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this post was submitted on 01 Sep 2026
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As am I. And unfortunately, we have an ongoing catastrophe in waste management right now that is largely being ignored, this particular legislation being an all-too-rare exception.
I think it would be quite cool if we could manage a comprehensive standardization of all batteries, and have legislation that requires all devices to use standard removable / replaceable batteries, and have municipal recycling systems where residents could dispose of old batteries of all types with no fee, or even swap an old battery for a new one. Domestic battery reconditioning would provide jobs, reduce waste, and reduce our dependence on foreign minerals. Heck, it might even end up helping device manufacturers in the long term if they can assume that consumers have access to batteries that don't have to be shipped overseas. Seems like a slam dunk to me.
But, until I become a congressional majority leader, or congress becomes significantly cooler about stuff, I don't think I have much of a chance of getting that passed. So I settle for smaller wins while I work on getting the big stuff viable.
And that's the crux of the issue. Instead of demanding real solutions, you'll settle for nonsense that accomplishes very little so you can feel like you've won something and don't press the issue further but chastise those that don't jump on the bandwagon with you.
You already addressed what a real solution would look like, but since you think it's impossible to achieve, you've given up and want to condemn anyone who isnt perfectly aligned with you on whatever hill you've chosen to die on.
This is just like paper straws or soda taxes. Stop settling for small wins because that's exactly what the goons running things want you to do
If you refer back to the rest of the sentence, you'll see that I do in fact press the issue further. The trick is to do both. My beef is with those who point to the incremental gains as some kind of evidence that revolutionary change is impossible: not only is that not true, incremental gains are often how revolutionary change happens. People think revolutionary change happens spontaneously in an instant of public fervor because they don't see the building toward it that happens one small policy change at a time. The idea that one has to choose one over the other is false and, in my experience, leads to inaction, frustration, and burnout. You gotta do both.
And what of my "real solution"? Even that is just a small piece of the overall puzzle. If I were to accomplish the goal I set out in that post (a task that I neither think is impossible nor have given up on), would I then be able to rest on my laurels and assume that the planet had been saved forever? No. There would still be much to do to solve the big problem. And big problems are solved one piece at a time.
The goons running things want despair and inaction. They fight the small wins because they know that they are the building blocks to bigger wins.