Climatarian, nature lover, XC skier and sailor, environmental law teacher at Pace Law. Author of Live Sustainably Now, A Low-Carbon Vision of the Good Life
Jan 21, 2020 • 6 tweets • 2 min read
There's nothing new about the "individual change" versus "system change" #climate arguments. 19thC abolitionists had the same division. Ask yourself: if you lived in the US in 1840, would you buy slave produced sugar? Or would you be saying "don't sugar shame me"? 1/
Here's a quote from an "individual action" is pointless abolitionist: 2/
Feb 22, 2019 • 11 tweets • 4 min read
I find that I am having a deeply personal (and negative) reaction to this @drvox thread. Why? Because I have made living a great life with a defensible carbon footprint a part of my identity, and one of the most prominent public voices on climate is essentially saying 1/
“Ha, you fool, don’t you know that your symbolic acts of sacrifice won’t make any difference in the world?” Would @drvox say to a vegan that their symbolic self deprivation has not saved one cow from slaughter? Making a personal lifestyle commitment to a cause is not just abt 2/
Oct 19, 2018 • 6 tweets • 2 min read
When I hear ppl saying that we need systems change and not culture change to address #climate breakdown, I think ppl overstate the ability of top down law reform to change culture. Law reform is not particularly effective and changing culture. 1/
Guess what - the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments did not achieve the end of slavery, equality, or the right to vote for African Americans. Slave state culture maintained near total African servitude, inequality, and vote suppression for a century b/c it was in the culture. 2/
