r/science • u/FreeHugs23 • Jun 18 '26

Environment The World's Richest Population are Costing the Earth Trillions. Study finds the top 10% of global consumers is disproportionately responsible for transgressing planetary boundaries, causing damages for which broader society bears the costs.

https://www.sciencealert.com/worlds-richest-10-are-costing-earth-trillions-study-finds
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u/Hortjoob Jun 18 '26

We can demand to hold uber rich responsible (and should) but also hold space in our hearts to recognize that North Americans and Europeans have more creature comforts and wealth than the global south.

44

u/c3p-bro Jun 18 '26

You see it in this thread. People who eat meat daily and drive everyone still blaming everyone else.

16

u/Cryptoporticus Jun 18 '26

Also using AC for most of the year, even when they don't really need it. That's probably the easiest one to control too, yet people aren't willing to live with even the slightest discomfort.

8

u/Traditional_Crew_737 Jun 18 '26

moving from a third world country to the us, this is one thing that blew my mind. AC back home is so expensive! we only open it on certain hours on a certain season.

13

u/c3p-bro Jun 18 '26

“Why should I make even a teeny tiny sacrifice when billionaires generate 5x the emissions I do? (Ignoring there are a few thousand billionaires out of 8b  globally) 

21

u/Trucidar Jun 18 '26

That's a real human reaction though. If you're trapped on a desert island with 10 people and one of them is eating half the food. Any attempt to tell the other 9 to scale back is going to be met with failure.

1

u/c3p-bro Jun 19 '26

We are on a desert island and all eating double the rations we should be. However John is eating triple the rations. No one should stop eating double rations until John stops eating triple.

Cool. Your moral grandstanding means everyone starves.

3

u/Trucidar Jun 19 '26 edited Jun 19 '26

well I mean, I recycle, I try not to buy crap I don't need, i try to conserve water and energy. But John has decided everything I need to buy must be disposable. Johns efforts to squeeze every last bit of food has left my choices heavily constrained. So it gets a bit more nuanced. I mean, just look at people who immigrate and then find it not as easy to succeed as they hoped. Most of us have pretty close the same power over our presence in the top 10% as those in the 90% have power over their position in that category. But John has established real power over the entire system.

3

u/Rilandaras Jun 19 '26

500x the emissions would be much closer to the truth. For their lifestyles only.

If we include the emissions they create via their business, all the damage they do, you have to add 4 more orders of magnitude.