this post was submitted on 13 Jan 2024
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You're really missing something here. Just because the richest 1% are responsible for more emissions than the poorest 50%, doesn't mean that the poorest 50% are somehow better people just because of that. They're just in a situation where they are literally unable to pollute as much because of their lack of resources.
I strongly believe that if you took a random sample of "poor people" and put them in the exact situation of "rich people", they'd be polluting roughly the same. Many poor people I meet would love to "be rich", and not just because they'd have their basic needs covered, but because they'd love the luxury, which is what's causing the pollution disparity.
Calling this a human behavioral crisis is exactly on point. Yes, in the current class division, if rich people changed their behavior, their impact on pollution would be much larger. But if theoretically we all had the same resources, and everyone would use these resources for luxury stuff, net pollution would likely be the same as if wealth was concentrated in a smaller amount of rich people, since the resources are still used to produce more than we need. If there are more people on Earth than Earths natural regeneration rate can sustain, we'd still be in trouble with an equal society.
Obviously there are already people that understand this and try to not consume too many resources. People are different and thus some are more/less part of the problem. I would also agree that on average, more poor people understand this than rich people. But still, in total, humans are still pretty much the same no matter the class they currently belong to.
I do understand that, I think you're missing something here. I said "Yes, the individual should try to shift their behaviour", so yeah I agree with you. What I'm saying is that lobbyists for the ultra wealthy try to shift all of the guilt and blame onto the individual as a distraction from more important causes.