• socsa@piefed.social
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      23
      arrow-down
      5
      ·
      4 days ago

      I suppose the difference is that a country doesn’t just get conquered by force if it stops polluting.

      • Saleh@feddit.org
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        3
        arrow-down
        1
        ·
        3 days ago

        Even if the US suddenly lost all its fighter jets, naval force, missiles and bombs. How likely would an invasion be in the next 10 to 50 years?

        It is quite a big country with a big population, with a practically uninhabited and difficult to cross country in the north, and a poor drug war ridden country with significant amount of jungle in the south. To the west and east are oceans with some thousands of kilometres until the next sizable and properly inhabitated landmass.

        So purely in geographics terms, invading and conquering the US is a huge pain.

        Now add to it all the issues of the US dominance in global trade and the ramifications such an invasion would have.

        The US doesnt need that army or MIC for defense. It is offense focused and it needs to keep murdering people all over the world to keep its wheels turning.

        • osugi_sakae@midwest.social
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          2
          arrow-down
          1
          ·
          3 days ago

          I don’t disagree with you, especially in the short term, but Noah Smith (economist at https://www.noahpinion.blog/) does have some eye-opening opinions on the industrial might of China, and what that could mean for USA influence if China wanted to push things. (All this assumes no one uses nukes, of course.)

          I’m going from memory, so errors are probably mine, not Mr. Smith’s. But, basically, wrt manufacturing, China is already where the USA was during / near the end of WWII. Even if we had the tech and raw materials, the USA would not be able to up with China’s factories if it came to war. They could basically just keep throwing drones and bombs at the USA until we literally ran out of anything to defend ourselves with, much less fight back with. Even if much of the rest of the world’s factories were on our side.

          CHIPS act is one way the Biden admin was trying to restart strategic manufacturing in the USA. We’ll see how that goes.

    • finitebanjo@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      10
      arrow-down
      2
      ·
      edit-2
      4 days ago

      Almost all pollution is by industries and not your parents, so…

      If anything you could criticize them if they voted to keep the pollution going.

      • Miaou@jlai.lu
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        6
        arrow-down
        4
        ·
        4 days ago

        Buying a big SUV, shopping at h&m, eating red meat multiple times a week, and flying to the other side of the world during summer, are all worse than voting for climate change. Companies don’t pollute for the sake of it.

        • finitebanjo@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          9
          ·
          edit-2
          4 days ago

          Check out the EPA’s stats on ghg emissions at this LINK. 28% of emissions total are from non-agriculture/shipping transportation, and if you break that down then 57% of the 28% are light duty vehicles, all larger road vehicles are 23%, and aircraft are 9%.

          Since 2005 emissions carbon-equivalent total of the USA has fallen about a billion metric tons thanks to awareness and federal programs to reduce and eliminate emissions, almost exclusively in the Electrical Power sector.

          So even if you cut out all consumer non-business transport you’re left with 72% of emissions. A person who votes to curttail polution does more good than a person who drives a hybrid.

          • BigAssFan@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            4
            ·
            3 days ago

            Hybrids don’t reduce CO2 emissions that much anyway. Better to go all electric and vote for climate protection.