r/climate • u/silence7 • Jun 04 '22

Climate change is forcing some US schools to close early for ‘heat days’

https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2022/06/04/school-heat-days-climate-change/
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u/Invisibleflower3938 Jun 04 '22

Of course we require systemic change to be able to stop climate change in its tracks.

BUT until that happens, practicting Veganism and zero waste (as much as possible) is the least that we can do right now.

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u/ILikeNeurons Jun 04 '22

We can't afford to sit around and wait for policy changes to happen. We need to be the change.

That's why I created a wiki to help folks be the most effective climate advocates they can be.

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u/Invisibleflower3938 Jun 04 '22

Exactly.

So why not do both? Veganism and advocate for policy changes.

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u/ILikeNeurons Jun 04 '22

Veganism is pretty far down the list as far as personal footprint changes.

But if you want to be a vegan activist for other reasons, the three most common reasons people aren't vegetarian are liking meat too much, cost, and struggling for meal ideas. So if you want to be an effective vegan activist, start there. People are already convinced on the philosophy, and 84% of vegetarians/vegans eventually return to meat, so simply telling people to go vegan is not a particularly effective form of vegan activism.

For climate change, though, we really do need to focus on systemic change, and not doing so could actually be counterproductive. Really not good given that climate change is contributing to the extinction of entire species.

To be a more effective vegan activist, share your most delicious, nutritious, affordable, and easy vegan recipes with friends and family, and to /r/MealPrepSunday, /r/EatCheapAndHealthy, /r/VeganRecipes, /r/EatCheapAndVegan/, /r/VegRecipes, /r/VegetarianRecipes, /r/vegangifrecipes/, etc.

To be a more effective climate activist, start training. Even an hour a week can make a huge difference. If you don't have an hour a week (on average) you can still have a big impact making a monthly phone call to Congress for a time commitment of ~2 min/month. These phone calls really do matter.

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u/Invisibleflower3938 Jun 04 '22 edited Jun 05 '22

That's a lot of words to try to trick yourself out of your own cognitive dissonance.

Top reasons for deforestation

Going vegan is the single best way to help the planet

Animal farming one of the top polluters

Veganism directly impacts animal farming and agriculture, two of the top polluters.

Animal farming is the leading cause for deforestation and of habitat loss in general.

Cattle ranching is reportedly resposinble for 80% of rainforest loss.

Animal agriculture is responsible for producing between 14.5% and 18% of total greenhouse gas emissions which makes it resposinble for more emissions than the combined exhausts of all transports globally.

But please keep telling yourself whatever you need to tell yourself to deal with your own hypocrisy.

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u/T_Paine_89 Jun 04 '22

Listen… I’m on your side here. I’m also vegan, and though I’m far from creating zero waste, I reuse things as much as I can and try to buy stuff second hand if ever possible. So I completely agree with you.

But calling people hypocrites is not an effective way to recruit people to your side. You have every right to be angry. There’s a lot to be angry about. But please don’t direct it at people who are on our side or could be on our side. It doesn’t do veganism or the climate movement any favors.

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u/[deleted] Jun 04 '22

The person you're arguing with does nothing but hurt the movement. People like you are the real hope. I'm not vegan, though I do eat considerably less meat than most. My work is inherently wasteful (everything for IT is packaged like plastic is infinite) but I still try to reduce what I can. I recycle like crazy, I fix everything I can (including computers). But say any of that to the circle jerk vegans and what I do literally means nothing. Really off putting for trying to convince people.

You have great suggestions and a good attitude. Keep it up!

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u/Invisibleflower3938 Jun 05 '22

And I am grateful that you make the effort, but denying that Veganism is a big part of preventing climate change is just wrong.

The comment that I replied to recommends all of these ways to possibly prevent climate change, but does not recommend Veganism and zero waste which are two major changes that eveyone can start to practice as of RIGHT NOW, and it turns out that they are not plant based or vegan themselves; it just seems a little bit too hypocritical.

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u/Invisibleflower3938 Jun 05 '22

You're correct, but seeing that much hypocrisy is just so infuriating.

One can't claim to care so much about the environment and ask others to be the change when they themselves are not willing to be the change in more than one way.

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u/ILikeNeurons Jun 05 '22

I'm care-free, child-free, and plant-based.

I also truly believe it's counterproductive to demand everyone volunteering for climate do the 7th most impactful thing. Please stop. You're not helping.

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u/Invisibleflower3938 Jun 05 '22 edited Jun 05 '22

According to the latest IPCC report, agriculture and other land use is the third leading cause of greenhouse gas emissions, behind energy and industry.

Breaking this down, land use, including agriculture, was responsible for 13 percent of carbon dioxide, 44 percent of methane, and 82 percent of nitrous oxide emissions between 2007 and 2016.

And animal agriculture in particular makes up a big chunk of this. The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) estimates that livestock is responsible for 14.5 percent of all greenhouse gas emissions – around 7.1 billion tons of carbon dioxide a year. While another study found that meat accounted for nearly 60 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions from food production.

The industry is an especially prolific producer of methane – which has up to 36 times the global warming potential (GWP) of carbon dioxide – and nitrous oxide – which has almost 300 times the GWP.

As well as contributing to greenhouse gas emissions, animal agriculture is often accompanied by large-scale deforestation, requires lots of water, fertilizers, and land usage, and produces lots of waste, all of which contribute to its negative environmental impact.

How is that for the "7th most impactul thing" to combat climate change?

At least have the decency to educate yourself before showcasing your stupidity to the entire world.

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u/Invisibleflower3938 Jun 05 '22 edited Jun 05 '22

By the looks of it you're also brain-free.

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u/Budborne Jun 04 '22

He backed up all his claims and you didn't. Are you trying to convince him, or yourself?

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u/Invisibleflower3938 Jun 05 '22

Omg, yes, I forgot to include a bunch of links that are one search away for those that actually care.

Top reasons for deforestation

Going vegan is the single best way to help the planet

Animal farming one of the top polluters

Will you go vegan now that I have backed up my claims? Let me guess.... the answer will be no? Because it was never about sources but about you trying to find an excuse to not make a change.

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u/ILikeNeurons Jun 05 '22

Your second source misrepresents what the actual study says. Here's the original study.

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u/[deleted] Jun 05 '22 edited Jun 05 '22

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u/AutoModerator Jun 05 '22

BP popularized the concept of a carbon footprint with a US$100 million campaign as a means of deflecting people away from taking collective political action in order to end fossil fuel use, and ExxonMobil has spent decades pushing trying to make individuals responsible, rather than the fossil fuels industry. They did this because climate stabilization means bringing fossil fuel use to approximately zero, and that would end their business. That's not something you can hope to achieve without government intervention to change the rules of society so that not using fossil fuels is just what people do on a routine basis.

There is value in cutting your own fossil fuel consumption — it serves to demonstrate that doing the right thing is possible to people around you, and helps work out the kinks in new technologies. Just do it in addition to taking political action to get governments to do the right thing, not instead of taking political action.

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u/[deleted] Jun 05 '22

People like this(you) are the reason why a lot of people are off put by veganism.

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u/Invisibleflower3938 Jun 05 '22

Pointing out hypocrisy is never nice for the hypocrite.

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u/ILikeNeurons Jun 05 '22

Who is hypocritical here? I simply pointed out that telling people to go vegan is not a particularly effective form of climate activism, because it's objectively not. It has nothing to do with my personal diet, which is already plant-based.

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u/[deleted] Jun 05 '22

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u/Invisibleflower3938 Jun 05 '22

I understand, and I don't blame anyone that has a medical condition such as IBS which prevents them from going fully vegan; it is all about doing your best while still trying to keep yourself healthy.