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While it’s everyone’s fault, there is very little consumers can do to actually help.
For example:
- When every company is using single use plastics for certain products, you don’t have any alternatives.
- When the local government doesn’t offer the ability to recycle, your options are limited.
- Or worse, the local government offers recycling services, but the collected items are literally just dumped into the trash.
So while I again agree everyone is at fault, I’d say the consumer has vastly less overall control than any other entity.
market won't regulate itself. that's established. EDIT: no way to "vote" with my wallet
Or apartments aren't mandated to have recycling. Or how oil corporations controlled anti-climate change propaganda, as well as Republicans. Or how corporations forced us to use oil to get to our jobs because there really was no public transportation alternative (particularly in America).
That makes this meme stupid, because consumers didn't have much control over big money buying everything or basically requiring the use of specific materials.
So while I again agree everyone is at fault
no, only those in power and making profits are to blame, not the people trapped in their wealth extraction system with no choice but to participate or die.
All consumers need to do is commit mass suicide /s
I mean, I think it would be cool if I could go into a store and buy a flash drive that wasn't surrounded by a mountain of plastic and other resources. Or replace that with just about everything else. Although we're at another wealth inequality problem in general (I can go vegan tomorrow, move to a commune where everything was made of hemp, and it will still probably take 100 of my lifetimes to offset the carbon footprint of Elon or Taylor Swift over the next week, or maybe even just hour) I do often think about the very nature of our system now is that goods sold are often going to come with at a bare minimum equal parts waste to product.
Consumers have the very real ability to vote and protest for changes but the people don't care and the politicians know it would be unpopular so they wouldn't do it.
Plastic and recycling have nothing to do with climate change though
Those were examples, but as pointed out they absolutely do have an effect on climate change.
However, I can provide a couple more direct examples if you like:
- No public transit available, and neighborhoods built in such a way that the majority of residents need to travel miles to reach their place of business.
- Products being grown, packaged and sold in completely different countries. Driven by profit, meaning many companies make the same ridiculous decisions. Consumers are often given no alternatives for certain products.
https://www.goingzerowaste.com/blog/which-is-better-for-the-environment-glass-or-plastic/
They do though. Manufacturing in general has a high carbon footprint, and the overwhelming majority of plastics the containers won't be recycled so the next packaged item will have the exact same carbon footprint as the first one.
Voters are the problem. People don't vote for responsible and educated representatives.
responsible and educated representatives.
when they're all serving capitalism, that won't change shit
I'm confused. Do you think a responsible and educated representative would serve capitalism?
I don't think the current capitalist class would allow for such a representative, without large changes to their power.
In the US, Bernie was right there. The average voter just don't want to change their life. The average person is mentally weak and scientifically illiterate.
Bernie was actively pushed against by the DNC in favor of Hillary. This is just another example of politicians fucking us over.
A little from column A, a little from column B. Looking at the media coverage over Bernie vs the other candidates, he had the deck stacked against him. Which doesn't mean that someone like him couldn't eventually win. It takes longer for the message to get through. in this environment.
I think the more dire the situation gets, the more people will start to get involved themselves, and then they'll spend more time listening.