Thelyniezian writes:
I am in little doubt about our need to get off oil and of the dangers presented by climate change. I would also like to include that the issue is not merely about climate change though, but also about our society’s continuing dependence upon non-renewable resources.
Which of course presents both a drawback and an additional problem, or rather challenge- how do we get a world where we do not need to depend upon oil for our energy needs, that still allows people to maintain an acceptable standard of living (whatever that is)? Because if we don’t, not only is the changing climate posing a danger, but possible massive societal collapse.
You claim:
“The ordinary person cannot do jack about any of this stuff. His car runs on oil. His electricity burns oil. What can he do? Nothing.”
Maybe the ordinary person is hamstrung to a degree, but there are still plenty of ways ordinary folks can at least minimize their own personal energy usage- ditch the proverbial Hummer for a more economical car, maybe even an electric or hybrid, or even use alternative transport (though that can be a little difficult, more so in the US than here in Europe I imagine) choose more energy efficient appliances, buy less useless stuff (noting the embedded energy that goes into the manufacturing and shipping of any product), take into consideration where your food is coming from, you name it.
This will have to be a collective effort, seeing as a some people using less may well only encourage prices to go down and others to use more.
Of course ultimately governments and business will have to tackle the bigger problems, but this is ultimately a problem that faces the whole of society, not merely those at the top.
I imagine Europe has managed to keep its emissions down in part due to differences in culture – mainstream American culture seems to be amongst the biggest consumers of energy around, and some areas seem to be practically designed around cars. That, and I imagine there are plenty of vested interests keeping things that way, making governments politically averse to tackling climate change.
Incidentally, what would you say about claims that governments are sponsoring renewable efforts that aren’t necessarily any good, in order to supposedly line the pockets of certain companies in the renewable energy sector? Is this just right-wing propaganda or genuine greenwash?
Well, the price of oil is just going to keep on going up, so we have no alternative but to get off oil or use it better. We will need cars that get better mileage, or we will need to drive less.
Society and the economy will not collapse just because we have to reign in global warming. Anyway, it’s not a debate. The debate is the capitalists say that we can’t do anything about global warming because it will hurt the economy and the standard of living. So to keep all our “stuff” and keep the capitalist economic growth model, we have to blow up the fucking planet.
Typical insane capitalist mindset. See how crazy capitalism is? Capitalism is crazy because capitalists are nuts. Capitalists are made nuts by capitalism.
People are already buying more energy efficient stuff because it’s on the marketplace. A lot of that is now being mandated by the state. Really what you have to do is force manufacturers to make and sell the energy efficient stuff. Either put huge taxes on the energy draining stuff or simply ban its sale.
Hybrid cars are very expensive.
There are not a lot of other transportation choices other than the vehicle. However, if gas prices rise enough, people will have to resort to mass transit.
You can’t tell people to buy less useless stuff or buy food smartly. They can’t be depended on to do that. The only way is economics. If locally grown food was cheaper, people would buy it instead.
Anyway, you can’t depend on individual people to make the right decisions.
Nope, it’s a rightwing lie that energy efficient stuff doesn’t work. Of course it does. Of course vested interests want to not tackle climate change. Mostly the energy companies, but really the whole capitalist sector. But some capitalists want to do something about it, like the insurance industry.
Also the Moronican people are opposed to doing anything about climate change. It’s a vote killer and might get you voted right out of office. That is why Obama is not pushing it. If he pushes it, the Republicans might win.
