I will boycott, but I feel a slight affection for them because a significant percentage of people who live in their vehicles live in Wal-Mart parking lots.
To play devils advocate a little, while there is no doubt Walmart drastically underpays itās staff, and there are countless stories about harmful labour practices, canāt an argument be made that by dramatically lowering the cost of goods and food they have improved the lives of the poor as well?
1 Like
Only if you believe cheap consumer junk improves quality of life. Thereās something to your point, but also a ton of implicit assumptions about what life quality is. Thatās a big topic.
1 Like
I think itās less the junk and more the food which is important. Many of the poorest communities are virtual food deserts. Also the poorest 20% spend up to 45% of their income on food. Making it cheaper is a really big deal.
2 Likes
Iāve tried a boycott thread in the past and it got no traction.
For me:
Amazon - I havenāt bought anything from them since they were just books I think, maybe once or twice
Wal-Mart - just added it
Hobby Lobby - I doubt I would ever have gone there anyway though
Chick-fil-a - Not perfect, but itās been a long time
Anything made in the West Bank by an Israeli company that sucks - but I have no idea what products those would be.
Fox News
The Democratic Party - kidding sorta
Beef and Pork - not perfect in this, but I really should be
non fair trade chocolate - Iām fairly bad at this, though I donāt really buy much
fossil fuels - of course Iām bad at this, very hard.
1 Like
Iām not buying that.
boycott > strike > voting probably
2nd
On the Amazon vs Wal-Mart debate, I just feel like Amazon is later-stage capitalism. I see the progress from mom and pop, to box store, to on-line one giant seller to ā dystopia. The endless pursuit of efficiency drives margins down so low that thereās not profit at any but 100% largest scale and then virtually everyone is a combination employee and consumer just given enough to consume enough to keep the beast alive and nothing more.
1 Like
Some lefties would argue that living a vegan / plant based life style is the single biggest thing an individual can do re: climate change. I donāt want to start another derail telling people the moral way to consume, but I am surprised at the lack of veg posts in the food thread.
Yeah, vegan is obviously better for climate. I was a vegetarian for about 10 years and now really try to avoid beef and pork and sometimes all meat, but chicken is not as bad environmentally and I hate chickens. Turkeys are assholes too. I eat fish too. Theyāre dumb, but I donāt hate them. Not as bad for the environment, but bad in different ways if youāre not careful anyway.
And often after they drive out the other grocery stores they jack their prices back up.
Regular pricing is cheaper at my local Walmart but not if you shop smart at other places. With sales and other deals its cheaper for me to shop at the grocery store with a union in my town then Walmart.
1 Like
No point in living if you donāt have kids.
Ok, Ok, no point in living either way.
I think if you look in this very thread you will find me making the same point many times. Americans are far too focussed on presidential elections as if voting once every four years is their total civic duty.
Iāve said over and over if the crybaby Bernie supporters wanted actual change they would be out starting grassroots movement for it not threatening to not do the one tiny thing they do every four years to help the left.
If someone posted here they were out organizing, forming a grassroots movement to elect left mayors and city councillors. They were forming a left wing heritage foundation to get left judges appointed. They were door knocking for left candidates. And they were just not voting in the federal election I would say good on you. Itās still a dumb decision to not vote Biden but at least you are backing it up.
This chart is kind of whack though. Theyāre attributing the all the CO2 emissions of that child over their entire life to you in one year. Yeah, thatās a really bad year, but the next year you donāt get any of that tall green bar counted against you.
Also, who takes a transatlantic flight every year? Iāve really been racking up the CO2 savings there. How much do I save if I donāt get on one of those SpaceX rides?
1 Like
Thatās weird because the emissions per capita in the US is 16 tons.
I guess itās all imports.
Ok, that must be assuming those children have children and so on?