Yes! A few months ago I was chatting with a friend and we somehow got to the question, “wait what happened to the hole in the ozone?” Imagine my surprise when we looked it up and it saw it was fixed! It feels like there should’ve been a massive celebration in the end. I agree so much with this. Apply it to social media or even recycling in the US. Both are things where the “Big” (insert industry of choice) want to shirk the responsibility of making big changes by blaming and pushing the agenda of small changes. It’s our individual behavior that’s wrong, not massive corporations unwilling to be inconvenienced 🙄
This was ::chef's kiss:: I get so down in my contributions and then enraged when I recall that I'm a nanoscopic blip and that it really should be up to our governments to force the issue. Ironically, this is the type of innovation that is a pillar of the capitalism people cling to... so, y'know, you'd think they wouldn't mind government regulation protecting our planet.
No amount of smug cyclists shaming drivers will address climate change. I’m a big believer in the unparalleled capacity of good policy to change millions of lives overnight and address looming global issues. I see the reactionary “but what about my freedom to use ODSs?” as just another hallmark of late stage capitalism. Love this essay!
I live in Italy. My Italian friend told me this story of when they were building a new metro stop in Napoli and they found a fully intact ship from the Roman or Greek era. The entire project stopped because they had to find money to preserve and move this ship. His argument was that this wouldn’t be financed by Italy - it’s a global treasure to study how civilizations lived.
Maybe we need more global governance on these kind of things. Obviously there are some countries that are doing their part in terms of climate crisis and others who are not.
Yes! I wholeheartedly agree – but do you think certain choices still rest with the individual (like choosing to eat less meat) or can everything be solved at the system level?
I read an article recently encouraging people to reduce the microplastics being released into the environment by sourcing 100% plastic free clothing. Buttons? They better be wooden. Zippers? Metal. Does it have a collar? Check that interfacing, it might contain microplastics. What type of thread was it stitched with? While I think most of us can agree that fast fashion IS a problem for the environment and we can all reduce our clothing buying habits, the level of scrupulousness involved in this was something available to only those most privileged with the time and financial resources to track down clothes that meet their demands. And yet in the whole article there was not one mention of corporate responsibility. This extreme focus on individual responsibility just doesn't math well. Even if 2% of the population decided to source wooden buttons (a percentage I suspect is still far from where we are at) Shein would still crank out their same levels of production. I think as individuals we can certainly do our part (our daughter has given up beef, which means I rarely use it now), but from a math perspective it is vastly more effective to get a few large corporations to change than it is to get billions of individuals to change.
I have so much love for this post. I’m a fairly positive person but I’m sick to death of being told to wash my clothes at 20° and pay for plastic bags and eat veg only twice a week for the sake of the environment when I can’t help but have so little faith in the impact. I already only buy second hand clothes, shop local with as much as my food as I can (which is more expensive) and shower with cold water - yet the government in the UK are looking to introduce more harmful pesticides, tearing through ancient woodlands for a doomed trainline and going against the Paris Agreement. This is so where we need to see change happen!!
Hi Dana - just to let you know that I'll be sharing this piece of yours as a part of my Kissing the Earth project in June - more info here - https://satyarobyn.substack.com/p/a32095f2-c91e-4401-b692-d19d9eb75e52 - if you'd like to have a month's free sub so you can receive the emails etc, do just let me know satya@satyarobyn.com. Sending love from here hope you're well! x
This is always my response when I’m asked about the ethics of purchasing clothes. The burden is put on the consumer so that corporations and governments don’t have to actually do any of the work, when that’s the only thing that would make an actual difference.
Yes!!! (this is why we need activism, those who are willing to go into politics etc.... system change not climate change.)
Yes! A few months ago I was chatting with a friend and we somehow got to the question, “wait what happened to the hole in the ozone?” Imagine my surprise when we looked it up and it saw it was fixed! It feels like there should’ve been a massive celebration in the end. I agree so much with this. Apply it to social media or even recycling in the US. Both are things where the “Big” (insert industry of choice) want to shirk the responsibility of making big changes by blaming and pushing the agenda of small changes. It’s our individual behavior that’s wrong, not massive corporations unwilling to be inconvenienced 🙄
This was ::chef's kiss:: I get so down in my contributions and then enraged when I recall that I'm a nanoscopic blip and that it really should be up to our governments to force the issue. Ironically, this is the type of innovation that is a pillar of the capitalism people cling to... so, y'know, you'd think they wouldn't mind government regulation protecting our planet.
No amount of smug cyclists shaming drivers will address climate change. I’m a big believer in the unparalleled capacity of good policy to change millions of lives overnight and address looming global issues. I see the reactionary “but what about my freedom to use ODSs?” as just another hallmark of late stage capitalism. Love this essay!
I live in Italy. My Italian friend told me this story of when they were building a new metro stop in Napoli and they found a fully intact ship from the Roman or Greek era. The entire project stopped because they had to find money to preserve and move this ship. His argument was that this wouldn’t be financed by Italy - it’s a global treasure to study how civilizations lived.
Maybe we need more global governance on these kind of things. Obviously there are some countries that are doing their part in terms of climate crisis and others who are not.
Yes! I wholeheartedly agree – but do you think certain choices still rest with the individual (like choosing to eat less meat) or can everything be solved at the system level?
I read an article recently encouraging people to reduce the microplastics being released into the environment by sourcing 100% plastic free clothing. Buttons? They better be wooden. Zippers? Metal. Does it have a collar? Check that interfacing, it might contain microplastics. What type of thread was it stitched with? While I think most of us can agree that fast fashion IS a problem for the environment and we can all reduce our clothing buying habits, the level of scrupulousness involved in this was something available to only those most privileged with the time and financial resources to track down clothes that meet their demands. And yet in the whole article there was not one mention of corporate responsibility. This extreme focus on individual responsibility just doesn't math well. Even if 2% of the population decided to source wooden buttons (a percentage I suspect is still far from where we are at) Shein would still crank out their same levels of production. I think as individuals we can certainly do our part (our daughter has given up beef, which means I rarely use it now), but from a math perspective it is vastly more effective to get a few large corporations to change than it is to get billions of individuals to change.
Breaking the systems is how we save everything. ❤️
I have so much love for this post. I’m a fairly positive person but I’m sick to death of being told to wash my clothes at 20° and pay for plastic bags and eat veg only twice a week for the sake of the environment when I can’t help but have so little faith in the impact. I already only buy second hand clothes, shop local with as much as my food as I can (which is more expensive) and shower with cold water - yet the government in the UK are looking to introduce more harmful pesticides, tearing through ancient woodlands for a doomed trainline and going against the Paris Agreement. This is so where we need to see change happen!!
Hi Dana - just to let you know that I'll be sharing this piece of yours as a part of my Kissing the Earth project in June - more info here - https://satyarobyn.substack.com/p/a32095f2-c91e-4401-b692-d19d9eb75e52 - if you'd like to have a month's free sub so you can receive the emails etc, do just let me know satya@satyarobyn.com. Sending love from here hope you're well! x
I love this perspective and reality-check!
This is always my response when I’m asked about the ethics of purchasing clothes. The burden is put on the consumer so that corporations and governments don’t have to actually do any of the work, when that’s the only thing that would make an actual difference.
OR - and hear me out here - individual sacrifice builds momentum for political action.
I know. Crazy talk.
Where there’s a political will, there’s a way. Such satire!