[epistasis]

I'm in a lucky position where I can walk to work, bike for local shopping, buy an electric car for the few times that I go on trips, etc.

IMHO, the problem isn't as much individuals not choosing to do that, but a system that prevents these choices from ever being made.

Also, not all spending is equal; buying propane or gasoline or airline tickets are clearly worse than buying a share of community solar; or buying new insulation for your home, or building new high-density apartment buildings next to a train station.

I don't think that we will ever win over climate change by championing austerity; rather we need to champion change in the system, and that takes lots of spending.

Furthermore, we are now at a point that it's going to be absolutely necessary to start pulling CO2 out of the ocean or atmosphere and sequestering it. Without a whole bunch more prosperity and cheap energy, we will never be able to do that, so building a future with super cheap and abundant solar and wind energy is pretty much the only way I can imagine us avoiding > 2C climate change.

[agumonkey]

Yes the system was aimed at more consumption and more mileage. It's hard to unplug one self from this. For some it will be impossible even, to those well don't sweat it if you're stuck.

[epistasis]

I think that unplugging may not be enough, we need to smash the systems that disallow people from unplugging. My partial unplugging may let me feel slightly less guilty, but on the absolute scale it does nothing at all to help the climate. I can wash my hands a bit morally, but the world is none the better for it. So what have I done, really? Not much. The people who have done something are the people who have made solar super cheap, who have mode wind super cheap, those that are building the battery technology that will help get to a carbonless grid, and the politicians that have enabled the tech growth through tax subsidies. My personal contribution is nothing, and it makes me sad.

Our electrical grid is slightly behind pace for decarbonization, but nowhere near as far behind as all the rest of society.

The bad part of society that has my greatest attention lately is single family zoning; this necessitates massive energy use, massive car use, and disallows anybody from creating a low-energy alternative that has all the amenities that people need in order to live. Single family zoning should be illegal. Nobody should be prevented from building an apartment building next to a small grocery store. Big-box stores should be highly restricted, instead of highly restricting apartment buildings.

(apologies for the long rant!)