[condercet]

I'm scared and feel totally powerless. Everyone around me who I've talked to about this either feels the same or thinks its a complete hoax.

The whole habitable planet thing was nice while it lasted.

But seriously, does anyone have any suggestions on how a software engineer can make any sort of meaningful impact on this? Or even groups of software engineers, as many of the people here feel similarly. This is a problem that must be solved.

[dillon]

Software engineer here. I wouldn't necessarily say this is specific to software engineers. But I do think individuals can make an impact in many ways. Using your money to purchase products that are free of plastic and is sustainably made is one way.

Another action people can take is to refuse working for an employer who doesn't take sustainability seriously or is an obvious polluter. I recently switched jobs from a place that put API's in front of warehousing, logistics, and fulfillment. They did not take sustainably seriously. Tons of plastic packaging and inefficient warehouses.

I'm now at a retailer that is extremely conscious of sustainability. Their warehouses and stores are all 100% carbon neutral and are starting to divert 90%+ of all waste from ending up in landfills. Data centers are also carbon neutral. Sustainability decisions ARE business decisions. In my experience, I've seen most businesses separate sustainability and business. It's refreshing to be somewhere that molds the two together. I wish more businesses took this approach.

If you are interested in making an impact then do some research on the company before your next interview. At the end of interviews they give you the opportunity to ask questions. Ask about sustainability and see what their reaction is.

[chillwaves]

I think it's misguided to talk up individual action over government regulation. I'm sure it feels nice to "do the right thing" but it's not impactful. In some cases, it frees up resources to be further wasted by the problematic % of people who just don't give a damn.

My suggestion is always to elect better politicians and write better laws.

[esotericn]

You can do both.

[chillwaves]

The focus belongs on government regulation and smart polices. Example: the current landscape of recycling in America is a complete scam for the most part, outside of aluminum cans.

Personal behavioral changes will not impact on the scale required.

[rabidrat]

> refuse working for an employer who doesn't take sustainability seriously

I hear this a lot, and I have to wonder, what's the end-game here? To boycott the business on the employment side, so that they can't do effective work and eventually have to shutdown the company? Or maybe induce enough hiring pain they'll be forced to change their unsustainable practices to be able to attract talent?

[esotericn]

Ultimately you are removing one labourer from the pool that is willing to contribute towards unsustainable practices.

The aggregate effect, assuming that you're a competent developer, is that these businesses are less efficient.

Ignoring that, it's good for your own soul to not do things you think are bad.

[perfunctory]

It took me a long time to accept it but software engineers cannot make any difference. The best way to stop feeling totally powerless is to rebel against the status quo. e.g. http://xrebellion.org. Find your local group and join them. You'll start feeling better. I promise.

[saidajigumi]

Ultimately this comes down to influencing public policy to really move the needle – something that very few individuals have a particular competency in. Policy, because it can influence far far more people than active individual choices (most of which are just easy defaults), and because it has access to a level of influence that individuals simply do not E.g. industrial and manufacturing processes – which may or may not be visible in the "marketplace" and can a priori constrain what individual choices might even exist.

And therein lies the rub: individuals by the numbers don't have competency at the policy level because that's an artifact of collaboration and organization.

Most of us don't and can't work at the scope of policy. Modern society puts interested individuals at a huge disadvantage here. E.g. it's far, far easier for even a relatively small business to support someone in part- or full- time policy related efforts. Lobbying, marketing, supporting candidates, etc. Large companies may have entire divisions dedicated to such. The "rest" of us largely have to work for those entities for a living, don't have the required expertise, don't have the luxury of spending hours a week on policy change, and/or don't even have the spare income to donate to a suitable policy organization to act in our proxy, if one even exists.

Note: I don't think the above spells gloom and doom. Instead, I think this line of thinking is part of an growing awareness, a wake-up-call: that society will need to change if humanity is to adapt and survive.

[khawkins]

How did your line of thinking go from "scientists find trace amounts of plastics in snow" to "the planet will soon be uninhabitable"? What makes this sort of apocalyptic thinking any more rational than a doomsday cult?

[esotericn]

We're either accelerating, or just continuing, our polluting processes year on year.

The result of that can be that one decade, everything looks sort of fine, and then the next, oops - it's all fucked.

Anything we do that results in visibiity at a global environmental level requires caution, because whilst we can change it inadvertently over a period of mere decades, restoration may require millenia.

[khawkins]

Who's we? The west has been scaling back polluting processes year after year. The vast majority of plastic in the ocean comes from Asia and Africa, and the west is talking about eliminating plastic straws. The west is talking about eliminating coal power plants and many Asian coal plants don't even scrub the exhaust adequately.

Why are we worried about trivial things which we can barely detect when there are places like Haiti where people, right now, live in squalor? Again, you're worried about something you don't understand and can't actually predict when there are real things that we know about but won't do anything about.

[slacka]

We are guinea pigs in a worldwide experiment on microplastics, and I fear it will turn out worse for us than our grandparents with asbestos.

However, you're not powerless. Personally, cook your food in metal and try to drink out of glass and metal. For the world, work hard and save up. As a SW engineer, you should be able to save up. Put some of your money into organizations that are trying to save the environment. Donate some money to politicians that recognize these threats.

[Gibbon1]

Yeah personal action isn't pointless, but it's probably only gets us 20% of the way there. 20% isn't nothing tho.

What I've been lead to believe is the elephant in the room vis micro-plastics is clothing. A lot ends up in rivers and oceans via waste water. Check your dry lint trap lately? That's the big stuff. All the micro stuff ends up down the drain or in the air.

Other than going full naked hippy how are you supposed to deal with that on a personal level?

[ridgeguy]

Is it known whether clothing generates a large fraction of microplastics? If so, switching to cotton and other non-synthetic materials might make a difference.

[scottlocklin]

Known: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/nov/22/tyres-an...

Stop wearing shitty clothes.

I don't know why this is remotely controversial or unknown; somehow people imagine the plastic bottle they drank from, or the plastic bag they stored their lunchtime sammich in, will instantly atomize into micron sized particles which snow on the arctic. No. Micron sized particles of plastic come from micron sized fibers in your goddamned cheap "high tech" polyester hoodie (and dipshits burning rubber).

If programmers really want to do their bit on this issue; start wearing a wool suit, cotton shirt and silk necktie.

[labawi]

Note the link mentions tire abrasion not burning.

By their estimate, roadside tire grind results in more microplastics in waterways than clothing, lost plastic pellets and building paint combined.

[_jahh]

natural fibers?

[RcouF1uZ4gsC]

>The whole habitable planet thing was nice while it lasted.

The truth is that the planet has been much better for the median human than it was 200 years ago, and is still likely to be better for the median human 200 years in the future compared to the past.

Yes, we have more problems, but we have much better tools of dealing with problems including electricity, communication, transportation, heating, cooling, medicines, modern agriculture, GMO, CRISPER.

[landonxjames]

There are tons of resources out there about going zero waste and you can implement their suggestions to whatever level you desire. I think the biggest is just avoiding single use plastics in favor of buying in bulk.

https://www.goingzerowaste.com/

[defterGoose]

Gee, I felt like the first part of your comment was serious enough. (No really, I feel the same: scared).

Short answer though is no, this is a hardware problem. Best thing we can hope to do is force societal change via votes from the upcoming generations. No one who didn't live with this issue as a constant din in their life (i.e. boomers) is going to be able to make the hard lifestyle sacrifices/reimaginings that it will take. I'm just getting myself settled into adulthood now (early thirties) and I worry that we're too far gone and divided already.

[guerrilla]

"This September, millions of us will walk out of our workplaces and homes to join young climate strikers on the streets and demand an end to the age of fossil fuels.

Our house is on fire — let’s act like it. We demand climate justice for everyone."

https://globalclimatestrike.net/

[yifanl]

It would take some specialist knowledge on human biology, but you could model the impacts of microplastics on human health and present it to help the case of easing off plastic use.

I have other ideas, but those involve a somewhat atypical set of morals, so maybe not good to talk out on a public forum.

[anigbrowl]

Write code to support radical causes, groups, or infrastructure. Or study existing capitalistic infrastructure and use your engineering skills to shine a light on how it works, whether that's discovering symbiotic financial relationships, illuminating lines of physical supply, or identifying logistical pain points.

Sure, recycle, be a thoughtful consumer, write your representatives, but direct action gets the goods. Look into alternative approaches to governance and autonomous political structures too. There are lots of ideas and projects floating around that could benefit from a technical assist, and (sort of like Linux) you can just show up and start doing it, just be open to advice and suggestions along the way.