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climate·Climatebykalkulat

Americans misunderstand their contribution to deteriorating environment

I imagine there are many US people living in places with 100+ degree days for months in a row -- Places which seldom got above 90 a half-century ago ... who do not understand that driving a car with AC to a home with AC is making matters worse.

The situation is urgent, yet we keep hearing 2060 2050 2040 2030 deadlines as if a fix could somehow be delivered by then . BUT: If we got to zero -tomorrow- , it'd stay as it already is for centuries. Every day without HUGE changes NOW it's getting worse.

Americans misunderstand their contribution to deteriorating environmenthttps://arstechnica.com/science/2024/09/americans-misunderstand-their-contribution-to-deteriorating-environment/Open linkView original on lemmy.world
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Comments11
gravitas_deficiencyreply
sh.itjust.works

Yep. Pieces like this, while containing a kernel of truth about the imbalance of living conditions and the carbon footprints thereof, are actually more or less just sneaky pieces to get citizens angry at each other, and that’s a lot easier to pull off successfully if you point the finger across a national border.

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FundMECFSreply
lemmy.blahaj.zone

It’s a chicken and the egg problem. Most those companies would run out of buisness if the large majority of consumers made green choices.

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Match!!reply
pawb.social

those consumers often can't make choices due to being coerced by their economic circumstances

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FundMECFSreply
lemmy.blahaj.zone

Very true. As someone on 8k a year, I can very much relate.

However, people making enough money too have no excuse.

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theneverfoxreply
pawb.social

Yeah... That's not going to work, because it turns out people will in fact pay a premium for green choices

Which sounds great, except it's a lot cheaper to lie and misdirect than to be green

And you have to be real, companies will do anything before producing less. Like plastics - the companies making them won't make less plastic just because we stop using straws - they'll pivot. They'll make them cheaper, ship them further, or cut back the straws to make more disposable cups - the only way they're cutting back on plastic is if the same processes and machinery can make a biodegradable version, if the government forces them, or if they shut down in whole or in part

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Einar
lemm.ee

This is the juicy bit:

Roughly one in two Americans said they are not very or not at all exposed to environmental and climate change risks. Those perceptions contrast sharply with empirical evidence showing that climate change is having an impact in nearly every corner of the United States. A warming planet has intensified hurricanes battering coasts, droughts striking middle American farms and wildfires threatening homes and air quality across the country. And climate shocks are driving up prices of some food, like chocolate and olive oil, and consumer goods.

Americans also largely believe they do not bear responsibility for global environmental problems. Only about 15 percent of U.S. respondents said that high- and middle-income Americans share responsibility for climate change and natural destruction. Instead, they attribute the most blame to businesses and governments of wealthy countries.

TBF, I wonder if that's limited to Americans.

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magiccupcake
lemmy.world

Too be fair, it is not the choice of individual Americans to live in and be dependent on a society that was forced to become car centric and dependent.

With very few options to travel by car, and the large dominance of single family homes, we don't get many options.

Fuck people who drive gas guzzling trucks and giant suvs though. That is just unnecessary. But again car manufacturers have been slowly convincing Americans to purchase larger more expensive suvs for obvious reasons.

This issue is absolutely a governmental policy choice, and one that is continuing to be upheld.

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VeganPizza69 Ⓥ
lemmy.vg

Americans also largely believe they do not bear responsibility for global environmental problems. Only about 15 percent of US respondents said that high- and middle-income Americans share responsibility for climate change and natural destruction. Instead, they attribute the most blame to businesses and governments of wealthy countries.

You have to admit that PR has done its job well.

Those survey responses suggest that at least half of Americans may not feel they have any skin in the game when it comes to addressing global environmental problems, according to Geoff Dabelko, a professor at Ohio University and expert in environmental policy and security.

"American exceptionalism"

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booly
sh.itjust.works

who do not understand that driving a car with AC to a home with AC is making matters worse.

For what it's worth, globally, heating buildings accounts for more than 4 times as much CO2 emissions as cooling buildings. Yes, this ratio might shift as the world warms, but the lower hanging fruit for climate change is to make heating more efficient and less impactful, not necessarily to focus those efforts on how we cool our homes.

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Americans misunderstand their contribution to deteriorating environment | Spyke