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Comment by shawnb576 | Hacker News Reader

These are great ways to live in line with your values. Kudos to anyone who does their best to minimize their GHG footprint.

But no this will not prevent climate change and it’s best people don’t get the idea that they are “fighting climate” change by any of these measures.

There is one thing that matters: organized political action. That’s it. If the worlds political establishment doesn’t prioritize this, we are cooked.

Here is what you can do:

* Learn about climate change * Talk to your friends and family about it * Make it your top voting issue

Most people don’t understand the danger we are in

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Ofc, but what better way to make the masses conscious than making them part of it. Also, why do you need the government to limit you before you do something?

- Do you need the government to start issuing flight hour quotas before you start flying less? - Do you need the government to ban short flights before you start using alternative transport methods more? - Do you need the government to impose a high meat tax before you start consuming less?

You can do both, you can start doing your part AND push for political action. Saying "this is meaningless" is just a justification to not do anything yourself and put the blame on someone else. An excuse for inactivity.

No, that's clearly not what I'm saying. I'm not arguing that people shouldn't do these things, I'm arguing that we should be clear about what they actually accomplish. I do all of these things, but I don't kid myself that it's making a lick of difference, because it's not.

The individual action idea is dangerous because it:

- Blames the victims. This problem is being caused by fossil-fuel companies and the policies that support them. We must stop them from emitting and from poisoning the public dialog on these issues

- It's classist and priveledged. Only rich people have these kinds of choices - poor people can't always make these kinds of choices in their lives.

The only solution is massive collective action that drives us towards a net-negative world.

I'd rather have somebody drive a Yukon and vote for people who will put in a Green New Deal than someone who eats vegan and votes for Jill Stein.

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