This was something I was concerned about, but then an environmentalist friend told me that a few companies are responsible for the majority of emissions. This means that my behavioural patterns are not likely to matter. The number one way to change a few companies is to acquire money and power so one can apply force there. So I don't care that much about air flight and stuff like that which I would kind of try to manage earlier. Previously used to use public transit plus bicycle primarily and then use Terrapass to clear net.
I still use ebikes because more convenient in SF, but there's no way I could Terrapass each flight reasonably now. Too many of them.
This is actually pretty fortunate that the best way to deal with the problem is personal enrichment. One of the few things in life where all incentives align.
Yeah you could apply pressure on those companies. But that would cause gas prices to skyrocket. And nothing else would provoke Americans into actually getting out guillotines than $15/gallon gas.
I wouldn't call this friend an "environmentalist".
Long story short:
- These 'few companies' are part of the '100 companies produce 70% of emissions' statistic. This is true, but it's oil companies and governments on the list. Their emissions are driven by the demand by you - the consumer.
- Behavioral changes do matter. It normalizes (and then, in the futures, put's pressure for) sustainable behavior throughout society which is needed;
- Ebikes are great, more efficient (in terms of CO₂ emissions) than normal bikes.
- Please consider removing your flight emissions, then you'll truly appreciate the real cost of flying.
I actually argued that my Terrapass (I paid a fortune to be net zero) helped, but then the environmentalist friends told me that that's just "like indulgences and doesn't help the environment" so I stopped doing it. It's a lot of money per year, man, and everyone will just act like you're the problem if you buy any. No one who didn't buy any got the lecture.
Yeah, it helped that I mostly use bikes and ebikes. I think it's like a 10-15% increase in flight cost with Terrapass (I bought aggregate per year, but you can do per flight) for something like SFO<->LAX so that's manageable though unpleasant. But there's not that much reason to do that since it's apparently not real.
Besides, while you say this on HN, the top comments are often how China etc. are the problem. So if they're going to be the problem how does it matter if I fly some.
Eh you've just found a way to not feel guilty about your personal pollution.
I don't know what your friend says but I imagine it was along the lines of "it's not your fault! 80% of carbon emissions are due to these 5 oil producers!", conveniently ignoring the fact that it's ordinary people buying the oil...
Still, you can't fix this by hoping people and companies will care. We probably have to force them with laws. So voting is about all you can really do on a global scale.
>This was something I was concerned about, but then an environmentalist friend told me that a few companies are responsible for the majority of emissions
It's sad that I genuinely can't tell if this is sarcasm or not because I've had people sincerely say that. BP really won their gamble on feigning interest in carbon footprints.
I still use ebikes because more convenient in SF, but there's no way I could Terrapass each flight reasonably now. Too many of them.
This is actually pretty fortunate that the best way to deal with the problem is personal enrichment. One of the few things in life where all incentives align.