailing boxes of useless crap to people who can’t even use it is the way to go.
@ai6yr I have one to add to that. “Pass it down”. Kids and their friends first apartments, houses, camping stuff is a great thing to do. I had a 3 qt crock pot that made it through two kids, and two of their divorced friends over 20 years before the heating element died. The crock insert was returned to me as a sunny painted planter with a red sedum planted in it.
@ai6yr I've just had to buy a new hi-fi amplifier because the previous one just had too many things stop working.
I was seriously pissed off about this: I'd only bought the thing in 2005 FFS. I was brought up with the idea that you bought something like that once and it lasted a lifetime.
@ai6yr As a complete aside: I could never bring myself to buy an immersion blender, given that I would probably use it only a couple of times a year. But, for some recipes, it’s really a necessary tool.
So, my FIL was downsizing this year, and I was handed-down my late MIL’s immersion blender. I swear, this thing, a big old corded Braun, was probably the first home immersion blender ever made, c. 1980.
Works fine! I do worry about the old-style unpolarized plug tho.
@ai6yr Great thread. Re population, the smart people said it’s inevitable that people will start aiming for two kids once they’re satisfied that at least two will survive to adulthood, and once women have enough autonomy to make this happen.
I used to take comfort in this idea, but I’m starting to worry whether the necessary conditions for this are disappearing.
@ai6yrcough remember wheelchairs and other mobility aids exist and do not have the Exact same needs as either bikes or walking people. cough
(Sorry but every time disabled people are an afterthought in urban planning it makes me scream because e.g. crosswalks that aren't perfectly level with pavement are fine for most bikes+walking ppl, but fuck my powerchair up if they're too obstructing. A too steep ramp sucks. The drain off tilt of sidewalks & FUCKING DRIVEWAY cutouts ugh. Etc.)
The Netherlands is awful too. We had to lift my mobility scooter up a curb to get into a voting location in our old neighborhood, after circling the building to confirm there was no ramp. Building doubled as a gym for the local schools during the day, and was built in the 1990's.
And those cute cobblestone streets frequently have unusable ramps, if there's any at all.
@ai6yr Boston-area still has a long way to go. Our previous governor was exclusively focused on transit costs, so safety and service went to shit. Biking is better, but still has so much "upside potential", and the NextDoor crowd wants to elect a bunch of city councilors in Cambridge who will roll back bike stuff and more-density stuff.
@dr2chase However, Boston (at least, the city itself) is about 1000% more do-able without a car (due to transit and walkability) than Los Angeles, infrastructure wise.
@ai6yr Boston has the T so it is walkable. But even though I could walk to an overpriced Stop and Shop in Southie didn’t mean I had an able enough body to bring my groceries home.
I think a lot of this is encouraged by capitalist scumbags like Uber eats and Postmates. How do you think disabled people are going to get around if they don’t have cars? They’re going to walk to the bus stop? Come on.
Especially if you're west of the Mississippi, ditch your dryer. This time of year, my clothes dry overnight on a tall, accordian-ish, portable wooden rack.
Stop using hot/warm water in laundry. Nothing is sterile about laundry regardless of temperature; new detergents and soaps make hot water unnecessary; and hot water in laundry only shortens garments' life and cooks the climate.
@ai6yr I mean, these aren't bad suggestions, and eat less meat is towards the bottom, but bike more, fly less should definitely be on here. So should shut down the fossil fuel industry... but not expecting that from NPR.
Glad to see "fix things you already own" is there.
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