[ZeroGravitas]

So, I still don't like Gates for various historical reasons.

Even some of his climate stuff annoys me.

But, it's highly likely that if you ranked the whole human race on how much they'd done to reduce climate change, he may well be at the top.

So if it's about "doing his share" then he's probably doing okay.

But regardless, I don't want people to stop flying, I want them to stop releasing fossil C02 in the air because it's inefficient. Inefficiencies on an individual scale don't matter, inefficiencies on a civilization wide scale add up quickly.

I don't see how flying, or doing any other rich person thing, reduces his credibility. Unless you believe dealing with climate change is going to make us all poorer, which it isn't.

If you're really all about hating rich people, then there's lots of "climate justice" projects aiming to help poor people and carbon taxes that replace regressive taxes would be a good thing to champion.

[id]

I don't hate him for being rich, I simply want him to stop polluting excessively. It would help the climate and his message alike.

And I don't buy that you can do your share by talking one way and doing the exact opposite privately. It's like being an animal rights advocate who (openly) tortures animals in their free time. Simply doesn't work that way, even if you save more animals than you torture.

[8note]

If he releases 100 tons, then prevents the release of 10000000000 tons, I'd say he'll have done pretty well, even if he could have release only 50 tons.

He's not just talking about doing things, he's putting people to work doing things. To focus on his individual emissions is a premature optimization

[lotsofpulp]

It is not like animal torture at all because there is a clear line of the right amount of animal torture (for the sake of torturing) that is acceptable (which is obviously none).

Where is the line on how much pollution one is allowed to expel? 500sq ft per person apartment? 100sq ft? Prius or RAV4? Commercial flight to visit family, once per year or twice? How many kids?

[ZeroGravitas]

There's probably many animal rights advocates that aren't hardcore vegan.

[ohbleek]

There are dozens of us!

I don’t have a problem with the dairy and egg products I use because I personally know the people that I get them from. I won’t purchase anything containing dairy and eggs. If someone prepares food for me containing them I may eat it to be polite but I wouldn’t eat meat. I also don’t have an issue with the honey I get from my friends hives. However, many of my activist friends and other people see all of these things as hypocrisy that perpetuate animal abuse. I still protest and we get along fine. Because to your point, there’s room for nuance.