LogFAQs > #958143125

Right off the bat, I'm ignoring people who deny the existence of climate change as a problem to address. This is for those who acknowledge the reality of climate change and believe it is worth addressing.

The fact is the average person seems to be doing very little to mitigate their personal contributions to the problem. Is it because they don't actually know what has the greatest impact, or because the things with the greatest impact are hardest to give up?

Very, very few people seem willing to take up actions that have the most significant impact on personal energy demands (forego having an additional child, forego excessive recreational air travel).

Many people will opt for LED light bulbs, use reusable shopping bags, and recycle what they can. Yet these actions have barely any impact compared to the rest, and can essentially be ignored from the equation.

You often hear people argue that vegetarian or vegan diets are the only way to save the planet (this is from a climate change point of view, I'm ignoring moral arguments here). While true that greatly reducing or eliminating consumption of the most inefficient meats (cattle, goat, but goat isn't very common in the USA so I'm focusing on beef) has a significant effect, going the step further of completely eliminating all meat or animal products is less beneficial.

Realistically, going from an "average American diet" to "same diet, but replace beef with chicken" is nearly as effective as going vegan. So yes, eliminating beef is a good plan. Go vegetarian or vegan if you want, and yes it helps to some extent, but that additional step truly isn't making as much of a difference as one is led to believe.

What would actually save the planet (in addition to reducing beef consumption) is taking actions that truly reduce personal emissions.
-have fewer children
-take fewer plane trips
-give up single family housing and opt for denser, energy-efficient multi-family complexes (this also facilitates the next point)
-forego as much personal vehicle travel as possible, living close to work/shopping centers so you can walk, bike, or take public transportation for your errands and work commute

Sure, electric vehicles are a great alternative to burning gasoline. But they're only as clean as the source of their energy. Reducing personal vehicle trips and using alternate travel options would also provide people with more physical activity, but that could be an entire topic by itself.


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