I've begun to embrace simple living and have found myself enjoying it more and more. The calm and lower speed, more reading and more time in nature, and yet more stimulus and things to think about. We've got to find our way back.
And the sad part is "renewables" have so much downside. Lithium mining for electric vehicles, don't read about it unless you have a strong stomach. Quartz mining for solar panels, ditto. Environmental effects of wind turbines. The only real answer is REDUCE!
I suspect this won't be a popular comment, because for me moderation tends to be what effects lasting change, but here goes. And I do know that we need more than moderation at this point, but if people feel too overwhelmed by large changes to do anything, then everything gets worse much faster. There have been many times in my life when I've had to settle for half a loaf, or even a slice, when I wanted/needed more, and have discovered that by starting with half a loaf and working from there I ended up with everything I wanted, just on a slightly slower timetable.
The problem is, although we really need everyone to make major lifestyle changes quickly, for most people (or at least for most people in the developed/overdeveloped Western countries) that is just too big an ask for them to consider. It's very, very laudable that you, Jessica, are willing to live very simply in order to reduce your carbon footprint in a way that matters, and to live a more satisfied life with less "stuff." If I asked most of my family (with the possible exception of my son and his wife - but even they like to do some traveling, and it involves air travel), and virtually all of my friends, to live as you do, their eyes would glaze over and they wouldn't listen to a thing I said. And I don't live that way myself, although I have made some real changes in how my family lives and in some of my habits, and I've persuaded family and friends to make some changes as well.
The trick, as I see it, is to ask people to pick one thing or a few things that they CAN do, and then actually do them. If people are unwilling to replace their high-flow showerhead with a lower-flow model, they might still be willing to stop showering daily (if they do) and take one or two fewer showers a week. Better for the planet, and also better for the most peoples' skin (ask any dermatologist - most of us overbath/overshower, to our skin's detriment). People may not be willing to give up meat, but it's not a big ask to ask them to skip meat a couple days a week. And their doctors will probably approve, because their cholesterol will drop (as will their blood pressure - regular beef consumption is linked with higher blood pressure). Most laundry can be washed using cold water, and not only is it more energy efficient to do so, it's also a lot better for the fabrics - clothes last longer when washed in cold water (ask any fabric expert). Make shopping lists for a week and limit the grocery runs to once a week, and save a few trip's worth of (expensive) gas. If you must fly somewhere, try to book a nonstop flight - nonstop flights really do use less fuel and add less carbon to our atmosphere.
These are things that EVERYONE can do with relatively little (or no) pain, and once they realize that there are changes they can make that don't hurt much or at all, they may be willing to make more changes. And after that, maybe even a few more. And within a year or so you now have a person or family that's using less energy, using less water, eating less meat, buying fewer clothes (or, if they're committed fashionistas, buying gently used clothes instead of new) - and now you have a person or a household that really has reduced their own carbon footprint. It's not perfect, and of course it's not enough, but when the alternative is maintaining a lifestyle that absolutely makes things worse, perhaps it's not so bad to gently nudge people toward making things a little better. That's my approach, anyway, and I've found that it works more often than not.
For myself, my family eats beef fewer than three or four times a month (one daughter and I don't eat beef at all), chicken once a week, fish or seafood once a week, and beans, tempeh, and tofu the rest of the week. I take half as many showers as I did even two years ago, and they're shorter showers too (and my skin is so much happier now). I wash one in maybe fifteen loads of laundry on hot, and only laundry that needs that level of sanitizing (or is THAT dirty). We drive about half as much as we used to, and although we still take vacations, if we fly we take nonstop flights unless absolutely no other choice is available (and nonstop is almost always available). And we take fewer vacations - although that is in part due to our continuing COVID caution. When we buy clothes we buy secondhand about half the time (and get some gorgeous, gently used clothes at great prices that way). Not one of these things, taken one or two at a time, has been difficult to do, and over time we've actually made quite a few climate-friendly changes that now seem quite easy. And if my family - spoiled, White, middle class, pampered - can do it, anyone can. It's all in how you approach it.
Right now, we think all these ways of simple living are OK for poor people, but that people who can afford it can just fly around and blow resources to their heart's content.
A 'wild' garden leaves more time to enjoy life. I'm slowly getting rid of the grass in my backyard (in Melbourne) & replacing with a mix of veg beds, fruit trees and native shrubs & grasses. The front yard is already done. Who wants to spend their time mowing grass? I don't understand the obsession. I get to enjoy lizards, frogs and birds in my garden. Lawns are so boring. 🤔✌
The very conservative IPCC report concludes we have 7 years before the “point of no return.”
Sir David King (hardly an alarmist) says his data indicates it’s actually just 4 years.
I keep repeating this over and over again.
when industry and government discuss the climate crisis without filtering it through the reality of that time frame it’s not just in bad faith, it’s unfathomably murderous.
It has become a world of individualism. Everyone for themselves instead of the greater good for humanity. I blame the media for exploiting the lives of the rich and famous as people who we should aspire to be like, rather than focusing on the people suffering behind the scenes. But people want to be entertained these days like the Romans did in their heyday. Mass shootings and climate disasters killing lots of people is entertaining, as long as it doesn't happen to them.
"Living a simple life makes you happier. It also shrinks your carbon footprint" - a brilliant point that we should use more often in discussions. It's nearly always better to show the bright side of a given action and let people act independently than to lecture them.
I've been a little obsessive about climate change for a couple of decades, but now I'm becoming convinced that AI is going to either destroy us or save us in the next decade or so. Either way, we don't have to worry so much about climate. Possibly I'm just rationalizing my surrender to the collapse I've started to see as inevitable.
Typical Friedman nonsense, but buried is this nugget: “A senior administration official told me that Xi told President Biden at their summit in Bali in November, in essence “I will not be the president of China who loses Taiwan. If you force my hand, there will be war. You don’t understand how important this is to the Chinese people. You’re playing with fire.”
Unfortunately, there are simply too many of us on this planet. The world population has trebled in my lifetime and the planetary ecosystem can not sustainably support eight thousand million individuals.
"No matter how bad things got, I always found something worth living for. There was always something worth doing. So that’s the plan."
Yep, couldn't agree more. This might be of interest, ol' Freddy was on to something:
Russia invaded Ukraine, a country which did not pose an danger to it. They are committing genocide in the occupied territories. Any ceasefire that grants territory to Russia means the genocide continues there. The way to end the war is for Russia to lose. The Ukrainian population supports its government in its efforts to defeat Russia. It is that simple.
(NB: Before the Russian invasion in 2014 Ukraine was neutral and a 3:1 majority rejected them joining NATO.)
I believe it is unrealistic to ever believe most people will ever wake up and understand how the rich and powerful will ALWAYS start wars, make the less rich and powerful want to consume and all that will prevent the eventual destruction of civilization (a word meant to convey something “good” but misrepresents actual impact) as these rich and powerful keep playing their violins and drinking Champaign as our cities burn.
Not buying it, unfortunately. We live in a self-sustaining, renewing bio dome. Science is rife full of scam artists that live for government grants off the backs of taxpayers. They should get real jobs like cleaning sewer sludge where their kind belongs. It’s all a massive scam like health plans that are tied to big pHARMa.
First- we are not in a proxy war with Russia by definition. Russia is one of the combatants. If Ukraine and Belorus were fighting with Russia backing Belorus and we backing Ukraine- THAT would be a proxy war.
Second- our support for Taiwan long ago originated simple anti-communism which led us to support the authoritarian government of the Nationalists on Taiwan. But Taiwan has evovled to a more open democracy. It's clear that under Xi China is going backward. We have seen the stamping out of press and free speech freedoms in Hong Kong. I see no actual benefit to stepping back and giving signals to China that they can just invade Taiwan and put millions under tyranny. Taiwan will, like Ukraine, fight back
I've begun to embrace simple living and have found myself enjoying it more and more. The calm and lower speed, more reading and more time in nature, and yet more stimulus and things to think about. We've got to find our way back.
And the sad part is "renewables" have so much downside. Lithium mining for electric vehicles, don't read about it unless you have a strong stomach. Quartz mining for solar panels, ditto. Environmental effects of wind turbines. The only real answer is REDUCE!
I suspect this won't be a popular comment, because for me moderation tends to be what effects lasting change, but here goes. And I do know that we need more than moderation at this point, but if people feel too overwhelmed by large changes to do anything, then everything gets worse much faster. There have been many times in my life when I've had to settle for half a loaf, or even a slice, when I wanted/needed more, and have discovered that by starting with half a loaf and working from there I ended up with everything I wanted, just on a slightly slower timetable.
The problem is, although we really need everyone to make major lifestyle changes quickly, for most people (or at least for most people in the developed/overdeveloped Western countries) that is just too big an ask for them to consider. It's very, very laudable that you, Jessica, are willing to live very simply in order to reduce your carbon footprint in a way that matters, and to live a more satisfied life with less "stuff." If I asked most of my family (with the possible exception of my son and his wife - but even they like to do some traveling, and it involves air travel), and virtually all of my friends, to live as you do, their eyes would glaze over and they wouldn't listen to a thing I said. And I don't live that way myself, although I have made some real changes in how my family lives and in some of my habits, and I've persuaded family and friends to make some changes as well.
The trick, as I see it, is to ask people to pick one thing or a few things that they CAN do, and then actually do them. If people are unwilling to replace their high-flow showerhead with a lower-flow model, they might still be willing to stop showering daily (if they do) and take one or two fewer showers a week. Better for the planet, and also better for the most peoples' skin (ask any dermatologist - most of us overbath/overshower, to our skin's detriment). People may not be willing to give up meat, but it's not a big ask to ask them to skip meat a couple days a week. And their doctors will probably approve, because their cholesterol will drop (as will their blood pressure - regular beef consumption is linked with higher blood pressure). Most laundry can be washed using cold water, and not only is it more energy efficient to do so, it's also a lot better for the fabrics - clothes last longer when washed in cold water (ask any fabric expert). Make shopping lists for a week and limit the grocery runs to once a week, and save a few trip's worth of (expensive) gas. If you must fly somewhere, try to book a nonstop flight - nonstop flights really do use less fuel and add less carbon to our atmosphere.
These are things that EVERYONE can do with relatively little (or no) pain, and once they realize that there are changes they can make that don't hurt much or at all, they may be willing to make more changes. And after that, maybe even a few more. And within a year or so you now have a person or family that's using less energy, using less water, eating less meat, buying fewer clothes (or, if they're committed fashionistas, buying gently used clothes instead of new) - and now you have a person or a household that really has reduced their own carbon footprint. It's not perfect, and of course it's not enough, but when the alternative is maintaining a lifestyle that absolutely makes things worse, perhaps it's not so bad to gently nudge people toward making things a little better. That's my approach, anyway, and I've found that it works more often than not.
For myself, my family eats beef fewer than three or four times a month (one daughter and I don't eat beef at all), chicken once a week, fish or seafood once a week, and beans, tempeh, and tofu the rest of the week. I take half as many showers as I did even two years ago, and they're shorter showers too (and my skin is so much happier now). I wash one in maybe fifteen loads of laundry on hot, and only laundry that needs that level of sanitizing (or is THAT dirty). We drive about half as much as we used to, and although we still take vacations, if we fly we take nonstop flights unless absolutely no other choice is available (and nonstop is almost always available). And we take fewer vacations - although that is in part due to our continuing COVID caution. When we buy clothes we buy secondhand about half the time (and get some gorgeous, gently used clothes at great prices that way). Not one of these things, taken one or two at a time, has been difficult to do, and over time we've actually made quite a few climate-friendly changes that now seem quite easy. And if my family - spoiled, White, middle class, pampered - can do it, anyone can. It's all in how you approach it.
Right now, we think all these ways of simple living are OK for poor people, but that people who can afford it can just fly around and blow resources to their heart's content.
A 'wild' garden leaves more time to enjoy life. I'm slowly getting rid of the grass in my backyard (in Melbourne) & replacing with a mix of veg beds, fruit trees and native shrubs & grasses. The front yard is already done. Who wants to spend their time mowing grass? I don't understand the obsession. I get to enjoy lizards, frogs and birds in my garden. Lawns are so boring. 🤔✌
The very conservative IPCC report concludes we have 7 years before the “point of no return.”
Sir David King (hardly an alarmist) says his data indicates it’s actually just 4 years.
I keep repeating this over and over again.
when industry and government discuss the climate crisis without filtering it through the reality of that time frame it’s not just in bad faith, it’s unfathomably murderous.
It has become a world of individualism. Everyone for themselves instead of the greater good for humanity. I blame the media for exploiting the lives of the rich and famous as people who we should aspire to be like, rather than focusing on the people suffering behind the scenes. But people want to be entertained these days like the Romans did in their heyday. Mass shootings and climate disasters killing lots of people is entertaining, as long as it doesn't happen to them.
"Living a simple life makes you happier. It also shrinks your carbon footprint" - a brilliant point that we should use more often in discussions. It's nearly always better to show the bright side of a given action and let people act independently than to lecture them.
I've been a little obsessive about climate change for a couple of decades, but now I'm becoming convinced that AI is going to either destroy us or save us in the next decade or so. Either way, we don't have to worry so much about climate. Possibly I'm just rationalizing my surrender to the collapse I've started to see as inevitable.
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/14/opinion/china-america-relationship.html
Typical Friedman nonsense, but buried is this nugget: “A senior administration official told me that Xi told President Biden at their summit in Bali in November, in essence “I will not be the president of China who loses Taiwan. If you force my hand, there will be war. You don’t understand how important this is to the Chinese people. You’re playing with fire.”
Unfortunately, there are simply too many of us on this planet. The world population has trebled in my lifetime and the planetary ecosystem can not sustainably support eight thousand million individuals.
"No matter how bad things got, I always found something worth living for. There was always something worth doing. So that’s the plan."
Yep, couldn't agree more. This might be of interest, ol' Freddy was on to something:
https://psyche.co/ideas/for-nietzsche-nihilism-goes-deeper-than-life-is-pointless
Amen those last (5)paragraphs here, screenshoted for ongoing inspiration(and self-discipline), thanks mucho Wildfire 🏆
Russia invaded Ukraine, a country which did not pose an danger to it. They are committing genocide in the occupied territories. Any ceasefire that grants territory to Russia means the genocide continues there. The way to end the war is for Russia to lose. The Ukrainian population supports its government in its efforts to defeat Russia. It is that simple.
(NB: Before the Russian invasion in 2014 Ukraine was neutral and a 3:1 majority rejected them joining NATO.)
I believe it is unrealistic to ever believe most people will ever wake up and understand how the rich and powerful will ALWAYS start wars, make the less rich and powerful want to consume and all that will prevent the eventual destruction of civilization (a word meant to convey something “good” but misrepresents actual impact) as these rich and powerful keep playing their violins and drinking Champaign as our cities burn.
Not buying it, unfortunately. We live in a self-sustaining, renewing bio dome. Science is rife full of scam artists that live for government grants off the backs of taxpayers. They should get real jobs like cleaning sewer sludge where their kind belongs. It’s all a massive scam like health plans that are tied to big pHARMa.
Couple comments-
First- we are not in a proxy war with Russia by definition. Russia is one of the combatants. If Ukraine and Belorus were fighting with Russia backing Belorus and we backing Ukraine- THAT would be a proxy war.
Second- our support for Taiwan long ago originated simple anti-communism which led us to support the authoritarian government of the Nationalists on Taiwan. But Taiwan has evovled to a more open democracy. It's clear that under Xi China is going backward. We have seen the stamping out of press and free speech freedoms in Hong Kong. I see no actual benefit to stepping back and giving signals to China that they can just invade Taiwan and put millions under tyranny. Taiwan will, like Ukraine, fight back