I don’t disagree with the sentiment or any of the data.

But what actionable steps can an individual take that will actually affect the “it’ll be worse tomorrow” outcome?

I feel like there’s more resources put towards marketing that there’s a problem rather than coming up with practical steps people can do. And not picking on vegans but “turning vegan” isn’t really an acceptable answer for a industrial society.

Installing solar panels is something that I view as actionable by almost anyone. Battery is a bit out of reach. There’s questions to be asked about how sustainable that all is but in terms of getting people onboard, lower outgoings is a mighty big pull compared to endless impending doom articles.

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kulahan 16 hours ago | parent | next [-]

In the US, the midterm elections are absolutely, 100% your chance to show what you care about.

Write and call your local leadership. You cannot do much as an individual. But if you convince your local leadership (city, county, state, etc.) to consider nuclear, geothermal, solar, and wind where possible, you can be part of an enormous tidal wave of good.

edit: If you're hoping for a "what can I do TODAY" type of thing, write or call. They hardly ever get anything but emails and internet comments. Hell, go downtown for a visit. This is one of the best ways for a politician to know what their constituents care about. If people start showing up to your door with the same complaint, you'll fix it knowing it'll make happy all of those highly enthusiastic people (probably enthusiastic enough to vote in my reelection campaign!), things move much faster.

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grebc 11 hours ago | parent | next [-]

I'm not based in the US, so your upcoming vote doesn't matter me. But the general idea of write/interact with your local representative I think warrants more attention.

Just actual practical advice is all I'm after, as mentioned it's never quite laid out in simple steps. More just doom at 6 o'clock. Never having kids. We're all fucked(which I don't believe is the outcome we'll end up at).

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piloto_ciego 16 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

I hate to be a "debbie downer" with regard to the politics of this, but... the mid terms aren't going to change what happens with the environment, even if the Dems got a super majority.

There's a global war on, we're not going to be burning less Jet A or Diesel any time soon... The left will not be able to disengage from Iran no matter how much they want to now because of the ramifications of the IRGC controlling the global oil supply. Along with that, because prices are high companies and nation states are hyper incentivized to drill more to try to get as much oil as they can since it is scarce, so it's not like we're going to stop exploration now.

The high prices might deter some use, but probably not as much as we'd need. But yeah, the day Russia invaded Ukraine most of my dreams of decarbonization evaporated. You can't fight a war with one hand tied behind your back - and it's only gotten worse since then.

Now, electing the Dems might staunch the bleeding some, but this is going to get much much worse before it gets better. Bear in mind that a ton of people are likely going to starve as a result of the increased gas prices? So there's that too... The whole thing is a mess.

Now, what to do about it? I don't know, I live in Alaska, my state will probably come out better from this whole mess on a 30 year time horizon? But I expect the salmon runs to be much smaller and the forest fire season to be much worse year after year. On the bright side, we might end up solving a lot of chemistry and health issues with the open fold stuff, and we might get cheap access to space, which could change things a lot? But things are going to be quite weird.

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kulahan 15 hours ago | parent [-]

I didn't say anything about the Dems, and a huge number of them suck on environment. I said you should vote for nuclear, geothermal, wind, and solar.

People in America aren't nearly as likely to starve because of gas prices. If you live in the middle of nowhere, you've got land for growing and/or hunting if legal. If you live in a city, there's food everywhere (even if much of it is unhealthy).

We're going through a rough period whether we like it or not. The milk is on the floor. What we can do is work to limit how bad it will get. There's nothing you personally can do beyond getting the right people in the right seats. We need regulations and investments.

Edit: It's also super weird how many people are like, actively downplaying the most powerful right almost any standard citizen anywhere holds. Is this what the kids are thinking these days? I certainly hope not.

	▲	piloto_ciego 15 hours ago \| parent [-]
		> I didn't say anything about the Dems, and a huge number of them suck on environment. I said you should vote for nuclear, geothermal, wind, and solar. Oh I agree with that, but the NIMBYs aren't going to get out of the way of any of those technologies likely in the next decade or 2... while I'm genuinely optimistic for the world, I expect things to get a lot worse before they get better at least environmentally. > People in America aren't nearly as likely to starve because of gas prices. If you live in the middle of nowhere, you've got land for growing and/or hunting if legal. If you live in a city, there's food everywhere (even if much of it is unhealthy). America will be fine, but there's going to be people in the global south die from this war that couldn't find Hormuz on a map if their life depended on it. It's an unmitigated tragedy, but I suppose war always is. > We're going through a rough period whether we like it or not. The milk is on the floor. What we can do is work to limit how bad it will get. There's nothing you personally can do beyond getting the right people in the right seats. We need regulations and investments. And I'm saying, "sure" you can vote blue or whatever, and I plan on it. The both sides thing is a farce, clearly one side is objectively worse... however I think nothing will likely change materially regardless of who wins this fall. > Edit: It's also super weird how many people are like, actively downplaying the most powerful right almost any standard citizen anywhere holds. Is this what the kids are thinking these days? I certainly hope not. This certainly isn't your most powerful "right" (if there are such things). But I probably can't really delineate what the "most powerful rights" are without getting into trouble on this forum.

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ZeroGravitas 5 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Just following your doctor's advice on diet (less red meat) might have 10-20% of the impact of switching to an EV for an average American.

The are diminishing returns to going full vegan from a greenhouse gas standpoint, beef and cheese are the big ones.

In general individual choices don't matter but helping kick of a cultural trend does. It's the same wierd logic as voting, no individual vote counts but voting matters.

Techies should really be leading the way on installing solar, heat pumps, induction hobs and EVs and in fact often are.

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tito 17 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

I'm curious about this too. This upcoming El Niño, the cost impact is expected to be 4x the worst El Nino humanity has ever seen...

I'm putting together an event next Wednesday, We should have climate scientist Zeke Hausfather there to weigh in: https://luma.com/tu0uvbx1

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spwa4 22 minutes ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Vote in a new set of people's favorite politicians? Oh great.

Haven't we been doing that since the original UN IPCC report in 1990?

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mping 9 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

I'm not vegan, but what's wrong with turning vegan as a suggestion for an industrial society?

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grebc 6 hours ago | parent [-]

Society isn’t going to change change what they eat unless forced to do so.

Not what I’m asking.

	▲	aziaziazi 3 hours ago \| parent [-]
		What makes you think your current society won't change in the future ? Looking at the past, societies did changed a lot. Indeed, "Force" is often used : I'm forced by the law to not use slavery workforce, or to not eat an endangered species. I'm peer-forced to consider people with disability in the code I produce, but not yet law-forced, although that is probably going to change soon.