81 karma · joined October 27, 2011
This is a false dichotomy. Some traits do not provide enough of an advantage or a drawback to be selected for or against. Some traits reach fixation by piggy-backing on an other advantageous trait (either because they are a byproduct or just because the advantageous trait first appeared in a small insular population that shared that neutral trait.) Some reached fixation because, by chance, they got through an evolutionary bottleneck.
We have a problem. We have put in place structures, institutions and incentives that are failing us and jeopardizing our capacity to protect our values in the future.
I agree that the individual has a limited impact on what is happening and collective action is needed.
And yet, collective action is not going to happen if every individual is defecting or just stays ignorant of their place in those systems.
And yet, the problem is not going to disappear if no one is implementing at least some changes to one's lifestyle.
You say the only motivation for you is to be able to say "it is not my fault" but reality does not care whose fault it is...
If you eat meat regularly, you are connected to Brazil's deforestation, either for cattle or for soy feed. If you have invested in the stock market, you are most likely connected to the international flow of capital, which is also driving said deforestation.
Even if you are not doing any of that, you are still connected because you live in the middle of a society that reaps economic and material benefits from the structures that ultimately incentivise said deforestation.