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Public opinion has almost nothing to do with government policy. They will continue to kill us all, as long as there’s a financial incentive.
Financial incentive has surprisingly little to do with capitalist/government actions. They will gladly lose billions as long as it means lower class people suffer, and they will pay billions to bail out billionaire friends that are in a tough spot.
I was talking about the financial incentive for the oil industry. As long as there’s a financial incentive for them, the government will continue to do nothing to stop climate change.
I know we’re in the majority in the US but our system lets the minority win.
Calling bullshit on this oft repeated lie, most people want Schrödinger’s action.
To have effective action, you’d need to ban flying, ban cruise ships, ban private cars , ban petrol lawn equipment, ban recreational offroad vehicles, and recreational boating, ban meat eating pets, ban advertising, ban large houses, make being a billionaire a criminal offence etc
What most people mean is, slap up a couple solar panels and wind turbines and be done with it, which makes it worse, like using an aspirin for li g cancer and saying you’ve taken action and the problems solved !
Climate change is a demand side and human behavioural issue. To know what people really want, look to voting results, the rest of it is just bullshit.
IMO, interestingly, John Kenneth Galbraith touched on some of the reasons why in his Essay “The culture of contentment”.
Don’t let perfect get in the way of good.
The fact you say ban advertising probably shows you have gone a bit on the extreme side. Ban cruise ships? If you shift all recreational air travel to cruise travel, it’ll offset a big chunk of impact. Remove petrol cars, private jets, electrify rail, improve public transport, invest in solar, wind, geothermal, tidal, nuclear, move consumption from red meat to white meat and you’ll take a big chunk out of it, review, and take further steps if needed.
You seem to have swallowed the propaganda that consumers are responsible, not corporations. You let them off the hook and lost faith. What follows is resignation that we fail and no further steps. That’s failure. We have to turn this ship around and the turning circle is big, let’s start now and put a full lock on.
People used plastic straws, then they replaced with paper. Less single use plastic heading to landfill. Did consumer change anything? No. The law changed, companies adapted and people through the same actions cut environmental impact, if just by a small amount. Demand side argument does not stand well. It plays a factor, but it isn’t the only one.
