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Ask HN: What actions did you take against climate change?

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31–40 of 53 posts

Re: Ask HN: What actions did you take against climate change?

#31
Important question! My main concern is to combat climate change with all my energy. Whilst it is still hard to leave all routines behind, I try to challenge myself on every action I take.

- I changed my employer in December to work on renewable energy topics. It gained me 5000€/a, so win/win.

- I switched my power supplier to eco 5 years ago. Probably 50€ per year. It is important to choose a real eco-friendly tariff. Some are only labeled as environmentally friendly.

- I am donating to greenpeace and other environmental ngos (as well as planting trees). ~400€ per year.

- I stopped using a car a few years ago. I am substituting it by public transport and/or my bike. Occasionally, I still rent a car, however much less. I would say, it costs a lot of time sometimes but it is hard to figure out the number. All things considered, I am certainly saving money.

- I am only buying organic food and especially meat with no compromise. It probably costs me 50-100€ per month compared to shopping in a discounter market. Since the meat is quite expensive, I reduced consumption drastically (but not only for economic reasons).

- I am not taking airplanes anymore to go on holiday. This costs a lot of time. My last travel to Greece took 3 days instead of 3 hours.

- I have reduced shopping and online shopping to a minimum. It just saves money and time as well.

- I have put stickers for the past global climate strike, it cost me a few hours. Participating some hours as well.

- I am always bringing my tupperware for picking-up food (except pizza), no compromise, no one-way packaging. This is not really combatting climate change but it helps against environmental pollution.

- Countless hours of debating with people :-D

Also, many little things which I forgot to/can't mention. I think everybody should do as much as he or she can, get used to it, do more, get used to it, do more, etc. :)

Re: Ask HN: What actions did you take against climate change?

#32
post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't know if this is one we can buy our way out of. Not buying, seafood in particular, seems to be the most obvious solution at this stage. At least until more sustainable practices are more widespread and stocks have restored. Plant based food companies are probably stocks to watch in coming years.

Makes sense. Regarding the stocks: anything that you are thinking of in particular? Might be a great, immediate way to have an impact, too.

I didn't but I looked it up out of interest. Here's some ideas to get us started!

https://vegfaqs.com/vegan-companies-to-invest-in/

Re: Ask HN: What actions did you take against climate change?

#34

Important question! My main concern is to combat climate change with all my energy. Whilst it is still hard to leave all routines behind, I try to challenge myself on every action I take. - I changed my employer in December to work on renewable energy topics. It gained me 5000€/a, so win/win. - I switched my power supplier to eco 5 years ago. Probably 50€ per year. It is important to choose a real eco-friendly tariff…

Great thank you for your input and contributions!

  - Regarding the power supplier: how did you validate that the tariff is actually eco-friendly?
  - What do you think: how successful have you been at debating with other people? :D
  - Any other (local) people or communities that you regularly join forces with on this topic?

Re: Ask HN: What actions did you take against climate change?

#35
post #33

I retweeted this : https://twitter.com/theprincessxena/status/13794762308571791... The way to fight climate change is at the level of national or supernational legislation.

I agree that national and supernational legislation can have a very immediate impact on this.

I guess you also thought about getting involved more personally. What's your stance on this?

Re: Ask HN: What actions did you take against climate change?

#37

Many years ago I decided I'd rather walk or cycle than drive, and so moved to a neighborhood where that was possible. Haven't left yet.

I would guess that you live in the US? Do you mind sharing some of those neighborhoods or how to find them?

I live in a European city and here I would say that most neighborhoods enable you to just walk or cycle.

Re: Ask HN: What actions did you take against climate change?

#38
post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Makes sense. Regarding the stocks: anything that you are thinking of in particular? Might be a great, immediate way to have an impact, too.

I didn't but I looked it up out of interest. Here's some ideas to get us started! https://vegfaqs.com/vegan-companies-to-invest-in/

Great, thank you :)

Re: Ask HN: What actions did you take against climate change?

#39
post #23

- Watched "cowspiracy" ~2 yrs ago and other documentaries (like "seaspiracy" ~ 1 week ago) to question my food consumption. 4h invest - basically turned vegetarian (like 99,99%) in 2014 - joined avaaz.org to sign petitions. 30 mins per month invest - I'm a minimalist and avoid buying new stuff, avoid buying furniture altogether - Use the bike to get to work - did a sticker campaign in 2014 to raise awareness about ou…

Minimalism is the other one I'm looking at, for past decade or so. Not as far along as I'd like yet in terms of stuff, but consumption is way down. Clothes, equipment, etc. Making things work for longer, DIY repairs, primarily buying used goods. But the system is totally geared against all this. If someone or a group could reverse even parts of consumer culture it'd be a potentially huge win for the planet. And for p…

I agree that long-living products would be better for resource efficiency.

Which part of consumer culture would you like to change if you had a magic wand? e.g. which action or believe would you like to change?

My shot is that people would prefer subscriptions of long-living products because companies need some kind of cashflow but also an incentive for optimising efficiency.

Re: Ask HN: What actions did you take against climate change?

#40
If COVID has shown me anything, it is that humans will generally gravitate towards the selfish action. Buying up all the toilet paper in the UK as an example, even when it was generally known that we wouldn't run out. The point I'm making is that I don't think we can rely on individuals' actions to combat climate change.

Yes I know: "but if everyone did it then it will make a difference"... we are not seeing this on a large enough scale to make an impact.

Possible solutions: Technology, government policies, taxation.

HN folk: I guess working on the technology side of things could provide the greatest benefit?

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