> The whole of human existence shows we're pretty consistent about choosing easiest every time.
This isn't the case across the globe. Japan's recycling and Singapore's trash policies come to mind immediately but there are sure to be better.
Probably the most common though. Will certainly require a shift in culture for most people on this planet.
> Where once the shopkeeper measured out your purchase now we get single use coffee pods and single use plastic around 4 slices of meat.
The EU has recently voted to remove the use of single use plastics. I do wonder what the overall effect will be but I think policy could change this as well as affect behavior around it.
> Will certainly require a shift in culture for most people on this planet.
And that's the issue we run into with human behavior. Developed nations have adapted to a convenience mentality, and tend to use more because they consume more. Changing behavior takes more than awareness, it takes some sort of proxy for force or compulsion. With Singapore for example, they have heavy fines for littering and improper trash disposal. They have achieved cleanliness by mandating it upon their citizens.
Western nations aren't always as amenable to that form of governance as it impedes on someone's impression of their own free will to do as they please. In the case of American politics, I bet we will encounter "I don't want to go through the effort to recycle, and nobody can make me." This is why cultural attitudes and shifts take so damn long to change. Getting everybody on board is a hell of a lot harder than saying "This is what we are doing now because it is good for the planet even though it adds a bit more inconvenience to your life." People go apeshit when the government tells them what to do, even if it's something positive. There's just that much resentment to change that people will choose irrational, illogical action over changing behavior even slightly that would benefit them in the long-run. Only when shit hits the fan do people look around and wonder "So what do we do now?". There are things that must be done, even when the desire to do them is not that high. It's like people have a basic understanding that they could be doing something good, but they still don't do it, because they don't have to.
This isn't the case across the globe. Japan's recycling and Singapore's trash policies come to mind immediately but there are sure to be better.
Probably the most common though. Will certainly require a shift in culture for most people on this planet.
> Where once the shopkeeper measured out your purchase now we get single use coffee pods and single use plastic around 4 slices of meat.
The EU has recently voted to remove the use of single use plastics. I do wonder what the overall effect will be but I think policy could change this as well as affect behavior around it.