…Musk…
Musk spends private jet fuel in three months what the average Joe spends in gas in 100 lives.
Yet I have to pick his bill and:
- buy an expensive EV like Tesla
- not even think on flying to Rome once for vacations
- feel guilty for every ridiculous excess I take
…
No. Quite the contrary. The richest people/corporations/states in the world that are making Average Jose feel ashamed, those are who most contaminate and who should pay the bill. And Average Jose should reach the airport on time without idiot activists closing the freeway and visit Rome and have fun for once in his working life.
ALL wealthy people who talk about climate change need to shut up until they are personally active in reducing the CO2 output to nothing. Of all the people in the world who could do it, they are top of the list and they are the worst offenders.... unless they walk the walk, they are just saying it to look like they matter.
As for air travel.... we should avoid it as much as possible.
It isn't about feeling guilty for air travel, it should be a question on whether it is required or not.
Travel from North America to Rome... probably not required travel when there is an entire continent to explore right under their feet and air travel isn't required for that. Train, bus, bike ride, even in a car is better than air travel.
And we don have to buy an EV... it is far better to not have a car of any kind in the first place, something we need to get into our heads quickly but we keep making excuses.
I include myself in this too... we have the smallest car possible because my wife (who is the worker in the family at the moment) works in a hard to get to place in terms of public transport.
In saying that, we are nearing a point where the car is about to die of old age and a discussion is being had on buying a decent electric scooter to do the 10km distance to work. No petrol costs, no taxes, no repairs, no car registration fees.... a scooter and a decent jacket for winter and she is good to go.
Those decisions are not based on feeling guilty about owning a car, it is based on doing as much of the right things as possible.
Same goes to air travel... we want to visit Samoa but the flight is something we seriously consider as something we do not want to do. We may do it in the end, but it will be rare. And we wont feel guilty about it as we will seek a way to compensate the emissions ourselves (we don't trust companies to do what they say they will do.)
As for every excess we have, as in all people, we should be looking deeply at those excesses because they are a problem that we need to address. Not considering everything excess as being required is a point and discussion we need to have on every level... from air travel to owning a car to the clothes we wear to every single thing we purchase.
THAT would make a massive dent in the problem... imagine if everyone on the wealthy countries decided to half how many things they bought and the results of that on the climate and environment. And it could be done.
So, yeah, you do need to consider every excess you have and ask yourself the question of whether it is a need or want... done well, most of the wants are not purchased.
Not doing this kind of process does make you part of the problem.
