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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Ask yourself "where is the greatest leverage to solve this problem?". If you think the fastest way to turn the climate ship around is to convince 7ish billion individuals to go vegan, and ride bikes... Good luck!
We all ought to focus on that whole 7 billion thing...or wait, isn't it 8 now? Will be 9 soon.
Infinite population growth in a world of finite resources is not, and never will be, possible. Less people = more resources per person and higher quality of life.
How? All we do is work just to afford an existence. I'm not jetting around the globe, living in a 20 room mansion, buying every product in existence, etc. All I can afford to do is eat, have a roof and food.
If only we had a society where I could actually buy from companies that were green or vote for politicians that gave a fuck about anything but money. We're fucked. I'm just glad I'll be dead before the world melts.
Above a set of three images is the title "CLIMATE CHANGE?"
A photo of Broderick Stephen "Steve" Harvey Sr. with his hands raised, palms out and text above and below. The text above reads "Consumers:" and the text below reads '"Not my fault'".
The second photo is a Capuchin monkey with its paws raised as if shrugging, and text above and below. The text above reads "Companies:" and the text below reads '"Not my fault"'.
The last image is that of an otter half underwater with its fore-paws in the air as if at gunpoint, and text above and below. The text above reads "Politicians:" and the text below reads '"Not my fault"'
[I am a human, if I’ve made a mistake please let me know. Please consider providing alt-text for ease of use. Thank you. 💜]
"Would you be upset if I told you we were dying?
And every cure they gave us was a lie?
Oh! They mean it when they say we're dead and doomed,
and every single symptom brings us closer to the tomb,
and who will take the credit for our swift impending fall?
Because it's not my fault!
Would you be impressed if I said that the dead would help us counting
every single moment that we waste our time?
All the time we're spending vaccinating this disease,
I just get dizzy when I think of all the ways we try to hide our maladies.
We wine, we dine, and everything is fine,
because it's not my fault"
I think the most practical thing to do about it is to find a way to warn the societies after us of the danger, and then ride out what’s left of modern society. It’s proven it won’t change.
A growing population is what allowed the top 1% to get so absurdly rich and wasteful. Capitalism is dependent on growth.
I'm not blaming the poor for the population growth, I'm actually blaming the rich who encourage it for their benefit. All the talk in the west of 'we need to grow the population otherwise the system will collapse!! We need to get our people pumping out more kids or, if not, we need more immigration!' demonstrates this quite well. It's all about maintaining growth by any means necessary.
And no I'm not anti immigration even slightly, so please don't miss my entire point here by misunderstanding my position focusing on that.