Current Events > Sweden's Right-wing Government curb green policies in new budget.

(+) Yeah! (+)

One argument that is used to justify this is that were a small country of 10 million people and why should we decrease emissions when big countries like the USA and China dont care? Which has some truth to it but all countries must do their best to minimize the looming disaster.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/4/8/8/AANvmLAAE3Zg.jpg

The EU should move next year's Eurovision to Norway instead in response.

I have a hard time arguing with them. Why should I do anything or worry about it when corporations don't do anything other than shaft the responsibility for fixing it to me? I could live 1000 years and never have as big of an impact as Shell or BP.

Doesn't help the UN basically said that there we're already past the point where we can do anything about this anymore.

why should we decrease emissions when big countries like the USA and China dont care?

Its a fair point. Its almost as if unaccountable global superpowers are a bad thing

wish we'd do that here too, you could literally replace every single human and every bit of human civilization within our borders with trees and the reduced carbon emissions wouldn't even be a blip on the global radar

Kaiganeer posted...

wish we'd do that here too, you could literally replace every single human and every bit of human civilization within our borders with trees and the reduced carbon emissions wouldn't even be a blip on the global radar

What if we did that to half the planet?

https://youtu.be/ICyMaJKbujk?si=PFqZ2eEC-2idut8R

A plan to make half of earth only for wild nature, no humans allowed.

IceCreamOnStero posted...

Its a fair point. Its almost as if unaccountable global superpowers are a bad thing

B-b-but I was told growing up that the US is the worlds protector and that without them Id already be suffering under Russian or Chinese communism. US capitalism (= freedom) is my benefactor.

Dark_Arbron posted...

B-b-but I was told growing up that the US is the worlds protector and that without them Id already be suffering under Russian or Chinese communism. US capitalism (= freedom) is my benefactor.

The USA doing bad things doesnt change the fact that China and Russia are worse.

BalanceLost posted...

The USA doing bad things doesnt change the fact that China and Russia are worse.

Didnt say they werent.

IceCreamOnStero posted...

Its a fair point. Its almost as if unaccountable global superpowers are a bad thing

I mean this is the accountability. The US empire is largely based on its influence through policy and military protection. Thanks largely to Republicans and Trump, that influence has been waning as countries realize that US policy is literally a president away from civilized to fuck everyone that doesn't constantly suck my dick. They don't trust us to honor long term agreements so there's going to be a lot more of countries doing their own thing in the future.

Charismic_Zach_Gowen posted...

I mean this is the accountability. The US empire is largely based on its influence through policy and military protection. Thanks largely to Republicans and Trump, that influence has been waning as countries realize that US policy is literally a president away from civilized to fuck everyone that doesn't constantly suck my dick. They don't trust us to honor long term agreements so there's going to be a lot more of countries doing their own thing in the future.

They don't trust the US to honor long term agreements because the US doesn't even agree to them in the first place.

IceCreamOnStero posted...

They don't trust the US to honor long term agreements because the US doesn't even agree to them in the first place.

Id rather that, to be honest. At least you know what youre (not) getting in that case rather than having the rug pulled out from under you.

Dark_Arbron posted...

Didnt say they werent.

Oh please, everyone knows what you meant when you couldn't help but sneak in your little "america bad" comment.

pogo_rabid posted...

Oh please, everyone knows what you meant when you couldn't help but sneak in your little "america bad" comment.

Id clarify what I quite obviously meant but I get the feeling Id be wasting my time.

Dark_Arbron posted...

Id clarify what I quite obviously meant but I get the feeling Id be wasting my time.

I doubt you'd double down, so maybe saving face by not walking it back is what you're doing now.

Standard practice any time a Euro country does something fucked some people can't help themselves but try and deflect away to "b-b-b-but america bad!!". Can't have people besmirch what they would otherwise be calling a socialist paradise. That would go against the narrative, lol.

pogo_rabid posted...

I doubt you'd double down, so maybe saving face by not walking it back is what you're doing now.

Standard practice any time a Euro country does something fucked some people can't help themselves but try and deflect away to "b-b-b-but america bad!!". Can't have people besmirch what they would otherwise be calling a socialist paradise. That would go against the narrative, lol.

What are you on about? What narrative?

I pointed out that I was fed the America is the Big Good of the world propaganda growing up. Nowadays I know better. Fuck Russia, fuck China, and fuck the US. That isnt deflection.

Tiny Sweden cant save the world every time.
Raising the tax on plastic bags like hell to prevent people from buying them didnt stop the flow of plastic in third world rivers.
Closing nuclear powerplants and replace them with wind power didnt help when it stopped blowing and we got the highest electrical price in history... and that was before Russia invaded Ukraine which raised the prices even more.
Nobody talked about green policies when we burned tens of thousands litres of oil per hour to produce electricity. Not that we needed it, we produced enough power to support the whole country without it.
Why we did it?
Because we exported a majority of our electricity and told our population to not waste expensive electricity because countries like Germany had fucked up their electric production.
Green policies can go fuck itself for capitalism, but when the Right-wing parties does something? Complain about it.

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The sad part is I can see where people are coming from when they say you're "part of the problem" (even though you're really not since one working class person's actions have no discernible effect), but at the same time, I actually agree with you.

That's how I feel about boycotts in general, especially regarding the meat industry. If a few billion people all went vegan that would force some much-needed change. But as it stands, doing it alone only matters in principle. You get to feel good about yourself, and that's fine. But one person out of two billion doesn't have 1/2,000,000,000'th the effect. It has no effect. Same goes for voting. You only count if you're part of the majority.

If 2 billion people wanna quit meat, I'll consider doing it alongside you. But I'm not going to give up something I enjoy if it's going to be in vain. I've got one life to live, and I'm not compromising it without good reason.

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Agreed.

And also, before someone accuses me of "helping speed things along by not caring," I actually use biodegradable products and put things in the correct bins. I'm doing my part like a good little consumer.

And yes, I drive a car. Because I need one to get to work and the supermarket. Going without one is not a practical reality for me or most people.

Bat178 posted...

Doesn't help the UN basically said that there we're already past the point where we can do anything about this anymore.

Thats not what they said at all.

We can most definitely do something about climate change for example we can continue making it worse.

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Somewhere on Indian GameFAQs: go tell the Americans to stop using twice as much carbon per capita, and then I'll cut back.

I don't smoke cigarettes but 3 of my coworkers do. All of them don't properly dispose of the butts. I get called to sweep the smoke box.

Now, do I say fuck it? Have someone else do it? Or just not bother with it? The box is clearly being littered and now trash is starting to pile. I dont smoke but they do and I have to clean their mess? I'm saying fuck that. Oh my manager says it's a place for everyone and for everyone to keep it clean.

There are quite a few countries where right-wing parties try to minimize climate policies with the reason being "but China".
All that put together is not quite as small compared to China. On top of that, when developed countries focus on minimizing polution and climate change, it also leads to innovations and developments that can eventually benefit other parts of the world.
For example, a Dutch company has developed technology which removes smog from the air, and this technology has since been gradually implemented in Chinese cities.
https://www.studioroosegaarde.net/project/smog-free-tower

A lot of arguments against climate change boil down to the thought that whatever effort a person, city, branch or even country can make is insignificant compared to what others do, but if all those people/countries minimize their efforts, it only makes things worse a lot faster.

"But scientists said it's already guaranteed to get bad so why bother"

It's gonna get bad, yes. Humanity can however minimize how bad it gets. It's the difference between a moderate increase extreme weather & natural disasters, and extinction-level events.

What that guy said.