boonhet

The first president of Estonia after regaining our independence, was once quoted saying "The situation is shit, but it's the fertilizer of our future."

The meaning is very similar, in that he was saying that the hard times need to be suffered for things to get better, but what's different between him and the current American administration? Well, for one, the situation wasn't shit because of his personal ego trade war, it was shit because the economy was shit in every ex-soviet nation for a time. It took time to accustom to independence and free markets. But most of all, he spoke from a place of respect, not one of disrespect. Him saying that was his honesty to the Estonian people. He didn't lie and say everything would get good quickly. This was also a man you could simply approach publicly and he'd answer your questions. Didn't need to be a press release and you didn't need to be a journalist or a celebrity.

What I'm saying is that dear Americans, your current president and vice president simply don't respect you.

Look, it might not be the consumer's fault that these companies pollute and yeah, most of us barely get a choice in where our energy comes from, but I really find that it's a bit disingenious to just say these companies do all the pollution so the rest of us don't matter, we're innocent in all this. These fossil fuel companies are actually happy if you go "oh well nothing I can do about it", because then you keep indirectly buying their products. Literally the opposite of the carbon footprint campaign, but similarly positive effect for them.

Really, we need a carbon tax, but guess what, that makes things expensive for end users when produced with a lot of pollution. So that's unpopular too. Turns out we're really addicted to cheap and dense energy sources. In any case, the only way for this to change is for as many people as possible to 1) reduce their own consumption as much as reasonably possible, 2) educate friends and family and 3) do whatever possible to shift winds in any government levels they can affect.

Look, it might not be the consumer's fault that these companies pollute and yeah, most of us barely get a choice in where our energy comes from, but I really find that it's a bit disingenious to just say these companies do all the pollution so the rest of us don't matter, we're innocent in all this. These fossil fuel companies are actually happy if you go "oh well nothing I can do about it", because then you keep indirectly buying their products. Literally the opposite of the carbon footprint campaign, but similarly positive effect for them.

Really, we need a carbon tax, but guess what, that makes things expensive for end users when produced with a lot of pollution. So that's unpopular too. Turns out we're really addicted to cheap and dense energy sources. In any case, the only way for this to change is for as many people as possible to 1) reduce their own consumption as much as reasonably possible, 2) educate friends and family and 3) do whatever possible to shift winds in any government levels they can affect.

Look, it might not be the consumer's fault that these companies pollute and yeah, most of us barely get a choice in where our energy comes from, but I really find that it's a bit disingenious to just say these companies do all the pollution so the rest of us don't matter, we're innocent in all this. These fossil fuel companies are actually happy if you go "oh well nothing I can do about it", because then you keep indirectly buying their products. Literally the opposite of the carbon footprint campaign, but similarly positive effect for them.

Really, we need a carbon tax, but guess what, that makes things expensive for end users when produced with a lot of pollution. So that's unpopular too. Turns out we're really addicted to cheap and dense energy sources. In any case, the only way for this to change is for as many people as possible to 1) reduce their own consumption as much as reasonably possible, 2) educate friends and family and 3) do whatever possible to shift winds in any government levels they can affect.

Because these comments or their sentiment are usually in the style of Arrested Development

Of course by keeping your lights on you're contributing to these companies emissions because they're fossil fuel and power companies lol

Edit: To clarify, I'm not trying to absolve fossil fuel companies, or their lobbying departments, of any of the blame here. The simple fact is that we don't get much choice in our energy sources. However, the whole "x companies produce 80% of the CO2 in the world" narrative draws a dangerous parallel to the personal responsibility/carbon footprint narrative. One tells you that individuals are at fault (so get angry at your neighbours for not recycling, rather than getting angry at the government for not doing anything about it) whereas the other tells you to stop trying to even do anything about it personally, because it's all huge megacorporations at fault and there's nothing we can do to affect them. The simple truth is, if everyone in the west stopped buying cheap plastic shit from China, MANY of these companies would take a nose dive in their revenues and pollution. China Coal is usually listed as THE top polluter. Well look at China's energy statistics. 58% of it is industry. In comparison for the US on the website, it's 21% industrial usage. Why is China's (total) annual CO2 output going up at the same time as their % of electricity coming from renewables is going up? Maybe because they're the factory of the world. They make everything we consume and renewables just can't keep up with the demand we all put out there. So buy less, buy more local, educate your friends and family, and don't forget that political action is still THE key. Ironically, if the Trump tariffs on China really go through, this MIGHT have some effect on Chinese pollution - at the unfortunate cost of increasing American pollution.

DINKs are already an entirely separate class tbh.

That... Actually looks delicious. I'm going to give it a try.

I feel like she's got as much right to be in this image as the other dudes

The merchiest company in my country is one that does online casino software. Worst part is, they have the highest quality merch so people actually use it. I've seen the logo on like Thule backpacks and shit.

Hasn't gotten me to go work for them, but they're damn good at reminding people that they exist.

Would YOU want to keep on living if you had to speak to JD Vance?

So is slapping all your major trade partners with tariffs, but look what happened.

I'm not saying it's a certainty, but it's now a possibility that must be considered whereas previously it would've been unthinkable.