Honestly - How much will you sacrifice for a better world?

Confronted with the likelihood that we cannot achieve climate goals, confront socioeconomic inequality, and ultimately build a better world without significant personal sacrifice: How much are you personally capable and willing to lose? I mean this in the most earnest way possible. Acknowledging the likely possibility of working for an unethical organization while simultaneously supporting family who rely on you financially. Do you believe the amount we can and will bear aligns with the amount we must bear?

Witchfire,
@Witchfire@lemmy.world avatar

I would not miss red meat if it became unavailable tomorrow

Thorny_Insight,

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.

gravitas_deficiency,

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.

Cowbee,

As much as I can without harming those who depend on me.

GardenVarietyAnxiety,

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.

KpntAutismus,

pretty much nothing. as an apprentice living off of not even minimum wage, i cannot afford any more price increases.

i am also a car enthusiast, and i want to keep the cobustion engine around (hydrogen ICE comes to mind). i would also like to keep the unlimited speed on the Autobahn, even if it would slightly improve efficiency in terms of fuel consumption and traffic accidents to implement a speed limit.

i strongly oppose the enshittification of every online service and think these datacenters used purely for processing collected data should not exist. they are being operated with coal energy in germany, which is just stupid. (from a quick google, they’re using 18 Billion Watts)

Essential online services and infrastructure should be FOSS-based honestly. i NEED a google account to use public transport.

also fuck public transport. i have a 49€ ticket and cannot rely on it. we once had a 2-Month period where everyone had to use public transport because the schoool is located in the middle of the city. no one was ever on time these entire 2 months. did i mention that driving to work is 3 times faster, and i get to sit in a very comfortable heated seat the entire time?

littlebluespark, (edited )
@littlebluespark@lemmy.world avatar

Well over “35k plutocrats”.

Mnemnosyne, (edited )

Not a good damn thing, unless everyone with a higher standard of living than I do has already sacrificed enough to bring them down to my level. If I was anywhere near the top standards of living then I would be more willing to go first. But I am not going to be tricked into giving things up on my own, or even as a sizable group, while some individuals and corporations are continuing to make issues worse.

rekabis,

I highly doubt there will ever be a better world, our current “business as usual” course will doom humanity to extinction within the next two centuries, and have a non-trivial probability of initiating a Venus Scenario due to the inertia present in human-made climate change.

Our only hope of avoiding that future is bringing out the guillotines and removing pretty much the entire Parasite Class from existence, implementing a true separation of capitalism and state, and instituting punitive laws that control and limit the worst depredations of capitalism (far more than what currently exist). While it wouldn’t be true socialism, it would bring us much closer to democracy that is free of capitalistic cronyism and corruption, allowing society as a whole to save itself without being handcuffed and bound to a profit-at-all-costs path by our corporate masters.

MajorHavoc, (edited )

I’ve given up huge piles of cash by choosing to not work for megacorps.

It’s worth it to me.

Confronted with the likelihood that we cannot achieve climate goals.

The current trend line sucks, but we’ve seen plenty of times in history what the ultra rich ignoring the plight of everyone else looks like. Someone please pass the “not with them” list to me to sign when it’s time to chop their heads off.

I wish I was joking, but I’m not. Seriously. I’m not with them. I would like to keep my head while we adjust course abruptly.

Edit: To be clear, I am not advocating. What should happen is that our climate, inequality, and injustice trends get fixed through peaceful cooperation. But our current crop of billionaires don’t show a lot of sign of either wanting that, or having any real awareness of where their current path, historically, goes. Which wouldn’t really be material to me, other than beacuse I’m at risk both from the climate, and from how guillotines historically kill a lot of bystanders.

TheDoctorDonna,

If it was guaranteed to make the world better and not just some empty political promise, I would give up every luxury I could think of. The only thing I wouldn’t be willing to sacrifice are lives and human rights. If we needed to live in a tiny home with no internet, never eat out again and sew our clothes so that everyone is equal and has the same rights and comforts, I’m in. It would suck, but we’d survive and learn how to be content in knowing that no one is suffering for our greed anymore.

maegul,

THE QUESTION in so many ways IMO. But also, for me at least, it misses the point.

For me, so much is about the social. Like, I would have a hard time sacrificing a lot to save humanity from the climate crisis if I knew humanity wouldn’t know that they were saved (they don’t have to know it was me) but just figured the climate problem simply disappeared without learning to manage their problems.

Otherwise, personally, the basic sacrifice that is a no-brainer is to lead a simple, unassuming and arguably (from a materialistic standpoint) boring life. Regarding the climate crisis I’d say I’ve done that most of my life, which I don’t say with pride honestly as it’s about the only thing I’ve done.

Beyond that, if there’s some social buy-in from many to the relevant values etc, I think I’d certainly be willing to risk or end my life for the greater good.

fakir, (edited )

Call me a coward, but I’m more of a problem solver. Within these tinted walls of depression, if I squint really hard, I can see the light in the corner. Yes, I do see the light. Don’t kill yourself, you’re more valuable just being there for your brothers, or better still, helping create the world we all want. We have no choice but to accept the current reality, and live with it every day, but still - keep your chin up, & keep working towards the future you want.

!we_are_one lemm.ee/c/we_are_one

RBWells,

Is it guaranteed? I’d much rather lift everyone up to at least my standard of living, than squash everyone down to the lowest common denominator. But if you told me every family on earth could have what we do if I alone lived on the street, begging from them for the rest of my life, sure, I’d do it

Mango,

My answer would probably jinx me and I don’t think knocking on wood can do enough for me.

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