Empiricism @Empiricism_Reloaded@qoto.org

I feel like my feed is everyone arguing that "climate change isn't a personal responsibility, look at these rich assholes and capitalist structures!!!"

My friends, it is both.

Yeah, the rich are causing the most damage, but the so-called western lifestyle of cheap consumer goods, foreign produce, high meat consumption, jetsetting, and a whole lot of other things are absolutely unsustainable as it is much less if that level of luxury was extended to the other 7 billion people on the planet.

You (yes you, personally, the individual) have to cut back, and you have to convince your friends to do the same.

If we applied this to something like basic ass white feminism, it would be like saying "why should I stop being a womanizer when there's period poverty and the glass ceiling?" You have to do the right thing for yourself and others as you simultaneously try to undo the macro or structural injustices.

Last week, solar PV produced as much as 45% of Dutch electricity demand; a new record high weekly share! Renewables together 68%. Gas 23%, coal 0%.
Graph: @BM_Visser on the birdsite.

Complete madness in the #aviation industry: «Boeing expects the global aircraft fleet to almost double over the next 20 years, from about 24,500 jets in 2022 to 48,600 by 2042. Last year's outlook predicted a global fleet of 43,470 aircraft in 2041.»
https://www.reuters.com/business/aerospace-defense/boeing-boosts-20-year-outlook-planes-due-narrowbody-demand-2023-06-17/

#ClimateChange
#ClimateCrisis

Heather setting up the logging system on the mast from which turbulent fluxes are measured.

#ARTofMELT2023 #ArcticOcean #PolarScience

You might have heard that the company that owns Instant Pot has filed for bankruptcy. The makers of Instant Pot did something horribly wrong: they made a really good product that works very well and does not need to be replaced frequently. This means that owners of Instant Pots might only need to buy one and rarely replace it, if at all.

This is a great success from the perspective of *industry,* in Veblen’s sense, but terrible for *business.* The makers of Instant Pot failed to sufficiently sabotage their product by, say, building in intentional obsolescence. Maybe they should have used cheaper parts that wear out faster, or installed software that requires regular updates, or deliberately inserted components designed to make it fail.

But they didn’t, and so sales were stagnant. The firm that owns Instant Pot borrowed lots of money in an attempt to make a new version of Instant Pot they somehow hoped to sell to consumers of Instant Pot. It was too much; the firm did not earn enough differential profits—profits at a faster rate than its competitors—and so the firm is failing, despite the success of the product.

https://thetakeout.com/instant-pot-maker-parent-brand-file-for-bankruptcy-2023-1850534708

6/8

There was a stretch when Elon Musk took over twitter and started charging for blue checks (lmao) and some of his sycophants started talking about “Veblen goods.”

A Veblen good is something for which demand *increases* as price increases, in contact to the neoclassical orthodoxy that demand decreases axiomatically with price.

Veblen goods are things that rich people buy to signal their wealth and status. Jewelry, fancy watches, yachts, Ivy League degrees. Things that cost many thousands or millions of dollars.

The idea that an $8 verification on twitter would ever be a status symbol for the rich was fucking ludicrous.

1/8

Britains most turd-free swimming spot highlighted in orange.

#SewagePollution
#ToryCriminalsUnfitToGovern

‘Countries are drowning’: climate expert calls for urgent rethink on scale of aid for developing world

Persaud breaks this down further, estimating that about $1.4tn a year will be needed from mainly the private sector, for the green transformation of poor countries; about $300bn will be needed to help them adapt to the effects of the climate crisis; and about $100bn a year must go to “loss and damage”, which is the rescue of countries stricken by climate catastrophe

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/jun/18/countries-are-drowning-climate-expert-calls-for-urgent-rethink-on-scale-of-aid-for-developing-world

what a great excuse to stop pulling up the weeds in the cracks; random acts of art!

#art #gardening

So, we’re importing wood pellets from the US to burn in a UK power station and claiming it is energy efficient! Not in my name!

Between Mastodon and Lemmy I cannot see a reason to visit the corporate owned alternatives. I'm done being their product.

It seems amazing to me that the Land Workers Alliance is only ten years young - they have done so much for #Agroecology, #FoodSovereignty, #LandUse, #SmallScaleFarmers and #laviacampesina
Please support them if you can.
https://landworkersalliance.org.uk/10-years-of-the-lwa/