this post was submitted on 19 Feb 2024
931 points (94.2% liked)
The memes of the climate
1423 readers
2 users here now
The climate of the memes of the climate!
Planet is on fire!
founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
What if I told you, on the world stage, "rich person" encompasses most Americans.
What if i told you with renewable energy, public transit mobility, an end to the 9to5 and consume excess hamster wheel, proper recycling and sustainable products everyone could life a good life, many americans even a better life?
The world has enough ressources to sustain a larger human population and give everyone the means to a decent life. It is solely in the way things are done right now, in particular the obscenely rich, that are unsustainable.
A decommodification of housing would be amazing as well.
No, we are way over budget on people as it is. Sustain means 'indefinitely under current conditions'.
Can you point me to a dictionary that specifies, that it can only refer to the current conditions?
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/sustain
It suggest as meanings to maintain, to provide, to encourage... In the meaning of provide and maintain there is no limit to current conditions.
I have laid out the conditions under which the world can sustain such a human population. I find it linguistically wrong to limit it in such a way, that only the current situation is permissable. This is directly contradictorary to any use in relation to future like planning.
E.g. "we plan the building to sustain a 6.5 earthquake" would be wrong under your criteria, as neither the building, nor the earthquake exist at the point of that statement..
I was thinking more in terms of climatic conditions.
For context:
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/sep/21/worlds-richest-1-cause-double-co2-emissions-of-poorest-50-says-oxfam