…fuck, my coffee habit by itself is probably responsible for a solid 0.01 *C global temperature increase.
Sorry all… I didn’t know.
Also not having kids. Strange how that one is left out.
Perfect is the enemy of good only if you WAIT for perfect. I eat minimal meat, get my veggies from a local farm share, have solar panels, an EV that charges only off excess solar production, a heatpump, have re-insulated the attic, ditched the gas range for induction that runs off solar, etc. My footprint is less than anyone around me, but probably still way higher than your average individual living in the global south.
I’m trying to hit net zero and once I hit it, I’ll keep going because Canada (where I live) is rich and I want to continue to reduce my footprint (the dream is net negative in my life) because I’m privileged and have the resources to push harder. I make it a game - figure out what’s my best opportunity to reduce my footprint, do it, move on to looking for the next thing I can do.
Giving up (most) red meat and patting yourself on the back is severely minimizing what you COULD be doing. I’m a long, long way from perfect, and am exceedingly lucky to have the resources to play this game - but carbon reduction is a way of life, not a checkbox IMO.
First, well done for taking it seriously and doing your bit.
The point of the post (I think) is simply to illustrate that certain actions are much, much more important than others. Anecdotally, there are still plenty of people out there who believe that, say, turning off a couple of (low-energy) lights, or “recycling” a plastic bag, are somehow major good deeds that allow them to kick their feet up and celebrate with a steak. There’s still way too much ignorance about all this, IMO.
In reality (as you seem to understand), some gestures are far more important than others. Ditching red meat (and dairy) really is a big deal. Everyone who claims to care about this problem should at least consider doing it.
God who could even afford red meat anymore
Convenient for me, that is.
I would assume a competently executed strategy of eliminating the worst offenders (and/or the managing infrastructure thereof) would probably have more impact, they probably meant legal things though.
For instance, a solo campaign of taking out the biggest data centers would probably work. Difficult though.
Not having kids is a whole order of magnitude more impactful. Or even just having one kid instead of 2 or 3+.
Mussles for life
Ontop of that, factory farming is a lovecraftian horror that floods the universe with terrible agony. And there’s very good reason to believe that the suffering of animals is as real and awful as yours or mine.
Wrong. The single biggest thing most of us can do to reduce harm to the environment is not have kids. Each human, no matter how responsible, can’t help but add to the problems. The mountain of diapers for each baby alone is obscene. Each baby you don’t have is a whole ass person that will never add to food or electricity or water demands at all.
Does the graph include how palm farms are built on precious forest land that has since been burned down? and that the land primarily being burnt is some of the most important land for storing carbon and providing oxygen?
This has gotten easier as I’ve gotten older. I just don’t care for beef anymore. I’m not disgusted by it. I just prefer other things anymore.
Still going to VOTE! Don’t know why that needed to be in there, next to car and red meat
You are right of course, but „per kg product“ is not a fair comparison when it comes to how the population is fed. Cheese (3000-4000kcal/kg) vs. milk (500. kcal/kg) is the best example for that.
Meat alternatives are often scored on how environment friendly they are per gram of protein, same with milk alternatives. Though i suppose better per kg of product, you’d still miss important data if you’d only consider proteins.
Unrelated - tagging in Voyager is really handy!
I recommend everyone give it a try, helps you identify, say, people who might be talking a big contrarian game without providing any of their own peer reviewed sources to back themselves up. Very interesting feature.
