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Tar_alcaran ,

This is entirely correct.

Because of an autoinjector, I'm doing this like eating food, using electricity, buying cars and consuming clothing for decades! Without the autoinjector, I would have been dead some 20 years ago, which would have drastically reduced my environmental impact.

Smorty ,

Turning oxygen into bad gases isn't very good for the environment either

outer_spec ,
@outer_spec@lemmy.blahaj.zone avatar

Corpses are remarkably biodegradable!

AnUnusualRelic ,
@AnUnusualRelic@lemmy.world avatar

With all the toxic treatments we fill them with, it's not necessarily a good idea.

Honytawk ,

Nah, those bones linger for eons.

Landsharkgun , (edited )

Healthcare accounts for around 1 to 5% of carbon emissions.

Meanwhile, the meat industry accounts for about 35% of carbon emissions.

Yah, healthcare is absolutely not the problem. Feel bad about the environmental impact of your medicine? You could probably make up for it with like one less meat meal a week.

EDIT: Archive.org link to bypass paywall for the article OP linked. Good read; they estimate healthcare as 8% of total emissions. Reading through, it seems it mostly focuses on insulin pens (which are an absolute godsend). I can't help but think that attempting to recycle those is entirely the wrong strategy, and that we should instead focus on reducing diabetes cases in the first place. Losing weight, reducing sat fats, and eating fiber are all correlated with reduction of diabetes risk. I think we need some good old big-government regulation to start penalizing foods that have those things in them. We're all paying the price for them already, time to start making the corporations do it instead.

flicker ,

I think we need some good old big-government regulation to start penalizing foods that have those things in them.

I think (I hope) you meant penalizing foods that have saturated fats and don't have fiber. Which I agree to entirely! I work in healthcare and the amount of people who have obesity related health issues or diabetes or metabolic syndrome is staggering. And only getting worse!

Everywhere I go here in the US I'm struck by how people seem to come in only two sizes now- fit, or obese. Many of them have trouble walking. Young people, too. I see them and I think, "My God. You are one injury away from losing mobility entirely." And the health care industry in this country is not ready to provide the care so many people will need soon.

I'm terrified for these people. Horrified that they don't realize that walking like that now, and not getting that fixed, becomes a wheelchair in 10 years. If they're lucky. Bedbound, after that. We need an overhaul of the insurance system now. And since we aren't getting it, care will go for a premium in the blink of an eye. They can't pay us to stay in our jobs now. Where will we get the people then?!

boborhrongar ,
@boborhrongar@lemmy.world avatar

Why don't we stop subsidizing disgusting slop before more state enforcement?

Landsharkgun ,

Yep that's what I meant to say lol. Also a healthcare worker, and I agrew on the obesity problem. I've seen a couple different work comp claims for nurses that were injured trying to move/help very large patients, and it's a bit messed up. When we reach the point that we need mechanical assistance to move you, something’s gotta change. Trying to shame people into changing their habits demonstrably doesn't work, so we need to be looking at other options.

boborhrongar ,
@boborhrongar@lemmy.world avatar

...like trying to get people to change their habits without shaming them maybe?

boborhrongar , (edited )
@boborhrongar@lemmy.world avatar

The article is literally not saying healthcare is "the problem" or that you should "just die." It's just talking about how it's unfortunate that something people need to live can have a negative effect on the environment and talking about ways to mitigate that by changing the way they're manufactured. It doesn't say to stop using them or whatever.

Edit: Cool edit, 100x worse

You went from misinterpreting it as saying something it wasn't to straight up telling people not to get diabetes and that the state should enforce nutrition. What the fuck is wrong with you people?

DessertStorms ,
@DessertStorms@kbin.social avatar

Oh, ecofascism is very real. Society in general has a massive ableist bias, and the media play a huge part in promoting that. Disabled people and those with long term conditions are often framed as basically disposable. It's everywhere, but it really feeds well in to the often white supremacist and otherwise privileged liberal "eco worrier" movement, but also right wingers who hide their genocidal intentions under a guise of concern for the environment, and even some anarcho-primitivists who insist we "go back to monke" without any regard for the lives of those who depend on technology and modern medicine. The more you look, the more of it you'll see.

YtA4QCam2A9j7EfTgHrH ,

My wife is completely incapacitated and I am her care taker. I’m slightly terrified that she is on SSD given that fascists tend to kill disabled people and the government knows where she lives.

DessertStorms ,
@DessertStorms@kbin.social avatar

I'm disabled myself, in the UK, where the government has already openly set its sites on killing disabled people (tens of thousands already dead in the past 13 years or so due to a deliberately nightmarish claiming system alone, never mind the defunding of our health and social care systems and the innumerable deaths that has lead to), and I can tell you that sadly your fears are well founded.

If you can, find leftist disability activists near you, and see if there is anything you can do to help (it can be anything from donating and spreading info online, to being present at demos and taking other direct action).

They aren't just going to leave us alone.

shuzuko ,

Every time I give myself my Humira injection I feel a little bad about the giant plastic cylinder I'm throwing away.

But yeah, without it I may as well die, so 🤷🏻‍♀️

thepreciousboar ,

Think of all the pollution you would not make if you died! Maybe we should all die a little bit more

/s of course. Healthcare is inherently wasteful, just think of all the single-use stuff, that's the cost of saving life. It's okay to minimize waste, but should not be done at cosy of people's health

thefartographer ,

Sorry, I'll try to manufacture them more sustainably once I can afford to buy the company.

frezik ,

See, all you had to do was have enough money to start a competing business in a market with very important safety considerations, and people will flock to buy your product instead of theirs.

  • some dumbass Reddit libertarian
thefartographer ,

I'll never get tired of sharing this libertarian satire

Cethin ,

I do think the generic epinephrine injector is probably slightly better (and a lot cheaper), but last I heard it isn't covered by insurance usually so there still isn't a choice.

Midnitte ,

Well that's stupid.

So glad we have our Healthcare system.

chetradley ,

My gravestone will read "Finally went carbon neutral!"

Tak , (edited )
@Tak@lemmy.ml avatar

Unless you had kids then your decisions can still be having that impact. But it's a silly way to look at things when corporations do most of it and they're not going to just get old and die.

chetradley ,

Not when people keep giving them money. You can make the decision to boycott a company or industry that you disagree with.

Tak ,
@Tak@lemmy.ml avatar

I get where you're going but you can't always just boycott a company. For instance I despise Walmart but if it's the only place you have to buy food you don't exactly have options. Some of the most hated corporations are the most stable because people don't just free market capitalism their way out of ecological disaster.

chetradley ,

Of course there are people who don't have the means to make these choices, but for those who do (including many here on Lemmy), it's important to recognize the impact that your decisions make. Far too often I see the corporate contribution used as an excuse to continue supporting these corporations by people who do have the ability to boycott them. It's an appeal to futility at best, and actively funding the problem at worst.

Tak ,
@Tak@lemmy.ml avatar

I doubt many people on Lemmy are the ones defending corporations from being impacted by social justice beyond boycotting. The rhetoric you use is just really similar to that of corporations where they encourage individual responsibility instead of taking meaningful action.

chetradley ,

I'm certainly not defending corporations against social justice, and I don't see why it has to be one or the other. Why can't we support progressive legislation, tax reform, unions, social pressure and local economies while also refusing to financially support the companies and industries we oppose?

Tak , (edited )
@Tak@lemmy.ml avatar

It doesn't have to be one or the other, I'm simply worried by the way corporations invade public discourse to keep people from holding them accountable through group action. There can easily be group boycotts that do the same thing and I'm all for that, I just don't care for the personal responsibility argument.

chetradley ,

At no point was I against group action. I was responding to your assertion that individual responsibility was a silly way to look at it, when it's an important piece of the overall solution - the responsibility to hold companies financially accountable. I'm not saying recycle your needlessly purchased plastic junk or unplug your phone charger. I'm saying don't give money to companies and industries that are destroying the earth and causing massive amounts of human and animal suffering. Now that that's cleared up, I think we may actually be in agreement?

Tak ,
@Tak@lemmy.ml avatar

Sorry, I'm not saying you were. I was trying to share a concern not an implication.

chetradley ,

All good. Glad we got it cleared up!

Transporter_Room_3 ,
@Transporter_Room_3@startrek.website avatar

Well, I have a few ideas on how to kill a company, but there's a lot of collateral damage involved.

It's to rich people though so nothing of value lost.

TheFriar ,

Well you’re actually going carbon negative.

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