this post was submitted on 03 Aug 2023
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The goalpost for individuals is pushed further to make up for what corporations are doing, which is...(reads notes)...nothing.
I keep reading that. But it's not that simple. Corporations provide what individuals want. Their exploitation of the world's resources and the damage to the climate is a side product of that. They aren't a completely separate entity that do what they do just to be evil.
Governments need to heavily restrict corps and how they operate. Which will come with increased prices and limitations to the people. Which is unpopular and will mean that those politicians won't get back into office...
Which is why nothing will happen and we are all fucked
Yeah, but all the people taking multiple flights a year for weekend getaways aren't solely the responsibility of the "corporations", are they?
Came here to essentially say this. Our individual contributions are meaningless in the face of the abuses by corporations and wealthy individuals.
Do you vote? Because it's the same principle - how one person votes might be irrelevant, but millions of people voting is powerful. This is true even though corporations have outsized influence on the political process.
Likewise, a single person deciding to not eat meat one day a week or replace one car journey with cycling is nothing in the global scheme of things, but a billion people all doing it will have more impact on the environment than any corporation ever could.
I see your point, though I think the comparison isn't quite accurate. My one vote doesn't get canceled out many times over by the vote of a billionaire (though I suppose you could argue that lobbying by that billionaire could indeed cancel it out.
I guess I'm just growing pessimistic. For as much as I personally do, I feel its a drop in the water that is negated 1000 times over by corporations and wealthy individuals. I'm also tired of the narrative being focused on individual effort instead of pressuring corporations etc. to take more responsibility. But both individual and corporate/government action are needed, I suppose, if we're going to save ourselves...
That billionaire doing the right thing is going to force the same lifestyle changes anyway. Meat tycoon shuts down operations. Now no meat is available for purchase- vegan is the only option. Coal plants shut down. Blackout hours are enforced while battery infrastructure catches up. Auto makers shut down operations. Public transit is clogged until capacity increases, more people start biking. Airlines drastically cut available flights. No long distance travel for you until high speed rail can be built. Shipping magnates vessels are decommissioned. Many goods are either more expensive or entirely unavailable.
I agree! And I think that's the only way we'll actually get a critical mass of people to change their ways.
That's not true. Corporations concede nothing until forced. And many countries are foceing corporations to do things.
For example, it's illegal in many countries for corporations to have short-distance flights where a train route is available.
We need more laws like this and corporations will do better.