We need to stop shipping things across the world for economic reasons. We need to produce and buy locally. The truth is, the global economy has to crash and rebuild itself if we want an eco friendly future. Worldwide shipping needs to go away. Commercial aviation needs to go away. These are things no one wants to hear but would do the most good. Sacrifice is key. We may need to live modestly for a generation in order for energy production to advance to the point where we no longer have to. Our modern growth is a result too hastly adopting dirty technologies.
I was under the impression that cargo ships were actually pretty efficient due to their absolutely massive capacity. Compared to things like airplanes, I mean.
They are efficient (cargo vs fuel consumption). They also go through my regular car’s full gas tank in about 30 seconds. Less ships means less fuel burned. If we produce locally, transportation is not needed.
While animal agriculture is responsible for 20% and eating plants directly instead of feeding them to animals first would use 75% less land which means we could grow forests at here that store carbon.
The original commenter here just conveniently ignored that though.
I agree to some extent, but I don’t necessarily think that we have to or even can live modestly for a generation. We “just” need to do things the right way. Right now we are not even offered the option to.
Global shipping can help ensure that the production happens where it is most efficient. The large quantities being shipped also minimizes the emissions per product for the distance travelled, so global shipping isn’t all bad. The most environmentally expensive trip is the one from the store to the home. It would be nice though if global shipping happened on renewable energy or wind. It might be slower, but it’s already slow, so what’s the difference.
The local distribution also needs to addressed. Everything is being transported in trucks domestically. It would be better to use trains or even ships for a lot of the trucked stuff.
Things that can be produced locally should be available locally, and not shipped around the globe only due to pricing.
The worst example that I know of is how American breed chicken is being frozen and send to China so cheap labour can do do the chopping and then shipped back for the American market. That’s just disgusting and not at all efficient. That kind of economic incentives must be shut down politically.
Commercial aviation needs to be stopped, starting with the short flights. Trains are perfectly capable of achieving the same travel time and on renewable energy. As of right now it’s not really an option to go fast cross USA or Europe by train, but this is primarily because we do allow those trips to be done way too cheap by plane and in cars.
More expensive flights and cheaper direct trains could enable us to still go on the annual holiday without bad consciousness. And for the love of god, don’t waste any more money on expanding car infrastructure. It’s a bottomless pit that also destroys the opportunities for better options.
We need to stop shipping things across the world for economic reasons. We need to produce and buy locally. The truth is, the global economy has to crash and rebuild itself if we want an eco friendly future. Worldwide shipping needs to go away. Commercial aviation needs to go away. These are things no one wants to hear but would do the most good. Sacrifice is key. We may need to live modestly for a generation in order for energy production to advance to the point where we no longer have to. Our modern growth is a result too hastly adopting dirty technologies.
I was under the impression that cargo ships were actually pretty efficient due to their absolutely massive capacity. Compared to things like airplanes, I mean.
They are efficient (cargo vs fuel consumption). They also go through my regular car’s full gas tank in about 30 seconds. Less ships means less fuel burned. If we produce locally, transportation is not needed.
Still just 2% of global CO2 emissions
While animal agriculture is responsible for 20% and eating plants directly instead of feeding them to animals first would use 75% less land which means we could grow forests at here that store carbon.
The original commenter here just conveniently ignored that though.
all of agriculture is only about 20%. animal agriculture is a subset of that. don’t lie
Every peer reviewed study on it says between 14.5 and 19.6% is animal agriculture.
https://thebreakthrough.org/issues/food-agriculture-environment/livestock-dont-contribute-14-5-of-global-greenhouse-gas-emissions
not according to the fao
Source: https://ourworldindata.org/ghg-emissions-by-sector
Do they carry as much as your car? lol
I agree to some extent, but I don’t necessarily think that we have to or even can live modestly for a generation. We “just” need to do things the right way. Right now we are not even offered the option to.
Global shipping can help ensure that the production happens where it is most efficient. The large quantities being shipped also minimizes the emissions per product for the distance travelled, so global shipping isn’t all bad. The most environmentally expensive trip is the one from the store to the home. It would be nice though if global shipping happened on renewable energy or wind. It might be slower, but it’s already slow, so what’s the difference. The local distribution also needs to addressed. Everything is being transported in trucks domestically. It would be better to use trains or even ships for a lot of the trucked stuff.
Things that can be produced locally should be available locally, and not shipped around the globe only due to pricing. The worst example that I know of is how American breed chicken is being frozen and send to China so cheap labour can do do the chopping and then shipped back for the American market. That’s just disgusting and not at all efficient. That kind of economic incentives must be shut down politically.
Commercial aviation needs to be stopped, starting with the short flights. Trains are perfectly capable of achieving the same travel time and on renewable energy. As of right now it’s not really an option to go fast cross USA or Europe by train, but this is primarily because we do allow those trips to be done way too cheap by plane and in cars. More expensive flights and cheaper direct trains could enable us to still go on the annual holiday without bad consciousness. And for the love of god, don’t waste any more money on expanding car infrastructure. It’s a bottomless pit that also destroys the opportunities for better options.