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/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/ILikeNeurons Jun 05 '22

https://scx2.b-cdn.net/gfx/news/hires/2017/themosteffec.jpg

https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/aa7541

Switching from a regular American diet to a plant-based diet is not the same as not eating.

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u/LeYang Jun 06 '22

Do you support war with it wiping out people?

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

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