I couldn't find a good place to fit this thought into my most recent log post, so I'll put it here instead. The curse of environmentalism is this: the world is big enough that you can't see the effects of your own actions, but small enough that you can see the effects of everyone else's.
Feb 25 · 2 months ago · 👍 Breebee, bsj38381, ingrix, honeyontoast · 🔥 1
13 Comments ↓
🚀 lars_the_bear · Feb 25 at 16:40:
I'd salute that, if you put it up a flagpole.
👻 darkghost · Feb 25 at 19:48:
As someone who has performed some outsized actions (unrelated to environmentalism) that I can see the effects of, I will tell you this: people are no damn good.
I wish people would just try their best to not pollute.
Instead, pretty much everyone pollutes shamelessly but some also make donations and speeches.
🚀 lars_the_bear · Feb 26 at 07:22:
Around my way, we all pollute shamefully. We've built a society in which pollution is more-or-less inevitable. We all know it, we all lament it, but there isn't enough room on Walden Pond for all of us.
👻 darkghost · Feb 26 at 10:44:
We like our creature comforts. This has been the coldest winter I can remember and I sure burned a lot of fossils not freezing to death. Unfortunately, that definitely caused pollution, in the extraction, processing, transportation, and consumption of those fossils. Snow after snow has ensured that ready energy sources like solar have been difficult to harvest, increasing dependency on these disposable energy sources. I then go to my lab where *everything* is single use disposable. It won't end up in the garbage patch but it must still be dealt with, generating more pollution. But I need money for those disposable energy sources.
🚀 lars_the_bear · Feb 26 at 14:35:
It's not only creature comforts, as important as those are to most of us. Before the industrial revolution, infant mortality was about 50%, and kids regularly died of tooth decay. To avoid f*cking up the planet, we have to accept a huge reduction in our level of health. It's inevitable in the long run, I think, but it's hardly a vote-winner.
To live is to pollute... There is a fundamental difference between buying a new car every year and keeping your family from freezing. I try to do what I can by not buying new things and clothing whenever possible, repairing what I can, and trying to be aware.
Also. not eating meat helps
🚀 lars_the_bear · Feb 26 at 16:22:
@stack : "There is a fundamental difference between buying a new car every year and keeping your family from freezing." There's a difference, for sure, but I'm not sure how fundamental it is. Rampant consumption and neglect of your family are opposite extremes, between which lies a huge area of contention.
I've met very few people who don't give a shirt about the effect they have on the natural world. People differ in their willingness to make their own lives difficult to reduce this impact.
Incindetally, I'm a vegan :)
I have a friend who thinks she's an environmentalist. I've witnessed her yell at a Chinese food waiter for using styrofoam containers. She also drives constantly (and way too fast) between her several real-estate holdings in different parts of the state and buys new clothes compulsively.
And then there is the Al Gore, creator of 'The Convenient Untruth', with electric consumption in megawatts per month at his palacial estate...
I am no environmentalist; I just do what I can.
👻 darkghost · Feb 26 at 18:35:
Of course the original post above applies even to Al Gore. His energy use is but a fart in a tornado. If he vanished and all the energy consumption he does with him, it wouldn't make a difference. You would need millions of Al Gores to disappear before it begins to move the needle.
Al Gore's electric bill is nothing compared to all the AI gore.
👻 darkghost · Feb 26 at 23:25:
Well now I know what my nightmares tonight will be