Climate Crisis, Biosphere & Societal Collapse

Look, I know it's hard because the world is designed around cars, especially the US and Canada. I get that most people had no say in the world getting to be this way. They were born into a world where cars dominate transportation. The oil companies spent millions lobbying for a world that works this way, systematically working to destroy the other options.

But, that doesn't absolve you of responsibility. That doesn't mean that you can blame the companies that make the gas that you use and take no responsibility yourself. In particular, the best-selling vehicles in the US are huge pick-up trucks. Almost nobody who buys one of those truly needs it. They're burning twice as much fuel as necessary just to have some kind of status symbol. In addition to that, the way most people use their cars is extremely inefficient. Carpooling is rare, most people move tons of steel and rubber around just for their own personal use. People also choose to live in the suburbs where there are no public transit options, instead of a smaller place in the city where there are buses.

I hate this take that it's the oil companies that are responsible for climate change. Yes, they lobbied hard to make the world we live in now. But, at the same time, if they had $0 in sales, they'd emit $0 in pollution because there would be no justification to run all their various machines, plants, etc.

Consumers have choices. If you truly need a vehicle, maybe it could be a small hatchback with a manual transmission instead of an F-150. Maybe you don't need to drive your own personal car to work, and could instead share a car ride with a cow-orker. Maybe you don't need to drive out to eat, or drive to the movies, and could stay home instead. Maybe you could use the bus sometimes. Yeah, a lot of these choices are inconvenient, and not using your car means using up a lot of your precious time. But, that's a choice you're making. Remember, when you ride ALONE you ride with Hitler!