This is great. Now we only have to get the governments to regulate global companies that spent millions on propaganda that climate change isn’t real.
Look, any progress being made about environmental awareness is great, HOWEVER; this bullshit concept of offloading the responsibility of climate change strictly to the consumer is never going to fix the problem.
The people responsible for the largest amount of climate change are the insatiably wealthy that give absolutely no fucks about how much their mega corp ruins the planet.
I don’t know how the rest of the world feels, but here in the U.S., it’s basically impossible to buy anything that doesn’t come packaged in single use plastics, and half our population has been brainwashed to believe climate change is not even a concerning issue.
The companies that profit from blowing everything up should be responsible for cleaning everything up. I do my best to reduce, reuse and recycle, but my city doesn’t even recycle plastic bags because it clogs the machines, and everything comes in damn plastic bags. Putting solar on your house now comes with a high possibility of having your insurance policy canceled, etc, it’s literally one barrier after another, and my carbon footprint is pretty damn low.
Sorry for my rant, it is just very frustrating.
True, and single-use plastic wrappers are indeed a scourge.
But one thing is often omitted when ranting about “companies that profit from blowing everything up”: They often produce stuff that we a) don’t need and b) buy. Nobody needs new phones / computers every year, but they get produced. Almost nobody needs pickup trucks and SUVs, but the suburbs are full of the things. Nobody needs “fast fashion”, but here we go.
It’s true that international manufacturing companies cause a majority of CO2 pollution, but they produce stuff for everyone. If people bought less useless stuff, we’d be better off.
That’s a Gretachievement!
Today they told in the radio news that FFF had an impact on “only” 25 % of Germans. IMHO that’s a lot.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
Almost a third of Swiss people changed their daily habits as a result of Greta Thunberg’s Fridays for Future climate strikes, new research has found.
Now, a study by the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne (EPFL) has examined the wider impact of these strikes on people’s environmental choices.
To examine the wider impact of the school climate strikes, EPFL researchers surveyed Swiss residents in the wake of the protests in October and November 2019.
“Our findings showed that people have become more aware of how their behaviour affects the environment and that significant shifts are under way at an individual level,” says Livia Fritz, a researcher and the study’s lead author.
Changes in transport habits included looking for alternatives to driving to work, such as walking or cycling, and avoiding flying by choosing holiday destinations closer to home.
Survey participants also reported seeking out local, organic produce, eating more vegetarian meals, and making a bigger effort to reduce plastic waste following the climate protests.
The original article contains 421 words, the summary contains 165 words. Saved 61%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!
Changes in transport habits included looking for alternatives to driving to work, such as walking or cycling, and avoiding flying by choosing holiday destinations closer to home.
Survey participants also reported seeking out local, organic produce, eating more vegetarian meals, and making a bigger effort to reduce plastic waste following the climate protests.
Positively surprised to see effective measures, like avoid flying and meat.
IIRC Switzerland also has quite an exemplary carbon pricing scheme. I’m totally unaware how much flights and meat are encompassed. The general point I’m trying to make: It’s probably hard to say wether people changed their habits due to FFF, or due to policy changes. Of course, FFF likely influenced policy changes.
Either way, thanks for the uplifting news :)
Now I’m waiting for the more serious news how Swiss companies have changed their business practices ;)
Switzerland also has quite an exemplary carbon pricing scheme
No we don’t
Care to elaborate? I like the dividend part about the tax and dividend scheme.
If it were exemplary, our greenhouse gas emissions would go down like Prigozhin’s aeroplane. They don’t. Just like every other country we’re pretending to do something about the climate crisis but it’s too little, too late.
If you mean we’re better at it than say the US or other major powers then yes, but that’s not because we’re doing well, it’s because we’re doing less catastrophically terrible than them.
Proof that Europe is not too bright.
How so?
The study is Open Access. If someone else wants to read it, just click the doi link:
Fritz, L., Hansmann, R., Dalimier, B. et al. Perceived impacts of the Fridays for Future climate movement on environmental concern and behaviour in Switzerland. Sustain Sci 18, 2219–2244 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11625-023-01348-7