solarpunk memes

I'd love to be able to walk to work. Right now, it's 1h bus ride there, roughly 30km. Biking is not an option either, a good 10km are highways, no alternatives

Also think about how many of those products you personally buy that produce those greenhouse emissions. I mean, it's not like the responsibility ends with making the stuff.

So if I don’t walk to work I don’t have to turn the lights off

Of course by keeping your lights on you're contributing to these companies emissions because they're fossil fuel and power companies lol

Edit: To clarify, I'm not trying to absolve fossil fuel companies, or their lobbying departments, of any of the blame here. The simple fact is that we don't get much choice in our energy sources. However, the whole "x companies produce 80% of the CO2 in the world" narrative draws a dangerous parallel to the personal responsibility/carbon footprint narrative. One tells you that individuals are at fault (so get angry at your neighbours for not recycling, rather than getting angry at the government for not doing anything about it) whereas the other tells you to stop trying to even do anything about it personally, because it's all huge megacorporations at fault and there's nothing we can do to affect them. The simple truth is, if everyone in the west stopped buying cheap plastic shit from China, MANY of these companies would take a nose dive in their revenues and pollution. China Coal is usually listed as THE top polluter. Well look at China's energy statistics. 58% of it is industry. In comparison for the US on the website, it's 21% industrial usage. Why is China's (total) annual CO2 output going up at the same time as their % of energy coming from renewables is going up? Maybe because they're the factory of the world. They make everything we consume and renewables just can't keep up with the demand we all put out there. So buy less, buy more local, educate your friends and family, and don't forget that political action is still THE key.

Why can't we make laws requiring noffices to turn off their lights after office hours? Can't be that hard

Individual responsibility for the environment is a myth invented by lobbyists.

Lot of people in this thread with "There's no point in trying to do something about the companies selling DDT because consumers want their gardens pest-free so we should just talk more about personal responsibility instead" energy.

Sure, companies are providing things that people want, but the way and quantity in which they produce those things is atrocious, and ultimately those companies are the source of the vast amount of the pollution.

We can and should tell people to eat less meat, but telling people to exercise that level of self-control while at the same time leaving systems in place that make the meat economy otherwise the same isn't going to do a damn thing. Conversely, you could tell end consumers virtually nothing while at the same time passing and enforcing actual environmental regulations that slightly increased the cost of a hamburger, and you'd see a real decline in demand.

You've got to focus your efforts on where they can do the most good, and focusing on forcing a handful of companies to change is more likely to show results than politely asking billions of people to change their lifestyles.

My city just sent out a notice telling people to turn off their lights, meanwhile the city does nothing about the hundreds of office and corporate buildings with all the lights on all night. All the notices do is piss me and reminds me that we have two sets of rules

"Turn off the light when you leave a room." has always struck me as very misguided. You probably should still do that to save on your electricity bill. But I am a night owl and I like going outside to bike or walk. The number of businesses I walk or bike past that leave their lights on all night is just ridiculous.