Post #1816589
2026-04-26 15:34 UTC
Replies (4)
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@stabby_cicada@slrpnk.net 2026-04-26 16:46
I'd argue that the concept of a carbon footprint is not, inherently, a scam. You do have an impact on the world. Your carbon footprint is a real and genuine measure of that impact. And taking actions to reduce your carbon footprint is a way to mindfully track, measure, and reduce that impact. Oil company propagandists may have used this real thing - your carbon footprint - to shift blame away from the oil companies and redirect people's efforts to reducing individual consumption *instead of* working for political change. Which is bad. But the carbon footprint, itself, is not a scam - just the uses to which big oil put it. Plastic recycling, on the other hand, is fake industry propaganda from start to finish. And honestly, if I'm on my soapbox, I'll remind everybody that "reduce, reuse, recycle" is in order of preference. Recyclable paper bags may be better for the environment than single use plastic bags, but bringing your own reusable cloth bag to the grocery store is even better. Just because a single-use product is recyclable doesn't make it environmentally friendly.
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@Tiresia@slrpnk.net 2026-04-26 20:37
While true in theory, you only have so much effort to give. The capitalist/bureaucratic system is designed to exhaust us, to make free time feel like a waste so we have no time to reconsider our economic position and restructure our lives to benefit each other. Avoiding capitalist middlemen that can upcharge us and shape our cultural/material reality into something that gets us to contribute to the current oppressive structure. The propaganda-cultivated sense of moral obligation to laboriously do some tiny individualist good by reducing your carbon footprint through consumer choice is meant to exhaust you and distract you. It doesn't just *shift* blame, it *expends* your willingness to put effort into saving the planet in a way that doesn't harm BP's bottom line. There are so many ways to benefit the planet that benefit you: saving money eating delicious vegan meals at a community kitchen (prepared with care by some of the best cooks in your community), getting access to better quality tools and appliances because your community has a well-stocked tool library and you can just borrow what you need for a fraction of the cost, decreasing medical waste by unionizing/protesting/rioting/revolting until you get high quality preventative healthcare, building/rebuilding neighborhoods to be walkable with high quality public transit to increase your physical and emotional wellbeing while decreasing emissions, or countless other options.
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@baines@lemmy.cafe 2026-04-26 20:57
just don’t think too hard about how %s work
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@puffball@slrpnk.net 2026-05-01 16:58
Something I tend to think about with regards to this sentiment is how much the individual action reflects the culture its embedded in. Despite everything, the attitude at large still seems to be that humans are entitled to their environment and it is theirs to use, the ecological manifest destiny exported by the West. Even if an individual reducing their footprint never amounts to anything, there's a bit of an as above so below thing going on, and therefore this attitude will never be able to be excised if everyone is encouraged to just throw their hands up and declare, Well I'm totally powerless in the face of capital! Guess I'll just keeping making a mess.