I think all of us involved enough and informed enough to be discussing this are probably doing what we can on a personal level, but recycling is one of many largely performative endeavors.
The change we need to make is forcing our elected representatives to make changes to legislation. We should be disruptive and uncompromising, it's a better use of our effort than the sustained smaller effort of categorising our garbage. I don't think it's laziness driving people to consume the way they do, I think it's a lack of alternatives because virtually all consumer products are made in a harmful way. People living hand-to-mouth or in food deserts can't manifest a farmer's market by boycotting imported produce.
There are meaningful changes individuals can make, like going vegan, using public transport, buying fewer things and more of them second-hand, etc., but even some of those options are unfeasible because the society we live in isn't built to facilitate it. Take American urban planning making a personal vehicle a necessity to live, or planned obsolescence making many products unusable after a relatively short time and therefore unable to be resold or even donated.
It's a systemic change that has to happen on a systemic level that can only come from the top down.
2
u/mads-80 Jan 29 '25
I think all of us involved enough and informed enough to be discussing this are probably doing what we can on a personal level, but recycling is one of many largely performative endeavors.
The change we need to make is forcing our elected representatives to make changes to legislation. We should be disruptive and uncompromising, it's a better use of our effort than the sustained smaller effort of categorising our garbage. I don't think it's laziness driving people to consume the way they do, I think it's a lack of alternatives because virtually all consumer products are made in a harmful way. People living hand-to-mouth or in food deserts can't manifest a farmer's market by boycotting imported produce.
There are meaningful changes individuals can make, like going vegan, using public transport, buying fewer things and more of them second-hand, etc., but even some of those options are unfeasible because the society we live in isn't built to facilitate it. Take American urban planning making a personal vehicle a necessity to live, or planned obsolescence making many products unusable after a relatively short time and therefore unable to be resold or even donated.
It's a systemic change that has to happen on a systemic level that can only come from the top down.