This will be my last comment because I don't want to keep bothering you, especially because I know I write too much, but feel to reply and I will read it.

most of the Pacific Ocean garbage patch is commercial fishing nets (just one example)

But who eats the fish? It's not the companies. The companies are just enablers. I'm now not sure if you read it, so I refer you back to the last part of my comment (last 2 paragraphs).

I personally live in a state where taxes on the individual are the answer to every problem and it only makes it even harder for people to survive? Not great.

It seems you don't realize it, but you're agreeing with what I'm saying. Studies/polls have shown the majority of people would be in favour of a carbon tax. But as you said, high prices/taxes don't really help and can make life terrible for the average person. Yet, that would be the result of a carbon tax. But people don't think about that; people just think about how the world is going to shit, and someone should do something and when they hear "carbon tax" they think "great!", because they think it's a way to keep their lifestyle and comforts and don't realize it would necessitate a life change anyway. The question is whether you do the change now by reducing your consumption, or wait until you're forced to do it due to regulation and prices hikes you can't afford.

I do truly believe that everyone is doing their best with the tools that they are given, and I cannot discount their efforts. It is not my place to talk shit idk.

I really don't want to be rude or mean, but I have no other way to put this: if you really think that, you really are naive and living in a bubble. Which I guess isn't surprising if you do live off grid and have enough room to grow your own food and you can compost all your waste, while also being on the Fediverse and especially from beehaw (very leftist leaning and environmentally aware places); but take it from someone living in a very large city and who frequents very diverse online places: that's not true.

Just from the most environmentally "aware" people I personally know: a lot don't bother recycling, or didn't until very recently; they don't think twice about single use plastics; most of them have meat as the stable of their diet, especially red meat; one of them insists on drinking bottled water despite have clean tap water, and a lot of the others buy quite a bit of plastic soda bottles. Oh, and something about my neighbours: some of them throw plastic take out packages out of their windows and into the street.

And also, finally, if what you say is true, then environmental parties would currently be in government in most places; after all a vote is tool everyone has and it costs nothing. But that's not the case. In my country, the two most environmentally aware parties are currently the 2 smallest parties in the parliament; the second biggest one is a far right party; the third party are somewhere between liberals and right wing libertarians who have said there is no climate emergency; the leading party is a liberal party who talks about the environment, but doesn't actually do shit about it. And that's with a 60 to 70% voter turnout.

Do you really expect me to believe that "everyone is doing their best with the tools that they are given"?

I'm from Portugal btw, you can see here how many tons of CO2 per capita we were responsible for emitting (from production and consumption in 2018 and 2016 respectively). We're not even top 50 in either list; USA is 17th and 7th, for reference.