> The community around you seems to be more progressive than most other populations
Or more than likely they are better at hiding their consumption habits: I agree that all of those things help, many of which I do myself, but chances are they are buying new devices every new product release cycle (because why not?) and likely spend lots of times on social media showing off that quinoa salad they had for lunch, all if which require immense amounts of energy in servers alone that make all of things they do on the individual level moot.
I think the sooner we realize we are all culpable because the system is designed that way the sooner we can analyze this situation is untenable if all we focus on such low hanging fruit that not able to address the crux of the issue: self-serving politics holds back the major amount of progress.
Germany is perhaps the biggest example of how Green-window dressing is ultimately setting you up for catastrophic failure when you align your energy dependence to an authoritarian despot in an attempt to outsourcing the dirty parts that keep your economy working.
> At least this (majority) of people in Europe is mentally prepared to use much less energy than their parent’s generation, and the little remainder should be renewable. They accept the deflation that it represents. They’d be happy to be poor for those political ideals of leaving a healed earth to the next generation.
I've lived and farmed in Eco-communes and Agro tourism in EU, and I can guarantee you this is not a widely held value system; most of the business models rely on people's conspicuous consumption habits, and while it's true most are Boomers age wise, the younger cohorts (like myself) also enjoy traveling and experiencing other things that are quite energy intensive. I accept this fact, and have reduced my consumption in order to justify these things in addition to have spent a lot of time focused farming and building my startup to support and advancing carbon sequestration as well as worked in making my activism profitable by working for farm to table kitchens etc...
It's easy for me to justify any overt consumption habits for most of my Life as I'm likely carbon negative on an individual level, but the truth is that I derive no pleasure from consumption but I ultimately I accept that denying these externalaties is how we remain stagnant and rationalize things into indifference.
Or more than likely they are better at hiding their consumption habits: I agree that all of those things help, many of which I do myself, but chances are they are buying new devices every new product release cycle (because why not?) and likely spend lots of times on social media showing off that quinoa salad they had for lunch, all if which require immense amounts of energy in servers alone that make all of things they do on the individual level moot.
I think the sooner we realize we are all culpable because the system is designed that way the sooner we can analyze this situation is untenable if all we focus on such low hanging fruit that not able to address the crux of the issue: self-serving politics holds back the major amount of progress.
Germany is perhaps the biggest example of how Green-window dressing is ultimately setting you up for catastrophic failure when you align your energy dependence to an authoritarian despot in an attempt to outsourcing the dirty parts that keep your economy working.
> At least this (majority) of people in Europe is mentally prepared to use much less energy than their parent’s generation, and the little remainder should be renewable. They accept the deflation that it represents. They’d be happy to be poor for those political ideals of leaving a healed earth to the next generation.
I've lived and farmed in Eco-communes and Agro tourism in EU, and I can guarantee you this is not a widely held value system; most of the business models rely on people's conspicuous consumption habits, and while it's true most are Boomers age wise, the younger cohorts (like myself) also enjoy traveling and experiencing other things that are quite energy intensive. I accept this fact, and have reduced my consumption in order to justify these things in addition to have spent a lot of time focused farming and building my startup to support and advancing carbon sequestration as well as worked in making my activism profitable by working for farm to table kitchens etc...
It's easy for me to justify any overt consumption habits for most of my Life as I'm likely carbon negative on an individual level, but the truth is that I derive no pleasure from consumption but I ultimately I accept that denying these externalaties is how we remain stagnant and rationalize things into indifference.