Ask Lemmy

Not to derail this, because hey, nothing wrong with prepping/trying to help your community. But let's not forget that 100 companies are responsible for 70% of emissions since 1988.

Woah, seems like I started something. I specifically said there was nothing wrong with doing your part, but that we shouldn't forget it's not our fault.

Sold my car, eat a plant based diet, talk to people about climate change and what they can do, change pensions, investments etc. to greener banks. I imagine the majority of my carbon footprint is probably from electricity now. I'd like to get involved with local green politics at some point but it's something I haven't really done yet.

• Advocate for more and denser housing. If you can walk to the store you don’t need to drive. Housing policy is climate policy.
• Advocate for public and non-automobile transit. EVs will not save us. Busses, trains, and bikes will.
• Ask tough questions at work about sustainability. Are we carbon neutral? What can we do to find out?

I'm poor. So I ride the train to/from work, even though it's 4x (or more) longer than driving.

That's all I can afford at the moment.

I attend public meetings with my city's officials with the goal of encouraging the development of bicycle infrastructure. Ped and public transit too.

I plan on killing myself if it gets some dystopian type shit where I have to suck water from cockroaches titty or some shit.

I am working with a neighborhood organization to improve tree canopy in my urban area. I got involved with my neighborhood association and another org in an effort to build and strengthen my community. I would love to take more action but I’m not sure what or how. Starting to see now that working together with people helps make us more resilient.

I’m very interested in plants and growing food, which I think is valuable skill now and will only get more valuable. I would love to find ways to adapt agriculture to a shifting climate.

Another thing I’m doing which is simpler is some basic disaster preparedness. I have 20 gallons of water and a big box of non perishable food in my shed, and my wife and I have a plan of where to meet up in an emergency. It’s not “doomsday prepping” just a modest bit of preparation.

I think the key to greater change in ourselves and our communities is through small changes. Thats the way to get me prepared for bigger changes that might be required further on down the road. So I do the following things for myself and to maybe influence others in feasible ways:

1. Low-meat diet - do a vegetarian or pescatarian day every now and then, and reduce overall meat intake (I still love meat but save high meat days for special occasions)

2. Switch up transportation on nice weather days. I have a car, motorcycle, and e-bike. The car is used primarily for trips that are in inclement weather, when I need extra safety (sketchy area, at night, or I'm not feeling well), or need to haul stuff. I use the motorcycle and ebike for everything else. Less/no emissions and puts me in a great mood.

3. Always have camping utensils, thermos, and bags. Reusable bags for tons of situations. Camping utensils replace disposable utensils at eateries. Thermos for my bevs so no need to buy plastic bottled bevs or use plastic cups. I also always take my own food containers with me to restaurants and use those instead of the restaurants for take home leftovers and let me tell you - they really appreciate that.

4. Thrift my outfits. Online and traditional thrift stores. I sell them for cheap on online sites or donate when I get tired of them. About half my wardrobe is thrifted.

5. Be kind to others and myself. I think this is the most important thing. A good feeling goes a long way towards caring about bigger and bigger things. Keeps us all connected.

I started to become politically involved in a non-partisan, very low key way: I started approaching politicians, ask them for meetings and very kindly but determined ask about their agenda for climate protection. For that I connected with CCL-D (Germany) and ccl-eu (Europe) as well as with a local group, so we don't operate in a vacuum. This is surprisingly efficient and while it requires some preparation and social skills, I works well for me.

I've swapped planes for trains, omnivore diet for vegan, I travel by bus in my everyday life, and am a member of a car collective for those few times a year I actually need a car myself.

I don't preach any of these things, but I talk about it / mention it when it's brought up. Everyone somewhat close to me knows about my lifestyle. My philosophy is to show it's not only possible to live like I am, but that I can still enjoy my life to the fullest in doing so.

I also support local organisations and political movements financially, and vote for the parties I believe have the best plans for the future.

Nothing. From India where the people are more concerned about getting food on the plate and the government is busy instigating hatred for power. We're colossally fucked.

The single most effective thing you could possibly do for the planet, and something that’s dead simple and basically free: not having any children.

I am experimenting with various lifestyle choices that lower carbon footprint. It's just me, of course, so a drop in a very large bucket in the grand scheme of things, but I figure you need to work some of these things out yourself before you know what to advocate to others?

A few things include:

• Cycling. I used to be a hardcore traditional cyclist but have taken to ebiking in recent years. Maybe a higher environmental footprint if you compare apples to apples, but what I've found is that I ebike far more than I ever regular-biked (it's actually quite fun!), and that many trips that used to involve a car no longer do. My current experiment is trying out a fat-tire ebike to see if it's better suited to winter riding as some claim? They certainly are a comfy commute!
• My home has gas central heating + baseboard electric in certain rooms. So I am experimenting with having the gas heat set low and spot heating certain rooms with electric to see what that does to my bills? Further down the line, I'm contemplating a heat pump to replace central A/C and get some winter heating that way.
• I am eating a lot less meat. Seems like a simple enough thing to do that I have read has an outsized benefit where climate is concerned? Doesn't mean I'm always eating healthy, mind you. But if I'm at a Taco Bell, I'll order the bean burrito instead of beef.

In terms of adapting, I have been experimenting with various neck-cooling devices. The jury is still out at this point, but they all seem to help with heat exhaustion to which I am rather prone.

I know that i break with the general vibes in this thread. I think climat change has gone too far too fast, and I don't think there is any we as induviduals can do to stop it now. The politcians in my country talk about trying to limit plastic shopping bags and limiting driving by upping toll roads to hurt average Joe's wallet to stop people from driving. In the mean time the tourist cruise industry were allowing to visit our ports are poluting more than the european car park combined. They are just going after the group with the smalles lobbiest group and the frewest layewers to green wash their next political cycle.

Anyways rant over. I have invested most of my money in devidens and i'm looking into buying a bigger property in to one of the few places in europe that scientists have estimated to be the least affected by climate change. Once I find something big enought we will move up north and beg to what ever is out there that mankind can invent something to revert the damage we have done.

i ride my ebike everywhere around town, unfortunately thats the most i can do right now. betting on something giving with the huge corps thwt have made us think that the everyday person can make a large impact on climate change over them

I'm volunteering at a thrift store. We recycle and repurpose tons of clothing, furniture and household items. By volunteering I get to use my "maker" repairing skills to keep things out of the landfill. Plus I get first dibs on incoming items!

I live near one of the Great Lakes (Michigan) and plan to continue to do so. They're an enormous source of fresh water and will be the least horrible place to survive the impending water scarcity implosion of our wasteful civilization. IIRC one climate change model predicted that the UP of Michigan will be the most comfortable place to live in the US in about 100 years so maybe I'll move up there eventually.

Buy used cars and try not to generate a ton of waste.

No car, went vegan. Chose a place of living that allows to commute by bike. No more flights for vacation. No more flights for work unless other options are absolutely not manageable. Chose a 100% wind electricity provider. Voting for parties that take climate crisis seriously.

Bought an EV. Got solar panels. Moving towards energy storage options.

Looking out and voting for politicians and policies focusing on sustainability and better transportation infrastructure. Research companies that are inventing new ways to be less dependent on fossil fuels. Watch out for companies that greenwash and don’t truly take action about their climate incentives.

The small things I do in my life is walk to the grocery store rather than drive. I am lucky enough to live near one.

I have not purchased any fast fashion in years.

I try to avoid plastic packaging and reuse plastic bags or bring my own bags for shopping.

No car, plane rides or children. I also eat less meat than average, rarely buy new (or used) stuff and vote for one of the greener parties.

I grew up (first world) poor, so this was just the way things were, when I was a child. My income is still quite low but I could absolutely live more lavishly than I do now, if I wanted to.

My wife and I are moving to Central America next year. Once we get there, we're going to be building a partially off-grid house: electricity from solar panels with on-grid fallback, water from a spring on the property, and solar water heating. We're hoping we'll be able to grow most of our own veggies and compost whatever we possibly can.

Unfortunately, we'll need a gas-powered vehicle due to rough terrain and a severe lack of EV charging capabilities in the area. That being said, we don't drive very often at all here in the US and I expect we'll drive even less once we're down there.

Trees are a great idea. As much shade as possible.

• not having children
• not buying obviously useless crap (i.e. does one really need a motion-activated, LED illuminated salt-and-pepper shaker?)
• use things as long as possible, including repairing things
• combine errands when using the car instead of doing these errands separately - this saves time and gasoline

I got solar panels with battery backup to help with preventing climate change, but now that I think about it, it could help with preparing as well. I also got a drainage system with sump pump in the foundation of my house to prepare for climate change, it had already come in handy due to heavier rain. I started supporting local farmers through our Community Supported Agriculture program.