Survey finds: I care, but do nothing about it

[kanzeon_2040]

concern about climate change does not automatically translate into lifestyle changesIt's that "collective irresponsibility" problem I've mentioned before -- your own behaviors aren't enough to fix the climate, and you receive zero positive reinforcement from the environment with respect to your own behaviors. No matter what *you* do, the problem

Comments

[matrixmann]

2 problems I see in this:

1) If I give up some environmentally bad habits, even if I do the factually right thing - there is going to be someone else instead who doesn't want to do without his two vacation trips a year to far away countries which he needs to go by plane for.
What I spare the environment, another one will add this share back again on the pile because of stupidity and egoisim.

2) What exactly is doing the right thing to help decreasing emissions

[kanzeon_2040]

I think you are absolutely correct that if you travel less, those travel spots will just be taken by somebody else. As an economic matter, when some people boycott petroleum consumption, the price of petroleum drops, which encourages other people to use more of it.

So, I think we need global bans on the use of fossil fuels. Start with coal, because it's the worst offender. But that won't be enough, we'll have to ban petroleum products, and then methane products.

Right now there are a lot of fuzzy goals floating around like "let's go carbon neutral by 2050" without spelling out how we get there. And there are also pointless diversions like "let's get rid of plastic shopping bags and straws".

Stop burning fossil fuels. Period. But that's a tough goal. I haven't stopped. And if I did stop, it just leaves more fuel for somebody else to burn. It's got to be an enforceable global ban, and that's going to be fucking hard to implement.

[matrixmann]

Hm, I think the "ban fossil fuels"-idea is another filter bubble... (Here the recent calls for banning brown coal have become louder again, so that's why I say this

[gonzo21]

The Extinction Survival handbook goes into this, goes into the psychology of how to organise, how to get past the despair, and charts a path towards activism.

[gonzo21]

Extinction Rebellion, sorry. This one. 'This is Not A Drill'.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/This-Not-Drill-Extinction-Rebellion/dp/0141991445/ref=sr_1_2?crid=1UIYPO8MF46ZN&keywords=extinction+rebellion&qid=1565266655&s=gateway&sprefix=extcinc%2Caps%2C181&sr=8-2

[kanzeon_2040]

Thanks, I will take a look

[gonzo21]

No, but I think most people do despair, so they stick their heads in the sand and deny the problem. Which is probably the single biggest problem to be overcome. We've somehow got to find a way to connect to conservative minds that yes, we actually do need to do something.

Because at the moment in this country at least the climate change denying conservatives have transitioned from 'climate change is a hoax' to 'climate change is real but there's nothing we can do about it so there's no point even trying'.

But yeah, the other interesting thing about oil and gas reserves is the Russian equation, much of the worlds remaining oil and gas reserves are in Siberia, which are becoming exploitable now thanks to climate change. So putin is very very invested in making sure EU and American markets don't stop burning hydrocarbons.

[gonzo21]

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/aug/07/this-is-not-a-drill-extinction-rebellion-review