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What can I do about climate change?

bbc.com

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Re: What can I do about climate change?

#11

Post by lumberjack »

If people were not so stuck up on individual action, that would be some progress towards solving climate change. One of the big obstacles is admitting that we need collective action to solve this worldwide problem.

Would ee propose individual action when less dangerous situations occur in society? Say, a bank run is imminent. Does individual action work? Does the government broadcast it on the 8 o'clock news and do the people stay at home or do they run down the bank nonetheless? We do not propose individual action on other matters but we expect individual action to work on climate change.

Re: What can I do about climate change?

#12

Post by philjohn »

TheSmiddy wrote: post #4
joelthelion wrote: post #2

I'm posting this because it's a good comprehensive overview of the question. Most similar articles give a superficial overview with two or three ideas. However, climate change is not a simple issue where you can just change a thing or two to fix it; it requires deep changes in most aspects of life. And this change has to happen right now.

I don't think individuals require deep change in order to solve climate change. Most sources of emissions when broken down by industry ultimately just point back to the energy generation. The only deep change that an individual can do that will make an actual impact is going vegan. Adding solar panels to your roof is not a drastic change, in fact in Australia it makes good economic sense. Driving an electric car is n…

Got any scientific studies to back up that going Vegan is better for the environment?

Re: What can I do about climate change?

#13

Post by gaius »

throw1118 wrote: post #5

> 8. Should I think about how many children I have (or don’t have)? ... > Nicholas’s study concluded that having fewer children is the best way to reduce your contribution to climate change, with almost 60 tonnes of CO2 avoided per year. But this result has been contentious – and it leads to other questions. ... > And we could ask if having children is necessarily a bad thing for solving climate change: our challenge…

Just be honest and admit that this possible solution (fewer kids!) conflicts with your ideology or your reader’s

The planet’s population has doubled in my lifetime alone, and I may see it double again, and it could be pure coincidence that all the warning signs clearly track the human population (CO2 levels, sea temperature etc etc) but maybe, just maybe, there is some causation there...?

We could all have nice things if, a few billion people ago, everyone had decided to reproduce at replenishment rate only.

Re: What can I do about climate change?

#14

Post by ForHackernews »

TheSmiddy wrote: post #4
joelthelion wrote: post #2

I'm posting this because it's a good comprehensive overview of the question. Most similar articles give a superficial overview with two or three ideas. However, climate change is not a simple issue where you can just change a thing or two to fix it; it requires deep changes in most aspects of life. And this change has to happen right now.

I don't think individuals require deep change in order to solve climate change. Most sources of emissions when broken down by industry ultimately just point back to the energy generation. The only deep change that an individual can do that will make an actual impact is going vegan. Adding solar panels to your roof is not a drastic change, in fact in Australia it makes good economic sense. Driving an electric car is n…

Why is going vegan a "deep change"? What if everyone ate one beefy burger a year?

I keep seeing this bandied about but it really feels like people pushing their ideology as the answer to whatever question was asked.

Re: What can I do about climate change?

#15

Post by thunderbong »

KnightOfWords wrote: post #3

This graphic give a pretty good summary of the relative impact: https://3c1703fe8d.site.internapcdn.net/newman/gfx/news/hire...

This is really a very good infographic - The biggest way we can impact climate change as individuals is to have fewer children. Yet, in most discussions I've seen, we talk about hybrid cars and vegetarian diet!

Re: What can I do about climate change?

#16

Post by joelthelion »

pdimitar wrote: post #6

This article's quality is higher than many others on the same topic and that's a pleasant surprise. That being said, I can't help being reminded about German language lessons I had ~10 years ago where the teacher was preaching that we must all ditch electric kettles for the sake of the planet. I asked her how is this going to help -- even if 100_00 people do it today -- if corporations are happy to let toxic waste se…

As the article mentions, individuals can do something about corporate pollution:

- Buy less stuff. Corporations produce waste because we buy their stuff. Get the stuff you still buy from more environmentally-friendly companies, if possible.

- Political action. Corporations need to be regulated and that can only happen through political action. Lobbies may have a lot of power, but in the end, it's the citizens who vote.

Re: What can I do about climate change?

#17

Post by Vinnl »

> 9. But if I eat less meat or take fewer flights, that’s just me – how much of a difference can that really make? > > Actually, it’s not just you. Social scientists have found that when one person makes a sustainability-oriented decision, other people do too.

This is the thing that still gives me hope. Try to do good, and people will notice - and, without so much as telling others to something, they will emulate you to some extent. At least, that's what I've anecdotally observed.

The other side of this is important as well: you don't necessarily need to be a leader in everything that can be improved. However, if you see someone taking the lead, being the first follower can get a movement going, and is less effort than leading the change to boot.

Re: What can I do about climate change?

#18

Post by mjevans »

TheSmiddy wrote: post #4
joelthelion wrote: post #2

I'm posting this because it's a good comprehensive overview of the question. Most similar articles give a superficial overview with two or three ideas. However, climate change is not a simple issue where you can just change a thing or two to fix it; it requires deep changes in most aspects of life. And this change has to happen right now.

I don't think individuals require deep change in order to solve climate change. Most sources of emissions when broken down by industry ultimately just point back to the energy generation. The only deep change that an individual can do that will make an actual impact is going vegan. Adding solar panels to your roof is not a drastic change, in fact in Australia it makes good economic sense. Driving an electric car is n…

Cheap clean energy is indeed the core problem. With enough energy even inefficient processes like creating synthetic high energy fuels to condense more energy in to less weight for air travel are possible.

Short term: Build MODERN, waste reducing, nuclear (fission) plants. If proliferation is a concern, require the military be hired to protect them and the logs/supervision open to the public with short delay.

Long term: I like the 3001 / Gundam OO / generic scifi solution. Solar collectors. Point lots of solar energy at a focal location and do useful things with it.

Re: What can I do about climate change?

#19

Post by joelthelion »

lumberjack wrote: post #11

If people were not so stuck up on individual action, that would be some progress towards solving climate change. One of the big obstacles is admitting that we need collective action to solve this worldwide problem. Would ee propose individual action when less dangerous situations occur in society? Say, a bank run is imminent. Does individual action work? Does the government broadcast it on the 8 o'clock news and do t…

While the title isn't very clear, the article mentions collective actions as well. Political action also stems from individuals and should of course be part of our actions against climate change.

Re: What can I do about climate change?

#20

Post by Vinnl »

pdimitar wrote: post #6

This article's quality is higher than many others on the same topic and that's a pleasant surprise. That being said, I can't help being reminded about German language lessons I had ~10 years ago where the teacher was preaching that we must all ditch electric kettles for the sake of the planet. I asked her how is this going to help -- even if 100_00 people do it today -- if corporations are happy to let toxic waste se…

Ugh, I once read a booklet that had the same premise of the article. One of the suggested solutions: use less soap when doing the dishes, to preserve packaging.

As I mention in a different comment, individual action is important. However, there is a large difference in effectiveness, and promoting obviously ineffective ones isn't going to convince people to do the ones that are likely to be effective.

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