Yes. Companies can conduct themselves unethically, but that doesn’t absolve customers who are the source of demand for unethical products.
We must condemn equally the rhino poachers and the horn-buyers.
We must condemn equally the rhino poachers and the horn-buyers.
There are plenty of choices that are obviously better. Buy a bike rather than a car. A small house rather than a big one. Holiday locally rather than flying.
Everyone can make some positive change. It doesn't have to be perfect. It just needs to move the needle, and in doing so we can unlock the next layer of feasible actions.
To be clear, I do think everyone is capable of making positive change in this way but just 'moving the needle' isn't nearly enough and I don't see why we can't simultaneously push for a very sensible carbon tax and additional environmental protections.
Especially since the biggest polluting companies are so big because everyone buys from them and there are not many alternatives. Saying the problem is that we are buying from these companies seems as much a "darn consumers, amirite?" shrug.
Point is- we should do both. But expecting all consumers to be able to make an informed choice about the entire ecological effects of every product is not possible when there often isn't information or a choice. Especially since under the current system companies are actively incentives to pollute as much as possible since they don't pay the cost of cleanup, and to lie about it with glitzy ads and campaigns.
Oil is a dense fuel source that is easily transported. If we somehow magically permanently capped all current and future oil wells today we'd be in the middle of a crisis that would dwarf any concerns we might have about climate change down the road. We're making great progress on renewable energy sources, but we're not there yet. More protests isn't going to change that. Personally I wish we'd go all-in on nuclear power and work to remove the road blocks that make that so expensive and take so long to bring up new power plants, so that we could add that to the mix and get to the point where a complete loss of the flow of oil wouldn't end civilization as we know it.
Why are these not worth protesting over? And yes, oil companies are forcing it on us by blocking progress for renewables paying off politicians and using fracking which is one of the most polluting things possible.
Nobody is suggesting we turn off all oil wells immediately. But the pace of progress is FAR too slow given that we've known the issues since the 60s.
How do you suggest getting renewable energy plants constructed if not via protests