Not that much if I’m being completely honest. I’ve got bills to pay so I’m going to keep driving my truck to work, consuming stuff and buying meat. I’m more than happy to take part in the collective effort however so when the government sets new laws and regulations to fight climate change I just go with it even if it inconveniences me. Up to a point obviously. I just don’t think that my actions as an individual makes any real difference. I’m not going to live more sub-optimal life than what I’m already living only so that I can feel good about being on the moral highground despite knowing it made no difference. I applaud everyone who does but that’s just not me.
The only people who need to sacrifice anything and could solve all of our climate and economic problems by doing so are the billionaires hoarding their wealth and making things worse for everyone else so that they can become even more unfathomably rich every fiscal quarter.
There is nothing that the average person can give up that will do anything to improve things, besides our time, security, safety and potentially our freedom to go out and protest. We use disposable plastic products with wasteful packaging because that’s what companies offer us. And even if you can afford to buy products that are more sustainable, you’re still not putting a dent in the problem and are just funneling even more money to the rich so you can feel better about yourself.
We could have all of our modern conveniences and more while also protecting the planet and treating everyone fairly if it weren’t for the absolute evil of billionaires.
If you have a Sam’s or Costco in your area, you can get past the membership by using a gift card. You can also buy a gift card without a membership. Sometimes they’re sticklers about it if you’re there super early, because that’s apparently “special members hour” or some shit, but the worst that happens is they tell you to leave.
If you can save up $15-20 for a 25lb sack of rice, it’ll last about 100-150 meals, which means it’s about 10-20¢ per meal. Just keep it in a plastic container to keep bugs out.
Get some cheap frozen vegetables and bulk, dried beans and you can eat pretty good for like a dollar per day.
Honestly it’s kinda cruel that buying in bulk saves a ton of money, but the people that need it most can’t afford to.
I think they get around this by having the pharmacy hours be a few hours offset from their actual business hours. My local Sam’s opens at 8 for “plus” memberships and the pharmacy doesn’t open until 10 when the poor normal members can start shopping.
This may no longer be true, but when I had my own Sam’s membership it was cheaper to get the business club card than the regular you imply is for the poors. They did zero checking that the business even existed, you only had to list a business name.
I’m not 100% convinced that buying in bulk at Costco saves significant amount of money. At least on staples anyway.
The best deals I’ve gotten at Costco were electronics. But things like chicken thighs ($1.39 / lbs at Costco vs $1.49 / lbs at the local grocery store)…I don’t think it’s worth the price.
I bought soap there for $2 or so less than at Walmart. I’m sure it all adds up but between the shitty parking and long lines, I’ve been debating giving up my Costco membership.
It really depends on what you buy. Some stuff is crazy cheap, others are pretty much the same price. If you’re buying a single shirt from Sam’s you’re probably better off going to Walmart. Always check the per-unit price, and only buy what you’re sure you will use. My favorite brand of yogurt is cheaper per unit than the great value brand at Walmart, and is almost 50% lower compared to buying it in packs of 4… But it takes up half a shelf in the fridge. But generally meat is just as expensive at Walmart/Kroger, often you can get it cheaper on sale at Walmart/Kroger than you can get at Sam’s, and it’s already in packages that you can just toss in a freezer.
Also, I don’t know if Costco has it, but the Sam’s app lets you scan and pay with your phone, so there’s no lines for checkout or anything. That doesn’t work to use the gift card trick though.
Costco meats are very good quality afaik so that might be why they seem similar prices, or meat is just not something you save on at costco. Buying cheese at costco is like 75% off & cereal is like 50% off. Pretty sure I could make a costco membership worth it with 1 visit of non-perishables.
Be sure to compare unit cost, not just overall cost. Often times, the thing you buy at Walmart for $5 is less quantity/weight than the comparable thing you buy at Costco for $4.75.
You aren’t entirely wrong. Most items at bulk clubs aren’t cheaper than other stores, just bigger. There’s generally a handful of items worth getting, and everything else should be avoided. Also Costco is usually more expensive, because they have random products that are organic, non-gmo, artisan things that cost more without good justification.
But things like chicken thighs ($1.39 / lbs at Costco vs $1.49 / lbs at the local grocery store)…I don’t think it’s worth the price.
2 things:
The chicken you get at Costco is probably a better quality, and generally you get more actual chicken per pound. Google "air chilled vs water chilled."
Get the things there that make sense for you. We like calrose rice in this house for a lot of stuff, go through quite a lot of it. At costco, the gigantic bag is like $20 compared to a tiny little bag that is $10-$12 at the cheapest regular grocer.
Combine those factors and I think it’s worth it. I have things that are “costco items.” Bulk spices, rice and some grains, dog food and treats, chicken, paper towel and TP, plastic wrap, hot dogs, pretty much any cheese, laundry soap, frozen convenience foods (dino nuggets, kirkland pizza, eggos, etc) and even some produce. Anyway, I go maybe once a month, and I’ve done the math many times over and it more than pays for itself. I wish I lived closer, because there are some things that I would buy more frequently that are way cheaper usually - milk, eggs, salad mix, fruit, etc.
But yeah, this is a 6 person house, with 3 adults and two teenagers.
Oh, last thing. Buying quite a lot of things at Costco is basically like buying an extended warranty or insurance. If you’re going to buy a TV, for example, and Costco sells something that’s close, buy that one. The OEM is going to offer a 1 year warranty, Costco will take that return for much longer.
I live in an area with a Sams club a inconvenient distance away and no Costco, Sam’s has been getting less and less worth bothering with, as the prices are getting less competitive, and the product quality degrading as Walmart’s distribution takes its toll (don’t even get me started on the shit quality of Walmart these days) plus dealing with large quantities of product when you have a small home can be very annoying. At this point I only buy soaps, toilet paper and baby wipes at Sams Club and that barely comes out ahead of the membership cost, and I’ve already had to stop buying one of the soaps because they switched to only selling a container that would simply be too inconvenient at home.
Aldi seems to have the real food savings, although my last trip I noticed the prices had crept up a little, they still beat Walmart and the local supermarket chain on prices by far
Are you asking why Lemmy has a lean towards political activism? Why the political activism is so heavily focused on the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict? Or why they’ve chosen the side that they have within that conflict?
All three are completely different questions, and all of them are complicated and also pretty much impossible to answer with any real confidence. But they’re interesting.
Anyways, which is the biggest thrust of your question?
I am talking about apolitical communities, or those that are supposed to be apolitical at least, i apologize if I haven't made it clear enough in my original thread.
I mean the moderators don’t usually take down political things from what I’ve seen. Memes on .ml for example is specifically okay with propaganda posters.
Apolitical communities formed of people that are otherwise more politically active sorts may see a little more politics than normal, during particularly emotional times.
I completely understand it and your point is valid.
However, I was talking about communities unrelated to it, I am not even apolitical myself, I say so because I usually have 2 separate accounts for interacting with political content and non political one, but when I tried to do it on Threadiverse - I failed.
Right. I was just saying that communities that are completely, 100% unrelated to politics, may begin to see more politics, during particularly emotional times.
So, in a community completely unrelated to politics, people can still talk about politics unless it is against the rules. So, during times when people are sad, angry or otherwise upset, it kinda just creeps in?
Make sure that if you really want to stay away from it, you look for communities where political discussion is specifically a ban-able offense. Those will usually have a lot less fighting and arguments.
As for why there is so much of this on Lemmy specifically, it’s because we are probably more politically active than most of the rest of the internet.
That's what I thought too, I mentioned in this reply that it was like that everywhere when the war have just started and when the Israel started to respond https://fedia.io/m/asklemmy@lemmy.world/t/433028/-/comment/2729986
However, it has been 59 days since the war start already and I don't see any less talking about this issues, unlike in other social media where it is limited to the political communities.
And thanks for the thoughtful and full response, it might be one of the best explanations I got in those replies, pretty well written.
No problem. That would start to bleed into the second of the questions I proposed earlier, and frankly, the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict is just special. Like, unique in many ways. So it dominates when it’s around, that’s the same every time it fires back up. There’s a lot of storied history, rooted in things everyone has studied and at least vaguely understands.
And this particular flare-up is particularly huge. Lots of big explosions, lots of footage, lots of carnage.
Zionists can’t help but cry regardless of what community they’re in. Add lemmy’s general stance against apartheid and oppressive government and you have a community primed to “pick on israel” when they’re actually just expressing their opinions. The zionists love to make themselves the victim regardless of actual circumstances
I know my time here is fucked, but I’ll do whatever I can to build momentum for future generations.
As a high school graduate with no higher education and social issues, my options are limited… but I do what I can, try to educate myself on current issues, and spread as much positivity as I can muster.
If the moon were only one pixel
An accurate presentation of the solar system where the size of the moon is a single pixel. It really makes you realize how big and empty our solar system is. (Be prepared for a lot of scrolling)
Calm. Kindness. Kinship. Love. I’ve given up all chance at inner peace. I’ve made my mind a sunless space. I share my dreams with ghosts. I wake up every day to an equation I wrote 15 years ago from which there’s only one conclusion, I’m damned for what I do. My anger, my ego, my unwillingness to yield, my eagerness to fight, they’ve set me on a path from which there is no escape. I yearned to be a savior against injustice without contemplating the cost and by the time I looked down there was no longer any ground beneath my feet. What is my sacrifice? I’m condemned to use the tools of my enemy to defeat them. I burn my decency for someone else’s future. I burn my life to make a sunrise that I know I’ll never see. And the ego that started this fight will never have a mirror or an audience or the light of gratitude. So what do I sacrifice? Everything!
Every day I look at the shit happening around us and I find myself getting closer and closer to Luthen Rael’s state of mind.
And here’s the relevant clip, for those who haven’t seen it.
I think I’ve written 3-4 different comments over the last 15 minutes here, and I don’t know what the right thing to answer is, but I loathe to leave you hanging. To put things shortly, and not get too rambly, what little future I can see is shaky, and I hate the song & dance of the holidays. I need some time for R&R, and a change of pace from my daily life.
I think there’s a fundamental problem with the question that goes to the heart of the climate crisis and which makes a significant contribution to why I think we will not solve it.
There’s two versions of this question. The first is the one you asked - how much are individuals and families willing to give up in order to make the climate problem go away (whatever that means at this point). The second is “If you knew with 100% accuracy that by you going vegan (or ditching your car or installing solar or composting…), that the climate crisis would definitely be solved, would you do it?
Let’s pretend that I don’t want to go vegan. I eat Big Macs every night. Porterhouse steaks every weekend. I drive an F-350 to the ice cream store down the block. All of that. Let’s say I love those things. If I personally give them up, it will make no difference if we don’t reorganize the entire global economy. You might convince me to vote for politicians who would pass laws to make that happen, but you’d have a harder time selling me on sacrificing something I see as a core benefit for zero gain. It’s the difference between “How much would you give to get a homeless person off the streets and a new start” and “How much would you give a homeless person if you knew they were just going to set the cash on fire” if you see where I’m going with that.
We are humans. We are cooperators. That’s how we got where we are. Unfortunately there’s also other dynamics in play as well. I honestly have no idea how far back we’d need to rewind the tape in order to have a chance at a better outcome. I do think any progress we can make is good. This just feels like a boulder rolling towards your house kind of thing where all you can do is watch.
Get a 2nd hand multicooker off eBay. They slow cook, do rice/lentils/soups and lots of other things. I got one that was a bit bashed about but worked perfectly for £20.
Grow herbs either inside or outside. Rosemary, Thyme, Bay and garlic and a few others will grow fine. For the rest, get dry. Herbs add instant flavour to rice, lentils etc.
A small chicken (about £4) equals 4 meals. When the carcass is stripped, put it in your multicooker, just cover with cold water, add a whole carrot, a whole onion, both halved, some peppercorns, 3 or 4 bay leaves and 2 teaspoons salt. Slow cook on a very low heat for 6 hours. Get rid of all the solids and you now have chicken stock.
I’ve never been much of a Christmas person. But 2020-2022 were the most Christmasy I’ve ever felt (probably because we were at home and decided to embrace with a tree and roast dinner etc it rather than our usual travelling holiday).
Now that we’re fully back to our old lifestyle, I don’t even notice that it’s Christmas/end of year until someone brings it up.
If you have money going out per month, use Klarna (or similar services) for Pay in 3 set ups for better goods that may cost a little bit too much for paying all at once.
Whilst there are bargains to be had, many cheaper appliances may fail or reduce in quality so quick; however, the ‘good’ things are often a fair bit out of people’s price ranges.
I have used Klarna for various things around the house, also good shoes, on the same day per month that I’ve received money. They’ve all lasted a very long time and much better than cheaper alternatives, and they’re fully paid off in three months.
There is no interest taken, and can come in handy. I have gotten a washing machine and big fridge/freezer using no interest installment plans, and over time they’ve saved me even more money by being more energy efficient than the cheaper ones.
There’s also an app called Zip that let’s you do 4 payments and you can extend the dates too plus it allows you to pay for some bills like Verizon, T-Mobile, GEICO, etc
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