htrayl

Things that have been improving:

• Global poverty rate (going down)
• Global average lifespan (going up)
• Global literacy rate (going up)
• Global internet access (going up)
• Global infant mortality and maternal mortality (going down)

The reality is, most of the world by many metrics is getting better over time. There are things that threaten this (climate change and increasing authorititarianism) and it has slowed, but overall we are still generally positive trajectory wise. In fact, I would say that in most metrics that matter, we are improving.

No, most of us are broke because we insist on ensuring that suburban mcmansions are the only places to really live. When you spend 30% on driving and 40% on housing, suddenly you are broke.

I mean, you can say the same about every form of entertainment. Music? Majority is crap. Movies? Crap. Sports? Crap. Books? Crap. Video games? Crap.

This is apples to oranges. Fusion is not the same as fission. We simply don’t know the economics of a viable fusion reactor.

However, we do know fissions cost is heavily driven by safety and regulation. It is very reasonable to assume that fusion’s requirements in this area are distinctly smaller.

There are plenty of studies displaying improved cardiovascular health in those who drink 1-4 cups of coffee a day.. Generally, cardiovascular risks of caffeine from coffee are not important for the average person’s health decisions.

In addition, there is a good argument for caffeine prior to exercise - it improves performance and therefore results and therefore health outcomes.

Also tea has caffeine as well (technically dark chocolate too, but less than tea so not really a concern).

And again, the solution to sleep issues are to not have caffeine (tea, coffee, or otherwise) more than a few hours after you wake up.

Withdrawal symptoms are not a major concern - they are temporary at best.

Edit: there are plenty of sources of polyphenols - but frankly the average American does not get nearly enough generally. If you have a typical American diet, I would not recommend quitting coffee as a health measure unless you have already drastically increased consumption of polyphenols generally.

Coffee also is high in polyphenols - the benefits almost certainly outweigh the drawbacks. Just don’t drink coffee after the morning.

Welder isn’t too crazy of a tool. It’s usually more like, get your 3d printer AND your welder AND your CNC AND your drill press AND your table saw plus a million other hyper specific gadgets.

If you mean “point and click” level of proficiency, sure.

Meh, maybe 10% of a single generation at most know how to use computers. Technically savvy millenials vastly overestimate how technically savvy other millenials are.

They are astronomical because we build too large. That accounts for the vast majority of home ownership cost increases. The average home size is up 230%+ from the 70s, or 300% per person.

This makes up the vast majority of the difference in prices seen since that time.

Other direct causes are that we add two or three car garages (30k+) and increased home construction standards ( which add cost up front but often save money long term).

When looking at a price per area, the price is almost static (after accounting for inflation).

*It is definitely not too late to mitigate a ton of suffering. *

I’ve said it elsewhere: environmental nihilism is deeply unethical. There is a ton we can do to minimize damage and restore the environment.

Being vegan is absolutely not worse for the environment.

It’s the same thing with recycling, companies trying to sell the idea that climate change is a personal failing of every single person even though said companies are responsible for like 90% of carbon emissions.

God I wish this talking point would die.

1. Companies emit on the basis of your consumption. This is not arbitrary, emit out of no where.
2. Individuals being unwilling to tolerate even minor inconveniences or adjustments to their lifestyle makes systemic change impossible. Government and industry won’t change until collective individuals are willing to deal with it.
3. Meat consumption, housing size, housing location, voting patterns, vehicle choice and use, are all individually driven decisions.

The prude subcurrent on Lemmy is apparently massive. You honestly are being hardly inconvenienced by boob streams and yet it deserves and inordinate amount of complaining. On a real impact basis, you are far more impacted by video games you aren’t interested in than boob streamers.

Called out for what? Please, continue demonizing sex work.

Not the Southeast - Southwest-west. Honestly mostly California.

I would say more California than Tex - Tex Mex has heavier emphasis on fried foods. The company is headquartered in California. It looks like the owner got most of the inspiration in San Francisco, and then moved to Colorado.

Meaningful legislation follows collective individual conviction - this mindset that the individual does not matter is simply an excuse to resist change, which means that government will basically never feel the mandate to make any meaningful legislation. People must be willing to be better, and that starts with personal investment in the problem. For example, if you bike more and use transit more, even when it is mildly inconvenient, local politicians and authorities are far more likely to invest in those modes.

Further, there is a lot that people can do to their effective emissions, regardless of external emissions. Quitting meat, for example, is an individual action that can have enormous benefits collectively. Buying solar panels and home investments, even at a slight loss, drastically reduce emissions. When you talk about externalized emissions, you fail to admit that a massive portion of the global emissions are due to the individual consumption of resources. Period.

Additionally, individual political action - donating, campaigning, and running, are all individual actions that contribute to the greater collective action. The idea that this is fundamentally different than other type of individual action is wrong.

As far as I am concerned, the mindset that the individual doesn’t matter is an immensely toxic and dangerous one: it is escapism, denial, and a transparent effort to assuage one’s personal guilt toward responsibility.

The level of zealous dogma in this thread is pretty sad. Carbon offsets are an enormous field - and definitely there are a lot of low effort scams - but simultaneously there are many opportunities for it to be an extremely valuable part of the climate response. We do need it to be highly regulated, and by itself it really isn’t enough. But, for example, buying low value land that was never a real factor for climate change is not the same as, say burning biomass for biochar or removing refrigerants, or subsidizing renewable energy.

An alternative to direct carbon offsets is political contributions - you have an immense amount of power locally in particular. That can help drive more sustainable construction, cleaner transit, and renewable local generation.

Additionally, the claim that individual action is not important or valuable is also pretty pathetic and honestly just an excuse to not make any personal changes. The reality is systemic change follows personal change. Government needs a mandate to make important investments and regulations, but it cannot do it if people are completely unwilling to change their lifestyle.