Time to Panic(nytimes.com)
nytimes.com
Time to Panic
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/16/opinion/sunday/fear-panic-climate-change-warming.html
5 comments
[deleted]
There’s a bit of a prisoners dimemna in the “individual choice” aspect of addressing climate change. Because, a lot of people don’t want to give something up (e.g., fly less, eat less meat) if no one else is going to.
But I don’t think that means individual choice can’t be effective; it’s just an unsolved problem as to how we get people to make those choices. (Because if it’s time to panic, it’s in large part due to the fact that public policy has not budged on the issue. We need every tool available.)
Agriculture really is the thing to address. Some estimates put it as high as a third of greenhouse gas emissions. It’s not just methane. It’s the soil degradation (healthy soil being an extremely effective carbon sink), the destruction of forests for grazing land, all of the petrochemical inputs, all of the transportation costs to bring that out-of-season fruit from halfway around the world to your plate.
I really believe that in order to address the issue of climate change, in the time frame we have, our diet has to change, and with it our method of farming.
But I don’t think that means individual choice can’t be effective; it’s just an unsolved problem as to how we get people to make those choices. (Because if it’s time to panic, it’s in large part due to the fact that public policy has not budged on the issue. We need every tool available.)
Agriculture really is the thing to address. Some estimates put it as high as a third of greenhouse gas emissions. It’s not just methane. It’s the soil degradation (healthy soil being an extremely effective carbon sink), the destruction of forests for grazing land, all of the petrochemical inputs, all of the transportation costs to bring that out-of-season fruit from halfway around the world to your plate.
I really believe that in order to address the issue of climate change, in the time frame we have, our diet has to change, and with it our method of farming.
worth taking a look