You get a bunch of normal people (i.e. 'peasants' if you wish) sitting around talking about how to save the environment while eating fruit grown in a faraway land and trucked to them in a refrigerated truck.
Everyone wants to say the solution is that other people should change the way they do things, not themselves.
Too many people aren't willing to accept this simple fact: the standard of living in the cushy societies of the Western middle class is completely and utterly unsustainable. And probably never will be. Avoiding environmental degradation is simply not possible without a major quality of life reduction.
But I think both collectively and individually we are unwilling to make the required sacrifices. You're right, the actions of one person don't make a significant change, but they do make some change. If everyone who said they were deeply concerned about the environment started to make the changes that are required, we'd start to make a dent. And perhaps have a larger effect than themselves.
But they won't. We're all mostly just hoping that massive change doesn't happen until after we die.
Including externalities would be an interesting path. I don't know what that would realistically look like though. Gas tax?
Just the effect of making less green options more expensive would help, but of course this would be even better if the money collected from such a tax was used to invest in green infrastructure which could balance the original pollution.
In seriousness, carbon emissions are overwhelmingly emitted from large corporations and state level actors (like the military). Which isn't to say that people shouldn't do what they can to reduce their own carbon footprint, but the world won't be saved if everyone buys local and starts biking to work.
Good quote. But, if everyone buys local and starts biking to work, why would the oil companies keep producing as much oil?
I have friends who eat vegan, eat more local foods, have cut down meat consumption, avoid travel (yes, before COVID), are reducing their plastic use to near zero, and so on. Few are taking all of that on but some are and there are many other ideas I've heard people taking on.
We keep a garden alongside getting the rest of our vegetables from a local farmer who produces far into the winter via a CSA. We have started replacing some meat consumption with egg consumption from the chickens we keep. We do other things but we definitely have more opportunities. There have been some really nice shifts in perception as our reduced consumption has reduced our stresses and lifted our wealth trajectory.
Consider: could you be hosting some social norms and exhibit some behaviors that keep you from interaction with such people?
[edit: s/eat a vegan/eat vegan/]
Hilariously opposite to the intended message. Sorry, I just found it very funny, have an upvote to make up for my shitpost reply.
I believe in leading by example rather than leading by dictate. Others seeing what's actually possible is far more encouraging of change than pointy fingers and harsh words.