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by bradleyjg 1778 days ago
> ordinary people are tasked with saving the planet

I can’t read minds, but my sense is that much of what individuals are asked to do is knowingly conservation theater. If you want to put a positive spin on that, you can say it makes them feel more committed to supporting the regulatory changes necessary by building a sense of shared sacrifice. The cynical version writes itself.
2 comments
masklinn 1778 days ago
> I can’t read minds, but my sense is that much of what individuals are asked to do is knowingly conservation theater.

Oh it's not just conservation theatre, it's also cynical responsibilities shifting: by convincing everyone that the public at large is to blame, corporations get off scot-free

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cx42net 1767 days ago
There was a leak from Exxon (always them) (source: https://www.vox.com/22429551/climate-change-crisis-exxonmobi...) ? That showed they made campaigns to push the responsibility to the public.

We can do all the efforts we can, if the big corps don't act properly, it will be for nothing.

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whymauri 1778 days ago
My house recently started vigorously composting. I can't help but wonder how many centuries of daily composting we would need to offset the climate impact of the plastic composting bin, composable bags, and composting infrastructure. Feels good, but no impact. Sigh.
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drusepth 1778 days ago
Yeah, I don't know if it's true (which is a separate problem in itself!), but I was always taught in school _not_ to recycle because the infrastructure around consumer recycling (outside of large cities) did significantly more harm than good.
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FooHentai 1778 days ago
The truth is 'it's complicated' and that cuts both ways. If you have the time, assessing what is and isn't worth doing based on your location is a better approach than just blanket recycling=bad or recycling=good.

For example, at-home recycling of organic waste by composting? Excellent. Municipal glass and metal recycling? Generally a net positive. Plastics recycling in the boonies? More of an energy waste than useful, in many cases the 'least worst' place for that material is landfill.

The other end of the consumption pipeline is where we should be focused IMO. If we nail that, the tail-end stuff becomes a much smaller issue as a matter of course.

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asdff 1778 days ago
The impact will be felt on your garden yields though. Vermipost might as well be a performance enhancing drug.
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