Not to mention these “tactics to convince people to buy less” are completely overwhelmed by the entire foundation of our society pushing people to consume more.
This hits on an overall problem I have with a number of communities on Lemmy, so many of them try to attack the person instead of the culture.
One that is sticking in mind are the anti meat eaters. I fully understand and acknowledge that the rate at which we grow cows isn’t a great thing for our environment that someone trying to guilt trip me with that does nothing to my appetite when I want a burger.
A better idea is to attack the culture by helping to make more tasty no meat alternatives available and promoting the shit out of them. More choices will inevitably help to reduce the percentage (and thus the revenue) of the non preferred options selected.
I understand that market forces can be shifted by culture (voting with our wallet), but the fact that these industries are seen as “essential” and worth propping up artificially (while suppressing alternatives) speaks toward the exact problem we’re talking about – the better alternatives get drowned out.
If we stopped stacking the deck in favour of meat producers, then alternatives might be able to complete on merit, but until then it’s nothing less than a hostile market.
A counter point worth considering, fossil fuels cars have been seen that way as well, but as electric cars improve and adoption increases, its starting to make a case to reduce the subsiding of the fossil fuels industry. If we also start soliciting our elected officials, it makes the case much stronger.
I’m picking that because it’s already starting to happen and we’re making that a part of the national conversation.
Food would be a slower process simply due to it being a much more ingrained part of a culture, but the same process can work.
Edit: thanks for the awesome conversation! This is why I really like being on Lemmy, conversations like this few more frequent and less tense.
Not to mention these “tactics to convince people to buy less” are completely overwhelmed by the entire foundation of our society pushing people to consume more.
This hits on an overall problem I have with a number of communities on Lemmy, so many of them try to attack the person instead of the culture.
One that is sticking in mind are the anti meat eaters. I fully understand and acknowledge that the rate at which we grow cows isn’t a great thing for our environment that someone trying to guilt trip me with that does nothing to my appetite when I want a burger.
A better idea is to attack the culture by helping to make more tasty no meat alternatives available and promoting the shit out of them. More choices will inevitably help to reduce the percentage (and thus the revenue) of the non preferred options selected.
I understand that market forces can be shifted by culture (voting with our wallet), but the fact that these industries are seen as “essential” and worth propping up artificially (while suppressing alternatives) speaks toward the exact problem we’re talking about – the better alternatives get drowned out.
If we stopped stacking the deck in favour of meat producers, then alternatives might be able to complete on merit, but until then it’s nothing less than a hostile market.
A counter point worth considering, fossil fuels cars have been seen that way as well, but as electric cars improve and adoption increases, its starting to make a case to reduce the subsiding of the fossil fuels industry. If we also start soliciting our elected officials, it makes the case much stronger.
I’m picking that because it’s already starting to happen and we’re making that a part of the national conversation.
Food would be a slower process simply due to it being a much more ingrained part of a culture, but the same process can work.
Edit: thanks for the awesome conversation! This is why I really like being on Lemmy, conversations like this few more frequent and less tense.
Exactly. Reducing or eliminating meat consumption and being open about it is how we change the culture.
Acknowledging alternative diets is becoming normal.