Comment by rapnie | Hacker News Reader

Comment by rapnie | Hacker News Reader

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> It's not at all about individual action. This scale of problem requires policy intervention and investment at national levels, and inter-governmental coordination internationally.

It is all about individual action. And then the emergence from that to what amounts to the multi-pronged solutions that are needed to address a wicked problem. Like create the "big meaningful wins" you mention. There is no mailbox where you drop off "stop the use of coal", and it happens, neither is there a magic button. A complicating factor is that we are not able to see how our small individual actions contribute to solving the wicked problems, and we are not able to coordinate them at scale.

Individual action definitely doesn't hurt, but it is not enough.

You and all your friends could install solar and batteries and drive EVs and all the energy consumption for your house, cooking, and travel could be totally green and renewable. That's great! But in the US in 2025, 63% of energy consumption is commercial+industrial [1].

National policies need to be set to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and deforestation through clean alternatives, subsidies, regulation, and probably treaties. If you can make green cheaper and/or a better product functionally, you don't have to convince people.

  [1] <https://www.eia.gov/energyexplained/electricity/use-of-electricity.php>
  [2] <https://www.epa.gov/ghgemissions/sources-greenhouse-gas-emissions>
  [3] <https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/deforestation-rates-by-country>

Well, COVID made sure almost nobody was flying for a couple months. Carbon emissions were slightly down if I remember right.

You can keep telling people to avoid flying and live a life of low carbon footprint, but if the issue is much more systematic, economical and technological, it will just become a distraction and make people dislike you (and the cause).

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