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Comment by kdamica | Hacker News Reader

A ridiculous and uninformed article. This is a great example of the type of magical thinking we often see when it comes to issues like this. The reality is that changing the behavior of superemitters is not nearly enough to make a difference, compared to the sum total of the emissions of ordinary people.

Let’s redo the headline: - People driving their kids to school is driving the climate crisis - People having enough to eat is driving the climate crisis - People taking nice vacations with their families and friends is driving the climate crisis

The problem doesn’t seem too easy to solve now.

Just as we can’t fund a robust welfare state by taxing the rich alone (everyone must pay high taxes for it to be enough), we will do nothing about climate change by focusing only on superemitters (most aspects of life must be decarbonized if we’re going to stop climate change).

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For better or worse, the wealthy are the thought leaders of society. Their values trickle down to the middle and lower classes. When we see them consume at a high rate (per capita), it sends a message that “what I can afford to consume is ok to consume”. So the masses end up throwing away hoards of cheap single use plastics because it’s convenient and not expensive.

The issue with mass consumption by the wealthy is how it influences the behavior of the more impactful middle and lower classes.

In the Steve Jobs biography I was originally shocked that he and his wife had hours long debates about whether or not to use a drying machine (vs hanging laundry outside). For a long time I never saw what he was fighting for, but now it makes sense to me.

> - People driving their kids to school is driving the climate crisis - People having enough to eat is driving the climate crisis - People taking nice vacations with their families and friends is driving the climate crisis

By my count, two out of the three are reasonably considered “excess” and are seemingly not being questioned as claimed by the headline.

"...if the top 10% of global emitters were to cut their carbon footprint to that of the typical EU citizen... that alone would cut global emissions by around one third." - p.208 The Climate Book (Greta Thunberg)

so...a decent start, but obviously not enough, given that we should be aiming for zero emissions?

Yes decent start. We need to start.

In other words, if 780 million people were to cut their emissions to the levels of some of the world’s most advanced and densely populated economies…

> Let’s redo the headline: - People driving their kids to school is driving the climate crisis - People having enough to eat is driving the climate crisis

There is huge range between excess and shortage. There are people in developed world who do not drive their kids in SUVs. There are people in developed world who walk their kids to school. Good urban design / spatial planning is better for live and environment.

> we will do nothing about climate change

We will do nothing. This attitude is just looking for excuses. CO2 emissions per capita in Austria are half of those in USA.

It does seem to be the conclusion that people arrive at but don’t really want to say out loud. If we really want to save the climate we should all just kill ourselves.

or we do nothing and just let the earth do it? then things will correct themselves for awhile again, see cheapest and simplest option!

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