To wonder when someone will stop us from destroying the planet before it is too late?

[Ohdoleavemealone]

Last night I watched a documentary about how the biggest threat to our oceans is the fishing industry. Worse than plastics (and actually 46% of the plastic is fishing nets), worse than killing sharks for fin soup or putting animals into captivity.
The bycatch from fishing means we are killing thousands of species for the few we want. We have depleted the oceans resources and killed the seabeds with the harsh methods used.
Of course this is on top of our piles of rubbish, fuel polution etc.
We have been destroying our planet for years but have really accelerated in the last 50 years as corporate companies have no moral compass and the rest of us are just sheep. We believe that we need all the consumer driven shit they tell us and we fund the industries killing our planet.
So how does it stop? Is it too late? Do we just accept it or do we try and fight for it? Are we little people enough?

Full disclosure: I do not do enough on a small level to do my bit but I am looking for ways I can.

The whole capitalist system (buy more /travel more) works on many levels but is disastrous environmentally. We need a total reset as we can’t keep on producing and consuming more and more.

with exceptions for genuinely essential work and emergencies like visiting seriously ill relatives

Tealights how ill is ‘seriously ill’?
How would that be policed? Would a doctor’s certificate be required plus proof of said relation’s’ address abroad?

Yes, companies are only interested in money. So if enough people stop buying their products they’ll listen! Saying that individual consumers don’t have any power is like saying individual voters don’t have any power. The ‘did not vote’ party would have won more seats than labour at the last election.

It’s not ‘the rest of us’ if the tax only affects the less than a third of people who fly multiple times a year. The fact is that sin taxes work. Hopefully it would be coupled with increased investment in the railways

A sin tax? Literally a religion for some of you.

Air travel is less than 3 percent of total emissions so I don’t know why there is such an obsession over it.

No one likes flying, they do it to get to to their destination in a quick, efficient manner. If there was a better alternative, they’d take it (rail could be competitive but obviously it’s not as quick nor efficient as it should be)

The majority of people just don’t give a shit. They only care about themselves and money. Nothing will change that unfortunately.

'Sin tax' has long been used to describe taxes on tobacco, alcohol, sugar, gambling and other things deemed harmful to the public good.

And that's 3% of global emissions caused by a tiny number of people - most people don't fly often.

I've found rail to be a perfectly attractive option for many routes. Instead of getting up at 3am to drive to an airport to catch a cheap flight, I can travel by sleeper train throughout Europe, arriving at my destination at a sensible time in the morning, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. €80 from Brussels to Vienna including a continental breakfast.

@Tealightsandd

It's why rationing would be fairer than making all flights more expensive. Everyone gets one flight allowance a year (with exceptions for genuinely essential work and emergencies like visiting seriously ill relatives). Selling your allowance should be allowed, which would give some flexibility and pacify flying addicts.

Higher taxes won't reduce emissions. All it would do is price out average and lower income people from flying. Wealthy people would continue to frequently fly.

Thankfully that won't happen any time soon. Ridiculous.

@DdraigGoch

'Sin tax' has long been used to describe taxes on tobacco, alcohol, sugar, gambling and other things deemed harmful to the public good.

And that's 3% of global emissions caused by a tiny number of people - most people don't fly often.

I've found rail to be a perfectly attractive option for many routes. Instead of getting up at 3am to drive to an airport to catch a cheap flight, I can travel by sleeper train throughout Europe, arriving at my destination at a sensible time in the morning, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. €80 from Brussels to Vienna including a continental breakfast.

Flights are not harmful to the public good. That’s what I’m taking issue with. Also, that 3% includes all air freight, so no, not a tiny elite.

If you want to promote rail, fine. But don’t artificially restrict flying just because you don’t like it.

In fact, I’m personally afraid of flying and would rather take rail when it is more convenient and efficient. But it’s not about me.

Flights are not harmful to the public good.
They are.

Oh, here we go. Cars, planes, they are not going anywhere. If you want to go and live like an Amish person, go for it. But the rest of the world will likely not. Get over it.

I am nor sure whether planned obsolescence has been covered in this thread but if not this video. starting with the phoebus lightbulb cartel, going on to how planned obsolescence was shoehorned in as the miracle cure for depresseion, and so on explains why we have a planet full of obsolete goods which are now... heaped up piles of rubbish that are not biodegradable. He usually does science videos.

*miracle cure for The Great Depression I meant!

Oh, here we go. Cars, planes, they are not going anywhere
Good, if they're not going anywhere they won't be burning fuel or accumulating mileage which will lead to them wearing out and being replaced.

But the rest of the world will likely not. Get over it.
There we have it, human selfishness in a nutshell. It's just a shame that those who do the most damage will not be the ones unfortunate enough to be on the receiving end of this.

Selfish, the most overused word of 2020.

Just booked long haul flight for July. Can't wait. Will be jumping in my SUV from the airport, stopping off at a restaurant on the way back for a meal. A/C cranked down.

@diwrnachoflleyn

Selfish, the most overused word of 2020.

Just booked long haul flight for July. Can't wait. Will be jumping in my SUV from the airport, stopping off at a restaurant on the way back for a meal. A/C cranked down.

I wouldn't call anyone selfish, other than with dc I am by nature fairly hedonistic. But what I have realised is that we can have a good life and also stop using fossil fuels and change fishing and farming practices and stop planned obsolescence. We are being manipulated by big business and this has gone on since the late 1800s. I have a SUV and I love the A/C. I think I would love it just as much if it ran on renewables and replaced worn interiors etc rather than replacing the entire car. People think this is cloud cuckoo land, but in fact, it appears it is not.

I’d like to be hopeful for the sake of my kids. But I do feel it is hopeless given all the recent headlines. It blows my mind to see people consuming more and more and more without a thought to what happens with all the old stuff they discard. And please don’t get me started on all the plastic bits included with lateral flow test kits, it’s unbelievable and they’re all going to landfill 🤯

I haven't seen the documentary. Did it mention mining ocean beds for the metals and minerals needed to produce batteries for so-called eco cars? We are being blindsided by the move to electric vehicles - they are not the answer.

@misscockerspaniel

I haven't seen the documentary. Did it mention mining ocean beds for the metals and minerals needed to produce batteries for so-called eco cars? We are being blindsided by the move to electric vehicles - they are not the answer.

You see this is what i mean. We get Attenborough telling us that something must be done urgently but not WHAT exactly. We need an intelligent congruent comprehensive list and then someone can raise public awareness of that, and the exact consequences when if we don't - what is likely to happen and how quickly (like - too much nitrate in waterways which will mean undrinkable water when? how fast arctic and antartica ice is melting and the exact affect on weather and air temperature when? loss of ocean diversity and multiplication of jellyfish, etc etc when? and WHAT exactly world leaders need to do in terms of laws and big business restrictions and compliance to prevent all this so that we know what is supposed to be being done and can make informed choices

It needs top down intervention. People are too selfish to stop driving their SUVS, replacing their kitchens every 5 minutes and of course covid has set back the prevention of plastic pollution by years. Unless governments step in with tough rules and make manufacturers make sustainable repairable products, nothing will change.

But will all the governments of the world agree? Some hope.

Selfish, the most overused word of 2020

Nah, it was safe. Selfish is a close second though.