this post was submitted on 06 Oct 2023
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Be careful with that statement because that's what Oil is pushing now:
The goal is ensuring people do not require action from their political representatives, be it by ignorance or by resigning.
The other prong of attack is blaming consumers/individuals. This is useful for them as it keeps those that want action busy (recycling, planting trees, using bikes, buying EVs or using trains, avoiding plastic, etc.) and shifts blame on to the rest.
Not that any of those actions are bad, but aren't at the core of the problem, like blaming someone for wasting water for taking a shower while you have an olympic pool.
https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20220504-why-the-wrong-people-are-blamed-for-climate-change
https://www.yesmagazine.org/environment/2022/01/31/climate-change-fossil-fuel-industry-individual-responsibility
Climate Town - The Troll Army of Big Oil
You know what is also harmful propaganda?
To shift the entire blame on some faceless companies or politicians, or "rich people", ignoring that you're part of the rich people on this planet. You all are the people those companies produce their shit for. You all are the people who vote the people responsible for their inaction into power. You all are who shun and ridicule all the green parties, politicians and activists.
You can continue to do that, but you only do it so you can continue to drive your cars, to continue to buy cheap products from countries like China, to continue to consume highly polluting animal produce on a daily basis, to continue to uphold your lavish lifestyle while actual poor people have fuck all (including barely any emissions).
Your type of comment is nothing but greenwashing too and I'd not be surprised if some leaks in a few years come out that will back up the fact that oil companies were pushing for that too.
I agree with your comment partially: we need to change how we live, but in some occasions a large part of us are forced to a choice.
My point is that if we desire change we need to work it through grassroots movements, volunteering and being vocal about it, even if it's just a local thing.
Yes, we're richer than most and we're probably voting the wrong people, but don't blame the cows for being in a pen.
We're not going to change anything of this through grassroots movements. We need very big and very drastic changes at this stage. Like, look at a global co2 emissions chart. It goes up continuously, with a small sharp dip during covid. Remember what this did to our economies and how much it pissed off voters? However, this fall during that time would have to continue all the way to 2035 for us to actually meet our climate targets.
And your cows, pen or not, are contributing massively with their methane emissions. Cow & sheep produce are some of the worst climate killers.
This is one of the big problems. Even those who claim to be aware of the issue aren't actually. So now the only ones who are, are shunned & seen as "doomers" and whatnot. And that's ultimately why I've given up. People don't want to change, which means to me they'll have to suffer through all the consequences of it.
So what I happen to have the same stance as the oil industry?
I consistently try to vote against politics who are not doing anything for the environment.
I didn't vote initially for Macron because he barely does anything for the environment but then I had to choose between Marine Le Pen (far right and often considered as racist) or Macron. Both of them really bad to fight against climate change.
In my country at least, you only have an illusion of democracy with our current system. And Macron works only on announcement that they carefully draw back a few months later when they already have benefited from the political gains of announcing yet another ambitious climate plan.
Maybe the oil industry says this is lost because they know they control fully the politics in power.
Again, I do as much on my level and I'm about to embark in a 10h train journey across France to avoid taking a 2h flight. I'm trying. I'm just saying we are delaying the inevitable which is on its own already a good thing.
But this mechanically cannot work. Our president is elected for 5 years and has no reason to lose votes for something that will be an issue for the next generations. And we cannot elect people who care about the environment because the populist far right parties are too strong right now and gathering support through xenophobia and racism.
Do your best for the environment but just keep in mind that we need to prepare for the worst for the next generations. I think we are doing a disservice to them to tell them we are actively trying to fix climate change when the CO2 emissions are very clearly increasing.
Oil subsidies have never been higher. It's fucked up.
Everyone feels this way, or at least most people. If there was a sane green party in your country, mine or elsewhere it will get a majority easily (though would have to fight disinformation with tooth and nail).
I've got kids, and I felt like you. Felt that we're screwing their world to a tipping point and leaving them in a boring mad max-like situation.
But at the same time, the number of brilliant scientists, engineers and common people that are trying their best helping us out of this mess are the largest ever.
Maybe we won't apply enough change that it matters, but while we're at it, we should try our best. And I'm not talking about the personal responsibility bullshit companies want us to believe, but social action.
Do you want change? Look for local groups that promote it and volunteer.
Here is an alternative Piped link(s):
Climate Town - The Troll Army of Big Oil
Piped is a privacy-respecting open-source alternative frontend to YouTube.
I'm open-source; check me out at GitHub.