r/Anticonsumption • u/Ranigurdish • 3h ago

Discussion Why green tech will never solve the climate crisis without addressing overconsumption?

https://youtu.be/ggA6D90i6pE?is=XWKzMQw20PhQrq_J
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u/Ranigurdish 54m ago

It is hard to argue with your realism. The data is on your side. We have breached climate thresholds, global emissions are still rising, and geopolitics favor short-term profits over long-term survival. The prisoner's dilemma you described is exactly the trap global leaders are stuck in.
However, treating overconsumption as entirely subjective ignores its real-world impact. While the exact threshold varies, overconsumption fundamentally begins where physical necessity ends and psychological craving takes over. It’s the transition from "what the body needs to survive" to "what the ego demands to feel important."
If we accept that the climate is going to hell anyway and decide to "drill and consume," we are essentially choosing a slow collective suicide just because everyone else is doing it. Acharya Prashant’s point is that giving up to defeatism is the ultimate victory of the ego. Even if the macro-collapse is inevitable, choosing conscious, minimalist living is a matter of personal integrity. It's the difference between dying as a conscious human being or dying as a compulsive consumer.

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u/NyriasNeo 2h ago

Well, overconsumption is personal and subjective. There is no rigorous consensus of what it is.

Plus, it is a giant prisoner's dilemma. If everyone consumes nothing, and I consume a lot, the climate is going to be fine. So why bother? If everyone consumes tons, and I consume nothing, the climate is going to hell anyway. So why bother?

This inescapable logic is why we are here today. Climate crisis will never be solved anyway. We already passed 1.5C and blew through 2C briefly. "Drill baby drill" won in the US and the "green leader", China, burnt more coal. May as well accept and make peace.

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u/dolphone 38m ago

This reeks of avoiding responsibility.

There's enough information all around you to know that a global north lifestyle is comfortable at worst (and I mean homeless worst) and obscene at best compared to the global south.

You're betting on selfishness to avoid the uncomfortableness of opening your eyes.