This reply misunderstands the fundamentals of market economics. If we, the consumers, start making the global climate more of a factor in our purchasing decisions, that will directly affect what gets produced in a capitalist system. Not trying to absolve these corporations of responsibility for the problems they’ve caused, just saying that if enough people start taking the bus/train instead of driving or substituting meats for plant based foods, we can have a significant impact. Of course the best thing we can do is vote to get ignorant climate science deniers out of office.
IIRC the study that the "X% of companies are responsible for X% emissions" is somewhat misleading. For example they use the combined output of everyone's car exhaust and attribute that to the major oil companies since they provide the gas. Not saying that large corporations and the wealthy in general contributing to climate change exponentially more than the average person, but its misleading to say that as an individual it doesn't matter if we try to use less energy.
Ok CNN. I'll follow your lead and start using public transportation.
That just involves me leaving my house at 4am and driving 9 minutes to the local bus stop, then take a bus ride for 37 min, transfer from there to another bus for another 19 min ride, transfer to another bus and ride for an hour, then either call an Uber for a 3 min ride or I can walk for 30 minutes to reach my workplace.
Or... I can just drive and reach my workplace in 40min.
I would love to use public transportation, and when I lived in Japan that's all I ever used, which I much preferred to a car.
America first needs to get serious about establishing actual reliable and accessible transportation in order for more people to use it.
This is such a fucking stupid argument to make.
The reason airlines make x% of CO2 emissions is because people want to fly, they're an airline, and there is no emissions free way to power a plane.
The reason the plastic company makes x billions of plastic sporks every year is because I want a spoon to eat my Taco Bell Nachos in my car. They're not making all the plastic pollution because they just hate the Earth.
They're not cartoon villains like in Captain Planet that pollute just to make pollution.
Corporations create the heat and cooling, build the cars and airplanes, and raise the meat for... wait for it... consumers. These things go hand in hand. Asking people to make changes to their lifestyles that will help the environment IS demanding the corporations to stop producing so much pollution. No one wants to take the blame.
When the world is on fire, no one will care, but the idea that corporations are somehow a separate entity from the consumers/individuals that line their pockets with profits is equally irresponsible. It does come down to daily choice, because the corporations follow demand. But no one wants to suffer the inconvenience of changing their lifestyle, so we blame the corporations that we then buy gas, electricity, meat, and cars from. It's blindingly dumb from either direction.
Spiderman points at Spiderman.
Note that the IPCC acknowledges that no one is paying the true cost of energy or food. You could decapitate all corporate executives, and, if we truly wanted to pay the environmental costs of heating, cooling, and food, all prices would go up. If you think things are hard now, give it a decade. Prices for everyone for everything will go up. You could kill all the rich people on the planet, and it wouldn't change that fact, and it wouldn't suddenly make the environment sound. It truly does come down to fundamental lifestyle changes that none of us want to enact.
You cannot eat money.
And my favorite tidbit not included here is how much pollution the US military causes. We know it's off the charts BUT they're allowed to operate with zero oversight and accountability regarding the bugfuck amount of pollution and wrecked ecosystems that military exercises have caused. We don't even know for sure how bad they are but you just look at how much fuel an single idling M1 tank uses and it's insane
A tank will need approximately 300 gallons every eight hours; this will vary depending on mission, terrain, and weather. A single tank takes 10 minutes to refuel. Refueling and rearming of a tank platoon--four tanks--is approximately 30 minutes under ideal conditions. 0.6 miles per gallon.
It's pretty accepted that the US military is the worst polluter on earth, but this never gets brought up
It's so strange to see all the comments here defending CNN of all things.
Imagine a game where you can buy sustainable, ethically sourced resources for $5 and unethically sourced resources for $3. The manual tells you it's nice of you to buy ethically sourced but there's no governmentally enforced consequences. Which ones are you going to buy as a consumer?
Now worse, which ones are you going to buy as a downstream corp CEO? Your shareholders demand maximum profit and you are required to give them maximum profit. Justifying that you're "doing your part" for the environment gets you thrown out as CEO.
At the end of this game, it's cheaper, and necessary, to buy the shit that kills us all.
People unironically saying we're all to blame. No shit, the system is designed so we are all complicit. It takes authoritative intervention to prevent corps from using and selling unethical and unsustainable products. You could also tax it for things like carbon emissions
What an absolutely tonedeaf argument from CNN.
It's both really.
Finger pointing at corporations while doing nothing may not be as bad as corps finger pointing at us while doing nothing. But it's still bad.
Everyone needs to make an effort on this.
Hoping corporations will somehow grow a conscience isn't accomplishing anything.
Imagine if nearly everyone was using public transit instead of voting out politicians because gas prices got a little too high. That might make the corps think there was more money in green energy than drilling up more oil.
Corporations are not going to fix the problem out of the goodness of their hearts no matter how much people whine about it. It's only going to happen when voters (and consumers) demand it.
Strange how people can be so oblivious as to the role they play in the consumption of energy and materials...
I've recently started to believe that the only way climate change is going to end is if a very, very large percentage of the human population dies off very quickly... like... 70-80% or more. One billion people still seems like too many.
also don't forget to pee in the shower guys
This is just a fact, and since media outlets never mention it you can tell who they are in the pocket of (the large corp advertisers)
BUT MAH PROFITS!! WON'T SOMEBODY PLEASE THINK OF MAH CORPORATE PROFITS????
I mean... I'll contribute and do my part because I do care, and that's the type of person I am, but we do need regulation in place for the top contributors to global warming and pollution, which are corporations and celebrities.
Plus, it's bullshit to say that you should take a bus or train or bike or whatever instead of a car when you have disgusting car-centric infrastructure that forces you to drive.
I'd be happy to switch to a smart thermostat if they weren't all so privacy-invading. Nest, the most popular one, is owned by Google, and there's no Google in my home. I'm completely deGoogled and will keep it that way.
Okay great, if I live anywhere besides NYC, where's my damn train for transport? Oh right its nonexistent. I'd love to take a train but the people that run this shithole say its too expensive and continue to pave more roads! Wow I love living here where my government continues to listen to big oil and destroy the planet in the process!!
I look up train routes (and sometimes bus)everytime I'm going more than 80 miles or so. Guess how many times I've found one that will get me where I'm going? I'll give you a hint, it's zero.
the oceans are rising, and so are we!
Those companies are emitting to subsidize your lifestyle.
Nah it's the sudden decline of our lovable swashbuckling seafaring pirates
It's CNN. Need I say more?
They charge me for plastic bags and when I say I need one they chastise me using their boilerplate line supplied by their corporate.
Then a loader truck came to unload things, with huge stack of things covered in styrofoam and wrapped in plastic sheets.
I wish I could repeat the line back. However, I am a known government employee in the area, so I decided to not fuck around and find out.
For me, I only drive 1-2 days a week, tops.
Yeah, we do the smart thermostat thing... but also...
We put up solar panels. We generate enough of our own electricity to cover the house and feed back credits to the grid.
Our electric bill is about $13 a month now to cover taxes and fees.
This has been reposted so many times, good lord.
SEO. We live in a world of pure SEO internet.
Yes, climate change can only be tackled of it requires no personal sacrifice from me. 🤡
Definitionally not journalistic malpractice because words have meanings. Carry on.
Can you imagine what would happen if you... stopped buying those products that those companies are selling that are responsible for the emissions? Nah, that's crazy talk.
