You can buy precut pineapple in a plastic jar, on a plasic plate, packed in a cardboard box covered in plastic, on a pallet, wrapped in plastic,... and on the other hand we ban plastic straws.
Now we're literally burning coal in some places, heating water, running the turbines, creating electricity, losing a lot of that power in the wires, to heat a metal disk/spiral, so we can cook, and cook worse than using eg. gas directly.
similarly, most natural gas is used for power generation and industrial processes. in the US, only ~15% is used residentially, and most of that is for home heating, water heating, and clothes drying. about 1/3 of our national energy use is derived from natural gas, so you're on the order of 1% (or less) of national energy being consumed by natural gas cooking. it's a tiny problem in the energy pollution mix.
we'd be much better served in this regard by focusing all our efforts on reducing carbon pollution from electricity production and transportation, which accounts for well over half of the problem, not a tiny slice like gas cooking because it's a "small sacrifice".
False. Wearing masks is a very simple, safe way to reduce spreading your infection to others [1].
Please stop spreading misinformation.
1. https://www.ucsf.edu/news/2020/06/417906/still-confused-abou...
You'll have to do better than that. Yes, outdoor use was probably a waste of time. I would also say it was worth doing until we had data. But then, what else? Outdoor use is just a fraction. How do you get from that to 99%?
And if you live with someone it's pretty hard to avoid spreading sickness with just a mask.
What percentage of transmission do you think happened between friends and family that don't live together?
And you didn't even mention the workplace, which I would expect to be a huge issue and also a big chunk of mask use.
It's possible that the things you're saying are right but you need a lot more evidence of transmission rates in different situations.
in a similar vein, at the office, only large meetings are really a potential problem (for which you can mask or teleconference), but not appropriately-spaced meetings or sitting at a desk with appropriate distance to the next person. for retail workers in potentially close contact with a large number of the public daily (time elongated through multiple people), then a mask can have mitigative effect, but patrons can just distance from each other.
[0]: note also that the virus decays as a function of time, on the order of minutes outside the body.
Maybe we shouldn't approach this with blanket bans because people have different preferences and lifestyles. A ban that is easy for one person to swallow might not be so easy for another. Perhaps we could just price stuff in, so that people can decide? Although, I suppose that would just disproportionately affect poor people..?
Who are you to say that my mild inconveniences are more mild than yours?
A few years old. I broke my previous one on accident.
> Your computer?
I got it for free from a coworker and I really don't know how old it is. I think it is from 2016 or so.
> Your car?
1991.
> Have you updated them in the last 5 years?
No,
> Do you play video games?
Yes, on my computer my coworker gave me. Seems to run everything just fine, even though its 5 years old!
> On anything newer than a PS3/Xbox One? Or are you a true environmentalist still gaming on a SNES?
See above.
> Watch films?
Sometimes?
> Ever take a drive to clear your mind?
No.
> Ever drive somewhere you could have theoretically walked, or taken public transit?
Sometimes, but only in a pinch.
> Do you buy all your books pre-owned?
Yes.
> Ever purchase the "collectors edition" of something with some included trinkets/posters/box set?
No.
That is the point of my post. It’s really not that hard to consume less if it is important to you.
There is a ton of free, nearly free, and cheap shit out there that works just fine. It’s not that difficult to use it. I’m not behind economically, my friends think I’m a little weird but whatever- almost everyone I know gets it.
Every time you commute to work, you produce more CO2 than my gas stove does in months.
Every time you fly on a plane (which I do only if I absolutely have to), you produce more CO2 than my stove will in its entire lifetime.
Transportation is an area where changes in behavior can make a significant difference in energy consumption and CO2 production. Gas cooking is probably not.