cross-posted from: https://slrpnk.net/post/10713443
For denial doesn’t only amount to rejecting the evidence, he argues – it also consists of denying our role in the climate crisis; absolving ourselves through “carbon offsets, hybrid cars, local purchases, recycling”. And in this, far more of us are implicated.
In some ways, this argument might not seem all that new. Multiple authors have pointed out that green capitalism, not rightwing deniers of the crisis, is our greatest obstacle to properly confronting the problem. DeLay agrees. The difference is the lens he brings to it – using psychoanalysis to explain the mechanisms behind denial.
There are solutions, lol. It’s easy stuff, such as buying an ebike for trips less than 25 miles away. Or better insulating your house. Or replacing a furnace with a heat pump when your furnace breaks. Buying in bulk instead of buying micro things wrapped in plastic. Buying used equipment and jewelry rather than buying new. Eating less meat, or at least less beef.
There’s lots of small stuff that can have a dramatic impact on your carbon footprint. It also tends to save you shitloads of money, all green arguments aside. Up front costs might go up, but over time, you save a lot of money.
It’s just that your or some person’s footprint moves the needle only a little when the problem lies in with the corporations, industries and countries still allowed to pollute or create the consumer market options, and they’re pushing the narrative toward people in the environment they set. Insanity is in the illusion of choice, that something like shittier, more polluting clothing is forced to the masses because they can’t choose the expensive better options even though it’d be better in the long run.