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Comment by franga2000 | Hacker News Reader

franga2000

No, I can't. Just like sorting my trash won't save any fish/birds/whatever and riding my bike won't slow down the melting of the ice caps. The carbon footprint of my entire country is almost exactly 1/100th of the last company on the "top 100 polluters" list[1].

10 million people are just as powerless as one, if all they do is buy a different phone or whatever. But 10 million people voting for the politicians that will impose sanctions on these companies is going to make a difference. People are willing to buy canvas bags and electric cars, but taking the time to find a party that's willing to hold companies accountable and voting for them is just too much work. Don't "vote with your wallet" - it doesn't work. Vote with your VOTE!

[1] Carbon Majors Report, CDP, 2017

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Hopefully that didn't come across as aggressive against Fairphone or your comment. I like Fairphone and might actually buy their phone next cycle. This is just a topic that really matters to me, as I've witnessed what happens when someone goes down the environmental responsibility rabbit hole to the point of not being able to properly function because of feeling guilty about basically every part of modern society. Making sacrifices to make up for other people's wrongdoing is never a good mentality. You shouldn't give away your money to people who got robbed. But you should definitely stop voting for the party that made robbery legal.

You don't have to feel guilty, just make informed choices.

Just giving up and taking deaths for granted is cynical.

For example I went vegan and I feel much better now.

I'm saving the planet while at it without "making sacrifices".

Also handing over responsibility to politicians does not work.

As long as people keep on trashing the planet politicians don't care.

Political parties are only catering to mainstream choices.

Thus you need to start a trend that one day will force politicians to act.

See, I'm not giving up on anything here. If I went vegan - hell, if my entire country went vegan, not a single cow in the entire world would live in better conditions. Same with emissions, etc. We're a rounding error.

But we have some very good politicians. If I (and enough other people) vote them into our and later the EU parliament, they will in turn vote for things like sanctioning companies for shit that goes down in their supply chain, regulating animal treatment, etc. And that might actually make a difference.

People are way too cynical about politics. Changing your life is great, but it's not what will ultimately decide the outcome of this mess. Politics is where the power lies and if a person in power does not agree with you, no amount of protesting/lifestyle changes is going to make them change their minds. Politicians are not your enemy - bad politicians are. So vote those out and vote the good ones in.

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