See I could agree with the first part. But then you add <i>We have broken our world for the greed of a few</i>. After that I sort of understand why so many folks reject the former – they're rejecting the empty moralizing.<p>If you truly believe climate change is real then also admit that "We <i>all</i> have broken the world", except perhaps some uncontacted peoples in the Amazon.<p>Anyone who has ridden in an automobile, a train, a plane, a powered boat has contributed. Anyone who has used or purchased goods transported with any of the above has as well. Anyone who's eaten crops grown with large amounts of industrial fertilizers has contributed (e.g. most of the world).<p>The oil companies just produce what <i>everyone</i> in the world wants and wants cheap.
There are only about 1.6 billion cars in the world. Only about 20% of the world population has access to a personal car. Less than that have ever ridden a plane, and less than 10% fly with any regularity.<p>A super majority of greenhouse gases emitted are due to the lives of the top 20-30% of the population (of which unfortunately I am a part). The remaining people's contributions are small. 80:20 rule in full glory.<p>Worst of all, the 80% are the most impacted by climate change as TFA illustrates.
Not everyone's footprint is the same, though.<p>If I cut down my plane flight in half that means I'll take a plane every two years, meaning I'll also see my family half as much. You'd also have to include that, since I travel economy, you'd divide my contribution by ~350.<p>If Taylor Swift cuts her plane travel by half she'd "only" make 51 trips a year [1] on a plane that carries 12 and would still make more money in a year than what I'll see in my lifetime.<p>IMO, saying that both of us are contributing equally as much to global warming is just unfair.<p>[1] <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/taylor-swift-spent-160-hours-using-private-jet-eras-tour-2023-8" rel="nofollow">https://www.businessinsider.com/taylor-swift-spent-160-hours...</a>
There’s a popular comic for this take - <a href="https://thenib.com/mister-gotcha/" rel="nofollow">https://thenib.com/mister-gotcha/</a>
Not all participants are equal.<p>You are conflating participation from equality, yes everyone participates in the system, it takes a lot of privileged to be able to disassociate ones self from the system itself. The power dynamic within the system favors the wealthy, whom have decided that this is the path we are going down.
I worked at a warehouse last year. Managers always breathing down my neck to work faster. Constant stress for 9 hours straight. (Okay, we got a lunch break at least. There are worse jobs!)<p>It got me wondering. Alright, what's his problem. Well, <i>his</i> manager is breathing down his neck too. It's literally his job to make my day as stressful as possible. Okay, why? You trace that chain and where does it end up? Fat capitalist?<p>Well, something something mutual funds. Okay, that's beyond me.<p>But what else? Well, where's that pressure coming from? It's the customer. If the company stopped whipping us, and let us work at a normal pace, they'd need 40% more employees to cover the work. Delivery costs would increase proportionally, and suddenly grandma would stop buying from us. She'd go to the company that whips their employees. The whole place would go under.<p>Something something, Moloch is my nan?
Not all people have equal culpability. It's absurd to be like, well you havent successfully waged an eco-terroristic war to overturn the system so you're just as bad as someone actively leading a lobby group to cast doubt on the science, or bribing politicians not to act on it, or even just as someone who votes in favor of people who resist action. In fact it's just another tactic of denialism to say "if you can't personally solve this problem just give up and caring is ineffective so you shouldn't care"
If it weren't for oil companies going out of their way to sabotage alternative fuels through politicians, misinformation, and a myriad of other abuses I'd be more inclined to believe you. Not everyone is equally culpable in this, there are many who have been trying to get rid of oil as the main fuel source for a long time.
two things can be true at the same time. oil and coal before it pulled billions of people out of extreme poverty, but the debt taken on in terms of CO2 <i>will</i> come due. if the gulf stream stops, we're all in for a ride - or worse, our grandchildren.<p>I'm personally in the 'drill and burn as fast as possible in a mad rush to fusion power' camp so we get a way to fix this shit rather than the 'stop civilization from doing its thing overnight' camp. alas, neither is happening.
Oh shut the fuck up