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Comment by latexr | Hacker News Reader

I get what you’re saying, but that doesn’t seem helpful. We don’t need to discuss better words to describe the intricacies of the situation, we need to do something about it.

It also doesn’t help to keep saying “this does seem to be the result of human activity”. “Seems to be”? It is, the science has been clear on that for a long time. But even if it wasn’t our fault, it would still be our responsibility to fix it. Because, you know, we live on the planet.

If I’m inside a house and it catches on fire, I’m not going to kick back on the sofa and not do anything because I didn’t start the fire. If it started because a group of idiots decided to launch fireworks inside, I’m not going to argue semantics about who exactly thought it was a good idea and who didn’t—the fucking house is on fire—what we need is for everyone to work together right now to put it out.

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The problem is that saying "we need to do something" is equally unhelpful because "we" isn't a thing that takes action in any ordinary sense of the word. You are just putting words together in a syntactically correct order that are devoid of actionable meaning. The way this sentence is normally interpreted is, somebody needs to do something, but it's not clear who that somebody is, or what power they need in order to act on a large enough scale to be effective.

If you can't say with any clarity what action needs to take place and by whom, then you aren't really contributing to a solution. Reacting to a fire in a house is much easier because it is clear how individual action can help. For example: you can call the fire department, I can get a fire extinguisher. Notice the word "we" is not in those sentences.

A very significant change everyone can make is to consume more plants and less animal products. Diet is one the most impactful changes one can make individually.

See here: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41558-024-02084-1

Second, if you live in a cold country, improve your house heating efficiency and/or switch to heat pumps.

Third, consider a more efficient method of transportation, like bikes, walking, eletric vehicles, public transit, etc.. (bikes, walking and transit have the benefit of also being very good for our health)

Fourth, vote for politicians aware of the issues and enacting changes.

There's a lot everyone can make individually and collectively :)

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Important to mention: if you're going to adopt a plant-based diet, there are a few things you need to supplement, for the most part vitamin B12, maybe Omega-3 and others, and you do need to make sure you're getting necessary nutrients from a variety of plants (for example, walnuts and chia seeds also contain Omega-3). There are many resources online with dietary guides.

>Second, if you live in a cold country, improve your house heating efficiency and/or switch to heat pumps.

Almost everything is inconsequential compared to living in a (detached) house. The detached house increases consumption of all kinds by orders of magnitude due to greatly increasing the distance everything moves to and around the house.

Ironically I live in a model of suburban bliss with tons of green space and it works because the houses are mostly row houses (terrace houses, tussenwoning, etc). It’s even easy to be car free here. Houten, NL

In the US, that would be considered urban, not suburban.

This is a US suburb:

https://www.planetizen.com/news/2024/02/127466-changing-shap...

Far less density of people.

Right (I grew up in US suburbia) but to people who visit us it feels suburban. Which I hope can help sell the idea that you can have the upsides of suburban life without living in a sea of asphalt.

From that lede photo, far less communal open space for walking, running, kicking a ball, etc.

Leading to a car centric less active and less communal lifestyle.

People who say which specific, effective actions should be taken by the common person have a tendency to get their accounts deleted. That is why they don't.

Ok, so what are YOU doing about it? If YOU are apart of WE, then please tell me how you’re fixing climate change? To the other posters points, this language does make it more difficult to process.

If I’m a carpenter ant eating away at this house, just like all other carpenter ants in the group, and I recognize that continued eating will collapse the house and kill all of us, what can I, a singular ant, do to stop everyone from munching away? I can say “we the ants must stop eating this house.” They just keep on eating. It’s not helpful.

Another post already has an excellent list.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49662025

I do all those and more. For example (relevant to your analogy), I speak with the people around me (never preachy, that’s no way to change someone’s mind) about why I do what I do, and adjust myself to be reasonable to the situation. It has instilled change in others, who in turn change others themselves. You the single ant are not alone. Motivate the people around you, there are other single ants in other parts doing the same. Expand your area until you meet, then keep going. If you look online in your area, you may be able to find other like minded people and groups with whom you can take collective action.

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