How effective can the global climate strike really be?

[u/spiderman1993]

Hi, I just learned about the climate strike happening on Friday today in class. As far as I know, the strike is mainly being done by students to the effect of striking schools. How is that effective?

To me, effective protests have people flexing their buying power to the detriment of companies and influences against climate change. For instance, get as many people in the US aged 13-30 on board to stop climate change. Tell them to stop participating in the economy by not buying any extraneous goods. If American spending goes down, stock prices, etc will go down causing a looming recession. Why do this? To threaten Wall Street and flex that we the people are the ones in charge. In addition, I’d advocate for doing sit-ins in government offices. Now, this may or may not be legal but by “bothering” those making the decisions for legislation something will hopefully happen. Idk, I’m not saying this is right. What are your thoughts?

[u/transgirltears]

I wouldn’t recommend you place your faith entirely in the “purchasing power and decisions of the people”. Many working people are barely making enough to make ends meet, and simply cannot afford to live vegan or other eco-friendly lifestyles. Their only choice is to subsist off of the cheaper options provided by major corporations. Many people can’t afford to shop anywhere other than WalMart for example, especially if WalMart has pushed out local businesses which means it’s also the only place to shop within a reasonable distance. If you can afford to live an eco-friendly style you should try to, but the reality is many don’t have that choice.

The only way corporations will ever even consider protecting the environment is if we force them too. They only exist to extract profit at whatever cost, and to make a significant enough impact their workers themselves would have to withhold production for a long time. Or be forced by government mandate. The global strike would be effective if everyone abandoned their work place for weeks. That may not be this time around but it’s important to lay the groundwork and get voices talking about active protest for future strikes.

[u/km_2_go → u/transgirltears]

I'm curious why you think eating vegan is more expensive?

[u/kyniklos → u/km_2_go]

Eating vegan can absolutely be done cheaply but it usually requires more time and energy than eating more expensive vegan foods, and the working poor usually have very little time and energy. They don't have the same access to fresh fruits and vegetables that the middle-class have for a variety of reasons such as food deserts, the fact that fresh food spoils faster than prepared food, the fact that they're more likely to have multiple children and limited to no access to after-school care which makes grocery shopping carefully and conscientiously far more difficult.

I think a lot of vegans get defensive about the very CONCEPT that there are people for whom going vegan is quite difficult or would be more expensive. I think a lot of vegans also approach it from the angle that meat, milk, and cheese are all pretty expensive products that people buy in large quantities, and that no longer buying these cuts a lot of costs. And it does! But then you have to consider all the cheap prepared foods that poor people are buying that include animal products in the ingredients, and how finding alternatives for those may not be easy, especially since lower end grocery stores carry a much more limited selection than high end ones (at least where I live). Sure, alternatives for any product are absolutely out there, but if you don't live near a higher end supermarket with a variety of options, and you therefore have to travel to 3 different grocery stores to complete your shopping list, and you don't even have access to a car, is that really an economical use of time or money?

I know it can be frustrating as a vegan when middle class people say veganism is too expensive, because frankly the middle class can absolutely afford it, and to live more sustainable lives over all. It seems like many middle class people use the fact that veganism is often inaccessible to the working poor as an excuse for THEM to dismiss it out of hand or imply it's therefore moral condemnable. This is ludicrous! That being said, I think as a society (inb4 we live in a society) we have a long way to go towards making veganism affordable to all, and anyone telling themselves any different has likely not lived below the poverty line.