Hank Green on the importance of individual action, not because it helps directly (which it does), but because it helps remind our brains of the problems which need to be solved.
Social scientists have studied this, and they’ve found that people taking individual action leads to more pushes for policy change, not less. The original idea is that if you focus more on individual action there will be less push for policy change. It turns out to be the opposite of that.
As social psychologists Leor Hackel and Gregg Sparkman said in their 2018 article, “People don’t spring into action because they see smoke; they spring into action because they see others rushing in with water.”
I’ve seen a lot of the “It doesn’t matter what individuals do because 90% of the emissions are done by 50 companies” sentiment on Lemmy, and find it concerning. What are the best ways to address this?
“For example if I wanted to be a vegan I’d have to pay extra since the dairy and beef industry have subsidies and most corporations charge extra for vegan/vegetarian options.”
That is not true as eating a whole foods plant based diet is 30% cheaper and it also saves you thousands in healthcare costs over the long term.
Stop being unethical and do what’s right for your health, the environment and for the animals. Go vegan.
“Oxford University research has today revealed that, in countries such as the US, the UK, Australia and across Western Europe, adopting a vegan, vegetarian, or flexitarian diet could slash your food bill by up to one-third.
The study, which compared the cost of seven sustainable diets to the current typical diet in 150 countries, using food prices from the World Bank’s International Comparison Program, was published in The Lancet Planetary Health.”
Source: https://www.ox.ac.uk/news/2021-11-11-sustainable-eating-cheaper-and-healthier-oxford-study
Apparently I’m already a flexitarian so baby steps I guess.
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It’s not difficult to be vegan it just takes some habit changes. Here are some great resources to get you down on the right path. You can learn all the tasty plant based recipes you need to know in a month.
Veganuary Month Challenge
Vegan Cheat Sheet
The Vegan Society where it all began in the 1940s
All the interesting vegan statistics