[pjc50]

Last time the Mossmorran flare went off ( https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/topics/c6wk2ml6gwzt/mossmorran-fl... ), I ran the numbers and estimated that it was consuming as much ethylene as one hundred plastic straws per second. I can't out-conserve a hundred foot high column of flame.

Individual behaviour is the weakest of possible pressures on inefficient processes. And as you point out it's a collective action problem - people aren't going to be the only one changing their behavior, that's obviously ineffective, they want a behavior change to be coerced on everyone at the same time so there aren't any free riders.

Largely it's a "yes and" situation; we have to push for everything, because we'll only get a tiny fraction of the changes we ask for.

[ZeroGravitas]

I agree with your general point, I just want to note one of my pet peeves, which is people talking about the straw thing as if it was ever intended to do anything but reduce discarded single use plastic items.

The framing if it not being a useful contribution to climate change appears to be used to undermine people's confidence that anything can be done about anything.

But we can and are making progress on plastic litter going into oceans and carbon intensity generally. Very slow progress in some cases but still, its not hopeless or impossible.

And yes, generally we should do the most impactful things first, and we generally are. Most of the eco "whataboutism" seems designed to derail rather than illuminate.

[lozenge]

It's used to let governments that aren't interested in being green, look green.

Here in the UK it's a slow drip of initiatives that catch the public eye. Microplastics, single use bags, straws, now they're looking at coffee stirrers, and bags again as the law had an obvious unintended consequence. I just know the next things will be plastic plates and some absurdly overcomplicated deposit scheme.

They'll also ban new ICE cars which will have a clear unintended consequence in driving people to upgrade their cars early for their "last ICE car", creating more manufacturing emissions. But it sounds good.

The "big stuff" goes ignored, in fact our current PM is contemptuous of the environment. There isn't going to be any action on meat, aviation... actually they're building new runways.

It's as if we are asking for work life balance and we get given our birthdays off. All PR and no actual progress.