[IanSanders]

I personally don't have a strong opinion here but do feel like most people lose track of the global picture yet get fixated on individual problems. I think this happens because we don't have a measure of the impact of our activity, we just vaguely feel like some actions are "good" and some "bad".

Corny example, recycling is considered "good", yet still has a net negative impact, but for most people it's enough to feel good and stop worrying.

Very few things are strictly necessary, but many are definitely unnecessary: perverted maximisation of profits, planned obsolescence, avoidable food waste etc. Tech example: avoidable software bloat causing global increase in energy consumption.