By now I think most people agree that climate change is a thing. And that plastics are bad for the ocean and for our water. Of course some people disagree with the amount of responsibility of humanity and industrialization, but that is a topic of discussion for another time.
I am on the side of people that think we are causing climate change and that we should reduce our carbon footprint and all that stuff. I do say I care about it and do some things about it. I think about buying less stuff and reusing older things. (The production of consumer products is energy intensive) I also try to walk or ride my bike when I can. BUT I fly every year (at least once a year, often with my child) halfway across the world to visit my home country. I think to myself “this is justified in my case because I need to travel to visit my family”. But is it really justified? This is something I think about often. I also almost always drive when I go visit my friends living in other cities. It’s just so much more convenient. So… where do we draw the line? It is a super difficult thing to do. If I were completely consistent with these beliefs of environmentalism and responsibility to society I would fly less, I wouldn’t use my car as much, I would use way less energy at home. On the side of plastics and pollution, most of the groceries I buy are packaged in plastic. Convenience, convenience, convenience.
There are people that argue that the carbon footprint of a regular Joe like me is way less than that of a millionaire and therefore the responsibility lies with them. Yeah, for sure, but there is nothing I can do about that. I think this is an easy cop-out. I can only control what I myself do. It makes me also think that if I already do the things that are convenient to me today, would I also fly private jets for the convenience of it if I were rich?
Is it morally wrong to do all these things I know cause harm to the environment knowing the effect it has on the world just because the alternative is much more inconvenient? Is it just human nature that we will do something morally questionable or ambiguous if the opposite is specifically detrimental to ourselves? I don’t know. I believe it’s something to think about.
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