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this post was submitted on 28 Jul 2023
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I don't know where you take that from but the super rich are a tiny tiny fraction of the problem. They don't buy containerships full of stuff, they don't eat millions of animals per day, they don't constitute the vast majority of travel.
Yes, on a per person basis they have an extremely large footprint, but it's still a drop in the bucket compared to the industries that feed the consumption of the average citizens.
Industries that pollute so much because the rich are spending their money lobbying against laws that could stop them
That's in no way a rich people thing. Polluting less often means that stuff people are used to will cost more or will be less available.
The greens in Germany suggested that maybe meat is too cheap and people should eat it less and maybe also don't drive your car so much. And a good chunk of the population lost their fucking mind at the audacity to suggest doing something in two sectors that massively contribute to climate change.
The reality is that effective action against climate change is hugely unpopular and politicians realize that it's often political suicide because people hate change and there is no way to combat climate change without lifestyle changes for every single citizen.
The cold hard truth is our societies need to change from the ground up but it's a death sentence for any politician to lobby for the changes required. Imagine if a politician came out and said "meat is now banned" and "petrol is now banned"? They would be laughed into obscurity.
We are fucked because we do not yet want off this ride. We want our cheap consumption. The fix is nuanced and multi-facetted and I don't know if we will get there. Look for geo-engineering to science us out of this. We aren't going to do the right thing. We'd rather seed the ozone with sulfer dioxide to lower the earth temp.
That politician would be laughed out by his own peers, not even the people of the US. Granted, I know a lot of people that would flip their absolute minds if things like that were banned, but at the end of the day they'll move on.
The big problem is no one on the floors of the House or Senate would have the balls to vote it in. It'd be the lone politician and his friend. Every couple months they'll introduce a bill and then have it dashed.
Lobbyists are shit in the US and they contribute to most of our backwards problems. Policies would be getting lobbied by oil and utility companies to stop these politicians. Smear campaigns the whole deal.
Oh wait...
Humans adapt just fine, billionaires though.
The only reason we haven't made the major life changes we need to make is because it isn't profitable.
We are not profitable, unless we consume. Unless our money continues to funnel to the top hands we will continue to perpetually destroy our planet. Simple as that.
As citizens, we can only access the changes we need to make based on the size of our income. I can't afford to get an electric car, fresh ingredients are expensive, I can't buy a house to then fit it with solar panels.
This change has to come from the people that have the means to change it for everyone, hence the top 400 people holding some 98% of the US currency hostage.
This is not a problem civilians can solve. We can try, but we will fail. The footprint is from the people that can stop it and the only major lifestyle changes would be difficult, but doable for us, it'd be near impossible for the billionaires to adjust to such a degree, and I'm not confident they ever will.