What simple changes should people do in their lives to make a positive impact on climate change?
I do believe the biggest impact would come from regulating large companies and billionaires, but it’s not one or the other.
Vote.
Wisely.
Voting is broken in US IMHO...
Corporations lobby and drive policies...
We the people clearly don't matter to the US of A ... We're just huminerals to them ; especially the "middle class"...
No disagreemnt, but at the same time, voting can still make the difference between "pretty fucked" and "totally fucked." And that's not nothing.
The middle class, during my lifetime, used to mean one income supported a family of four.
Now, even DINKs struggle.
This is the biggest one. Activism on the side would be good too, but that might not be simple depending on how far you go with it (a simple lawn sign does count!).
It's for the simple reason that most people will not deliberately sacrifice to decrease carbon footprint themselves, and need it to be legislated.
I don't think it's fair to put the blame on individuals not reducing their carbon footprints. It's big industries that are fucking the climate. (Oil being likely the biggest one.) And the solution isn't to incentivise individuals to bicycle more. It's to regulate industry to stop taking oil out of the ground.
The idea that the individual citizen is the problem and and the solution to climate change and other environmental issues is propaganda invented by industry to get the focus off of them. "We oil companies aren't the problem. You need to drive less." "We plastic manufacturers didn't put tons of plastic in the oceans. You need to recycle more."
"Voting with your dollars" is similarly a con.
The reason you vote (with your... you know... votes) is so that the administration that isn't going to gut the EPA gets the next term. And maybe they'll enforce regulations on special interests that actually make a positive difference in emissions.
This is the only suggestion that will make any difference
This and reducing flying is the best 'bang for your buck' in terms of individual actions imo. Even just starting by not eating beef is better than nothing.
This is your only option. Managing your carbon footprint sounds like a great idea in concept, but the entire concept was created and promoted by oil companies to distract us from where the real damage comes from. Worrying about your own impact is noble but if you're doing it to save the world you're on the wrong track.
BP Oil telling people how to be more environmentally friendly has got to be the most hypocritical bullshit I've ever heard of.
Tacking onto this, I recall a Climate Town episode where he discussed which bank you decide to use matters. Oil companies' biggest donors are banks that get to loan out your money.
Calm down there actual cannibal Shia LaBeouf.
Way to take some responsibility for your own impact.
The average billionaire lifestyle of extravagance creates about as much pollution as a business of reasonable size. Their year exceeds a hundred average lifetime carbon footprints. Thousands of lifetimes if you include construction’s environmental impact.
Agreed. What people don't realize is that if they were to actually follow those recommendations, then oil companies wouldn't be responsible for as much pollution. We can say it's the corporations that are doing it, but it's all of us that are keeping these corporations in business and buying the products that pollute. If we all took personal responsibility, the corporations 'level of output would decline. This is ALL about personal responsibility and it is infuriating to watch people say "well it's the corporations" all the time.
Ooh, ooh, I get their toes and lips!!
Wear a condom.
There is nothing you can do to reduce your carbon footprint that comes even close to having no or fewer children.
You can get rid of your car, stop eating meat, recycle as much as you can and so on, but the impact of that together is a fraction of the reduction you can achieve by simply not creampieing your gf/wife.
You’ll also save a ton of money and you don’t have to deal with any annoying kids so it’s a win/win all around.
Hmmm yes I will make sure to stop having sex with my great abundance of girlfriends
Yup, this is a fantastic side benifit to my absolutely not ever having kids.
Please stop listening to corporate propaganda on this subject. You have absolutely no personal responsibility to solve this problem. The idea that you have to is an invention from business. A way to make it a personal responsibility and not something businesses have to solve.
no raindrop feels responsible for the flood
Although you might feel like you don't have an impact, you are not blameless, when you buy and rely on things that harm the environment you create demand for them, and you make the companies that pollute more successful
Nah sorry. We are past that. Every company that provides good, affordable products causes more damage to the environment than we ever will.
We depend on elected officials to prevent this problem for us. We have organizations who’s specific job is to do this for us. See But now they are all in the pocket of the polluters.
We lost. It’s over. It’s never going back. Just enjoy your life while you’re here. Humans are shit. Have a drink and go to bed.
I 100% agree with you. All the carbon I save in my lifetime cannot compare to what's emitted by an airline company flying empty planes just to reserve their airport terminals. https://www.nationalgeographic.co.uk/travel/2022/04/the-scandal-of-ghost-flights-are-empty-planes-haunting-our-skies
That said, I can't save the world, but I can save my tiny corner of it. Maybe I'm just a yard fence against a dam breaking flood, but something in me compels me to try. I'm not gonna lose sleep over the tiniest shred of plastic I trash instead of recycle, but I will do my best.
OMFG
If no person does anything nothing changes.
Of course your own choices in isolation don't change much. But that's like saying voting doesn't do anything because a single vote doesn't matter. We all can make choices that add up through all of society.
No corporation will change if you’re still buying shit from them.
While I agree that businesses have way more direct impact and responsibilities, "it's about sending a message". If we as consumers put more priority on goods / foods that have less of a bad impact on climate change, corporations will follow that trend as well as that's where the money is.
We still have to hope that we're not misled by marketing teams too much, but if the global trend is in a specific direction it has more of a chance to contain better options. Just be aware that possibly most of your climate enhancing actions might still be bad/misled/hypocritical in hindsight, but it's better than if we don't take any action at all.
The only thing we can do is raise our chances.
Wear a condom.
Anytime you have a chance to vote, take it, and vote for whatever option will be most likely to reduce the overall emissions. In most cases, this will probably mean voting for programs/parties etc that oppose conservatism.
Oh imagine a majority of people consistently doing that. We could go somewhere with our efforts.
In the US, neither party is serious about stopping climate change. They are both controlled by big oil, big car, etc.
I agree the the democrats are not nearly serious enough about stopping climate change, but the republican party is actively hindering efforts and definitely worse for the plant in the long run.
Neither party being serious does not mean one isn't way worse than the other
There is ideological diversity within the democratic party, especially at the local level. As part of a representative democracy, the electorate needs to be engaged with their representatives. You should start looking closely at your most local representatives.
Public transport and bikes to avoid overusage of cars. Many people seem to make a big deal out of this but to me it seems reasonably simple.
This isn't really an option in the US. The fossil fuel and car industries colluded heavily to kill or limit public transit options through the country. Same with bike friendly infrastructure. We really do have to break up all the big corporations and tax, imprison, or eliminate the billionaires and multi multi millionaires to force them to change their behaviors.
Yep. My area technically has a county bus service, but it only visits each stop 3 or 4 times a day. Throw in the fact that even if you're lucky there's a "bike lane" that's about a meter wide and all the cars completely ignore. Just not at all an option
If only we could all rely on each other n our communities ( to share food and water ) , n if we could all go on a massive strike / protest all at once ... Maybe then we could get the government to listen to us... But that ain't happening... We're all too divided to act as one
And now with mass surveillance and AI; I figure we really don't stand a chance when 🪧 protesting...
I've no hope that things will get better... For Us or Them (other countries)... Global inequality is growing each year quickly
I often want to use public transport but the timetables and prices make it an absolute nonstarter.
100 companies/corporations are responsible for 71% of all greenhouse gas emissions. Unless the "simple changes" are "abolish capitalism and give these polluters the corporate death penalty" then there's jack shit you can do to have any appreciable impact beyond not having kids and convincing everyone you know to do the same. Because if the human race goes extinct there will be nobody left to pollute.
Honestly, I believe a big negative social reaction to yachting and private flights for the wealthy would have the most impact. You can't necessarily force people to not do things but you can create a negative backlash.
Eat vegan.
Where to find said vegan and will let me eat it or should I hunt the vegan?
Go vegan. Continue protesting in a way that actually helps, striking together, showing where the power actually is.
Vote for better policies and laws that force companies to be better as well.
Even if we improve ourselves as much as possible: We still need the products of big corps which only improve because of (1) laws or (2) when losing money.
Also, let all your politicians know in advance that this is what you will be doing.
We need them to know this is what we want.
"Ethical consumption" is fine, but have a very low impact: Most of environmental damage is related to corporations, not by population.
Information is key: To solve any problem, we need to understand it the best we can. So how climate change works? How human action is driving it? Who is responsible? And what are our options? Look for science communicators that reflect the scientific consensus, not the opinion of a small group.
Be aware of/with any "solutions" that is proposed by or also benefits big corporations and the billionaires that owns it. There is a lot of green-washing shit around.
Vote for politicians that have a solid green agenda. Votes matter, but in capitalism, it is not enough. The capitalist system is built to maximize profit over everything else, that's what will happen if there's nothing stopping it to happen. So political education and engagement makes difference.
Don't fly.
Here are some of the things we are doing that to us, don't feel like sacrifices:
But at the end of the day, you have to remember that you are just one person. Unless corpos decide to make changes, likely nothing we do will truly matter... I do all of these things, because it makes me feel better. Gardening is therapeutic, and you get amazing food out of it. Plus it is a very valuable skill to have, especially given everything happening in the world.
¯(ツ)_/¯ People don't want to hear that they shouldn't have kids
I agree with a lot of people that suggest voting and holding your representatives accountable and the mass pollutors responsible will be the most important part but I also think there's no reason not to lead by example in this situation. Reduce your carbon usage when you can by buying fewer consumer goods, eating less meat, avoiding single use products, and more frequently using public transportation, walking and cycling to get around.
Read anarchist philosophy
The biggest effects will come from reducing your carbon footprint. Think about what activities generate the most CO2 and what you can cut. For example, meat production is a big CO2 producer. Reducing/eliminating red meet from your diet will reduce your carbon footprint.
Obviously, driving is another CO2 producer. If you can bike or walk as much as you can.
Home cooking/heating is another big source of carbon emissions. You can wear sweatshirts/blankets in the winter and keep your house cold (64-68 F?) and use fans in the summer instead of AC.
Reusing/recycle also comes up as a possible way to reduce CO2 emissions, but I’m not familiar with the net effect on your CO2 of recycling. Reusing makes sense though.
personal vehicles are the single largest source of co2 emissions in the US.
No they're not - having a kid in an overpopulated world is 2 orders of magnitude worse in the USA.
Human overpopulation is not only the biggest contributor to push us over climate-change tipping-points, it's also the root cause of almost all other causes. It's also the root cause of unsustainable habitat loss and pollution. It's also the root cause of factory farming and industrial fishing, which causes more pain and suffering every year than all other atrocities ever committed in all of history combined.
If you can't ride a bicycle, go out of your way to make riding safer for others by never using an idiot brick behind the wheel, and driving safely. You are not important on the road. You are not an exception under any circumstances. You always need to park in a parking space. You never have a right to double park. Your special situation is a dilution of your own invention. Your delay or rush is your own incompetence and you are the only one to blame. Your 10 seconds or even your 5 minutes is not more important than someone's life. Back roads are not your secret, an alternative highway, or a racetrack. Drive like the airbag is really a dagger pointed directly at your chest because your car is just as deadly and just as dangerous to everyone else. Pedestrians, including cyclists always ALWAYS have the right of way. No matter how prejudice you are and how anger this makes you, you WILL lose in court, and likely everything you own, as hitting a pedestrian doesn't have the same limitations as hitting another vehicle; your liability insurance won't even remotely cover this issue. I was disabled while riding to work in 2014; by someone who double parked; then made a sudden u-turn directly into another car and nearly killed me with a broken neck and back. Stupid drivers should have lethal or at least life changing consequences. "Safe" cars create stupid drivers. There is no effective low bar for a drivers license. The number of times a person can take the test is infinite. There is no effective white and blue collar alternative public transit system in the USA outside of Manhattan. Buses are not remotely professionally viable, and trains like in SoCal have inflexible, sparse schedules that just don't work in the real world. I have tried them. There must be an efficient nearly point to point method of transit every 15 minutes 24/7-365 or you work for your transportation not for your job.
I put solar panels on my roof a few years ago. Not a complete solution but I do believe it makes a difference. Also slowly moving to all electric appliances. I now have an induction range instead of gas. And all energy star appliances.
I hope my next vehicle will be an EV. When my gas mower dies I'll buy electric.
I am starting the ball rolling on better insulating my 1950s house.
All incremental improvements, nothing too radical.
Eat less or no meat probably. Enough people drive down meat demand would eventually lead to cattle reduction and less land for grazing.
I only drink dear diary. 🦌
This. Since I gained access: I only buy local, hormone free, open pastured, humanly treated meat. It's expensive as hell so I can only afford to eat smaller portions. It costs what it should cost.
Well said.
We've started doing this too. Tastes better and no leftovers that get thrown away.
Eating local meat is also a good option, especially with many cattle farms beginning to capture methane and become greener.
Do you only mean beef or all meat?
Beef is the worst, but all meat really