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Because yes the real problem is corporate greed but we are not powerless.

No your specific carbon footprint is not going to save or break the world. But let's not pretend household waste as a whole doesn't have a big environmental footprint. And if reduce, reuse, recycle is done enough by enough households then there is an impact.

Also, there is such a thing as consumer demand. If enough people are putting their money behind brands and products that are better for the environment then corporations will at least pretend to fucking care

And the thing is you can do all of this while participating in more radical action

But if you don't have the ability to participate in protests and more radical action doing your best to care for your local environment and to recycle is at least something

because caring is cool and we only have one planet!! and remember that even if you think that your small actions have no impact on the world, they DO and if everyone starts acknowledging that, then things will finally change. you matter, and so do your choices.

❥︎ mindful shopping. when it comes to buying something, think about what YOU like and need, and not about what everyone else has been influenced into buying lately. don't fall for all the latest trends on social media that change every week. a lot of people mindlessly follow trends, buying a lot of unnecessary things that they get tired of the moment they're not popular anymore,and then they proceed to move on to the next micro trend and throw away the other products that end up in landfills, contributing to pollution. find your own style, and shop accordingly, this way you will have things that you actually like and will keep for longer. also remember, you don't need thousands of the same thing. when you go grocery shopping, try to choose local products that haven't been imported from the other side of the world with transportation that causes pollution, and when buying animal products try to avoid the ones raised in intensive farming. in general you should also try to eat less meat.

❥︎ avoid fast fashion as much as you can. when we go shopping nowadays, almost all the clothes are made with low quality materials and manufactured in ways that produce waste, pollution and gas emissions, not to mention the worker exploitation and child labour. and even if it is made with such low cost practices, the clothing you find in most fast-fashion stores isn't even that cheap or convenient at all. other brands such as shein or temu are definitely cheaper than most (for evident reasons such as underpaid workers and bad materials), but by shopping those brands the negative environmental impact increases because the package has to be shipped from china to whatever country you're in, requiring transportation that causes a lot of emissions. another downside of fast fashion is that the quality is so bad that after a couple of times wearing one piece of clothing you will probably have to throw it away and it will end up in landfills or the incinerator. i know that if you look for non fast fashion it can be more expensive, but that's because it is actually made with good and long lasting materials that you will be able to wear for years. buy if you can't afford that, what i recommend doing is thrifting. it's my favourite thing and i do it a lot expecially cause i like the style from the 90s-00s. you can go to any flea market or thrift store around you, you can find things for just a couple of euros. and if there isn't any of those things around you, there are apps like vinted where you can find literally anything. i love vinted so much i swear i always find some gold pieces on there, i know some people complain that it is hard to find clothing you like, but after you manage to manipulate the algorithm it will show you those things directly. even buying fast fashion from vinted is better. and anyway, it's better to spend some more time looking for things on vinted or the thrift store than buying the first things you see on shein (that also steals from small businesses and other brands, fyi) knowing that it is unethical. you don't always have to choose the easy way out if you care about things.

❥︎ don't use ai. in case you didn't know, ai is very bad for the environment due to the amount of energy and electricity that is used to train it, causing an increase in greenhouse gas emissions. what could have possibly been a good thing for research, medicine ecc. has been turned into a weapon not only against the planet, but our own brains and society. almost everyone uses chat gpt or similar things, whether it's for fun, advice, school or tips. ai is slowly overtaking humans, doing everything faster and better than them, but without any emotion. people would rather ask ai for advice rather than a human, students let chat gpt do all their homework, writers let chat gpt write for them, art has been replaced by ai images, and people talk to ai bots. by asking chat gpt to solve every little problem in our lives, we are also reducing our critical thinking abilities and letting ai take over our personalities. i mean i hate ai in general if it wasn't clear enough, i think it's just taking away the beauty of human art and creativity by replacing it with soulless things, but that isn't really what the post is about. i know that ai can be used as a tool, but please please please don't use it unless it's really necessary because its impact on the environment is really significant, and everyone is already using it so much that we really don't need someone else to use 20 chat gpt prompts a day for things they can easily do in many other ways.

❥︎ reduce, reuse and recycle. the three big r's. reduce waste as much as you can: don't waste food, only buy what you know you will eat, turn off the lights when you're not in a room, reduce your use of water, ecc. simple things, just don't use things when you don't need them. reuse items as much as you can before throwing them away, don't buy new things when the ones you already have are still perfectly functioning. and if you don't need something anymore, give it to your friends/family members or donate it to people in need, instead of throwing it away. try to minimize the use of disposable things, and instead get ones that last longer. avoid things that aren't recyclable, keep separate bins so that materials like paper and cardboard can be recycled, try to avoid plastic as much as you can and use biodegradable products.

❥︎ volunteer. if there are any projects in your area, like cleaning up parks or beaches, or planting trees, or whatever, you can always try to join. not only are you helping, but it's also a great experience where you can meet other people.

❥︎ use public transport. don't take the car every time you have to move, if it's somewhere near, you can always go by foot (which is also good for your health), and if it is longer distances, try to use public transport rather than a car. i'm not saying you should never use your car, of course, but when it isn't really necessary you can try to avoid it, though i know that public transport can be a challenge sometimes, since it's often late or too crowded.

(by the way guys i apologize for any possible grammar mistakes, but english isn't my first language!!)