151–160 of 160 posts
Have/raise multiple kids. High-income, high-education parents generally have similar children, which makes them disproportionately likely to live low-consumption lifestyles and to do work that is important to future societal problems like climate problems (future in that obviously the ramp for this is decades long.)
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Nope, an individual not eating meat doesn't affect the bigger picture in the slightest meaningful way. It accomplishes 0 when framed in terms of any end goal. And meat is one of the things that I love in life. I'll continue to be honest.
What about at scale? Meaning many individuals?
At that scale it really doesn't matter at all. It's a percentage of a percentage. The reverse of orders of magnitudes.
I guess when you are running a G20 country let me know and then at that point I would still say you're in for a struggle. I won't hold my breath.
So yeah. Your and my individual actions don't mean the slightest thing for climate change regardless of how you frame it. I'm sorry if that narrative doesn't make you feel good.
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What about at scale? Meaning many individuals?
Let's say it was a million individuals you were directly controlling (whereas in reality I doubt you could effect the eating habits of more than 2 or 3, but let's say a million) At that scale it really doesn't matter at all. It's a percentage of a percentage. The reverse of orders of magnitudes. I guess when you are running a G20 country let me know and then at that point I would still say you're in for a struggle. I…
Looks like you do agree that at real scale it would have an impact. But whether you're an individual or a G20 leader, none of what we do matters?
I do agree we're locked into a web of incentives that discourages us from making sustainable choices. It's not any single person's fault. A few individuals giving up meat won't slow down climate change. At the same time, consuming more and more meat like we do now certainly helps accelerate it. Not to mention what we eat is only a small part of the equation. Now we're looking at changing our behaviours in many other areas too.
It's a predicament indeed. What can people actually do? They can continue business as usual, or worse, double down and consume even more, or they can change their behaviour. Each action is a vote. Just like in elections, one vote doesn't matter, a lot of votes do.
Yes it may not matter. Yes they might be hypocrites and just doing it to make their egos feel good. Or maybe they just want to be more compassionate and do what they can to contribute no matter how small. And in a violent world like ours, if there are people wanting to make compassionate choices, we should encourage them.
Ignore the crunchy comments saying don't eat meat, don't have kids, and don't drive. You have no impact as a consumer or influencer. What you can do is: * a) find someone working on climate change, and help write software for them part-time as a volunteer * b) brainstorm an idea for a site/app, and build it yourself (and of course post it to HN) * c) quit your job, join an organization focused on climate change, and…
Not sure why not having kid is such controversial. I guess people just can't be not selfish, they will find any excuse. People will do anything that does not change their lifestyle, basically all of which are useless compared to what is going on in climate crisis. Not having kid is the most effective thing anyone can do. You can just adopt instead, raise them to be ethical. It should not be so controversial. You can…
On the one hand, it is a very effective way to reduce your carbon footprint if you can do it. On the other hand, for many people it conflicts with one of the most basic human desires, which is life-defining for lots of the population.
As an analogy, if you asked people to be celibate you could guarantee that no new babies would come along even if birth-control-methods failed; a huge net positive! Despite that, sex is a basic human experience that many see as integral to their vision of a life, and it'd be controversial to seemingly impose that restriction on others.
tl;dr: no controversy in you doing you, sometimes controversy in you asking others to similarly do you
Climate change can't be fought on a personal level. That's just propaganda to shift responsibility onto the individual consumer and there are plenty of bleeding hearts out there that eat it up and conjure up guilt for something out of their control on a macro level
Fine, but a cultural shift away from eating meat for 3 meals a day would have a big impact and how does that happen except at an individual level?
Climate change can't be fought on a personal level. That's just propaganda to shift responsibility onto the individual consumer and there are plenty of bleeding hearts out there that eat it up and conjure up guilt for something out of their control on a macro level
>That's just propaganda to shift responsibility onto the individual consumer But it's the individual consumer that's ultimately responsible for all of the emissions? Corporations aren't emitting carbon for their own enjoyment.
> Just 100 of all the hundreds of thousands of companies in the world have been responsible for 71% of the global GHG emissions that cause global warming since 1998, according to The Carbon Majors Database, a report recently published by the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP)...
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My cousin installs solar panels mostly for SMB's manufacturing plants or warehouses with large roof space. His company pays them either 1) rent for the roof or 2) share the revenue on electricity sold. This kind of business is popular in my country where we get lots of sun shine and lots of SMBs. Interested in hearing more about the idea you are vetting.
In some states, there are solar farms that people and businesses can "subscribe" to that allow them to purchase solar credits that they can use to reduce their own energy bills. The way these credits are passed are through something called virtual net metering. My idea is to allow homeowners to sell their excess inventory using virtual net metering. At least in NY, energy companies buy the excess solar inventory from…