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It's not systemic vs individual. It's both.
Unless you believe politicians will ever tax and remove subsidies from meat. I'm not holding my breath for that one.
this post was submitted on 03 Aug 2023
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Alright, lets get rid of gasoline and meat on a systemic level.
This is a false dichotomy.
You don’t need to all or nothing these.
You can greatly regulate the use of gasoline and provide viable alternatives (bike lanes, public transport, electric vehicles) that don’t disrupt society in the same way we can reduce meat consumption or use far more sustainable agriculture practices (less factory farming and more permaculture practices).
Yes this will result in things being more expensive and ‘line not going up’ as fast.
A plant based diet can reduce 75% of land use and cut 14.5% of emissions, then the freed up land can be used for rewilding.
So we really should go all out on ending meat consumption.
Going 0-100 is impossible. You need to find a compromise that people will actually agree with in a democracy.
I agree completely, which is why I'm a very strong proponent of sustainable urbanism and sustainable agriculture. Only thing I'll add is that reducing our car-dependent suburban sprawl will actually be good for the economy, not just the environment. Not only does the housing crisis knee-cap the economy (and the housing crisis is largely a consequence of our pursuit of car-dependent suburban sprawl), but car-dependent suburban sprawl is a fiscally unsustainable ponzi scheme. Building denser, more walkable and transit-oriented cities would save money, stymie the housing crisis, reduce inequality, and reduce emissions.
We can tax them into oblivion. Or at least stop subsidizing them as a start.
Here's a solution: force all new buildings to use a heat pump for heating and cooling.
Here's another: tax all private jet flights $2000 per trip
Think you missed a couple of zeroes off that tax number buddy.
Also heavily tax SUVs, maybe even impose a limitation on having only businesses buying SUVs with special permits justifying the need of one
Systemic? You mean corporations, specific nameable corporations, not some amorphous system.
Not necessarily. I, for one, mostly (i.e. at least a little bit >50%) blame the deliberately-low-density zoning code and early FHA policy (e.g. redlining and deliberately recommending car-centric development patterns).
Did Standard Oil and General Motors have a huge influence? Sure, but they didn't literally pass the laws.
I always assumed it was what was left of us after getting stepped on by the corporate behemoth if it were displeased by our peasant actions.
Sure, individual changes will not make nearly enough of a statistical difference. Lack of change in response to reality is however, morally abhorrent. Don't be morally abhorrent 🤷 Maybe your actions will even have an affect on other people, who while also individually don't make a statistical difference, make more than just you, and also makes fewer people surrounding you less morally abhorrent. You don't need a bunch of policy makers to tell you what is right and wrong. You're an adult. Do the right thing.
It's not about that. It's about actually trying to solve the problem which we know from hundreds of years of history, almost always has to happen at the governmental level
Yeah, I still make choices in my personal life to try to live as sustainably as is practical, including major choices like career path. But the only solution that will ever actually work to our systemic issues is good policy. Not everyone has the comfort or privilege of being able to choose sustainable options where they can, and there are many cases where there simply is no sustainable option. Groceries at the store? I doubt a "regenerative agriculture" label even exists in the vast majority of places, so good luck choosing the sustainable option there. The alternative might be becoming a homesteader and growing all your own food, but obviously that's not a solution for 99% of the population. We need policy to make there even be sustainable options in the first place, and more policy to make those sustainable options the preferred choice or maybe even the only choice.