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submitted 7 months ago by jeffw@lemmy.world to c/climate@slrpnk.net
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[-] NegativeInf@lemmy.world 2 points 7 months ago

No, because comparing individual lifestyle choices like diet to systemic issues like fossil fuel consumption doesn't quite align in terms of impact. Fossil fuels are responsible for 89% of CO2 emissions and 65% of all greenhouse gas emissions globally, whereas all agricultural livestock accounts for around 14.5% of global greenhouse gas emissions. While every bit helps, the scale of change needed to significantly reduce our carbon footprint goes far beyond individual actions—it requires systemic transformation, particularly in how we produce and consume energy [International Energy Agency, 2020; FAO, 2013]. Furthermore, while there are viable alternatives to fossil fuels—such as solar, wind, and hydroelectric power—the same breadth of alternatives doesn't exist for diet. Enforcing dietary changes can be culturally sensitive and challenging, making it a less feasible solution for rapid global implementation. It's essential to focus our efforts where the biggest impact can be made, and that's on reducing dependency on fossil fuels.

@NegativeInf @Showroom7561 @climate

The scale of an individuals effect, depends on how many other people do "it".

As one example, if l was say "No thanks! I've brought my own non-plastic bag" to the retailer asking if l want a (plastic) bag, that action didn't stop that plastic bag from being manufactured.

But, if 90% of people stopped using the retailers plastic bags, that retailer would order less plastic bags.

Scale this up on a population level (& do the math).

@NegativeInf @Showroom7561 @climate

The scale of an individuals effect, depends on how many other people do "it".

As one example, if l was say "No thanks! I've brought my own non-plastic bag" to the retailer asking if l want a (plastic) bag, that action didn't stop that plastic bag from being manufactured.

But, if 90% of people stopped using the retailers plastic bags, that retailer would order less plastic bags.

Scale this up on a population level (& do the math).

this post was submitted on 14 Apr 2024
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Discussion of climate, how it is changing, activism around that, the politics, and the energy systems change we need in order to stabilize things.

As a starting point, the burning of fossil fuels, and to a lesser extent deforestation and release of methane are responsible for the warming in recent decades: Graph of temperature as observed with significant warming, and simulated without added greenhouse gases and other anthropogentic changes, which shows no significant warming

How much each change to the atmosphere has warmed the world: IPCC AR6 Figure 2 - Thee bar charts: first chart: how much each gas has warmed the world.  About 1C of total warming.  Second chart:  about 1.5C of total warming from well-mixed greenhouse gases, offset by 0.4C of cooling from aerosols and negligible influence from changes to solar output, volcanoes, and internal variability.  Third chart: about 1.25C of warming from CO2, 0.5C from methane, and a bunch more in small quantities from other gases.  About 0.5C of cooling with large error bars from SO2.

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