narF π΅βοΈWatching the conference from Green Software Foundation.
It looked promising when I registered but unfortunately, I came to the conclusion that it should really be called Greenwashing Software... π
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The Fondation steering committee consists mostly of folks from big tech companies like #Microsoft, #Shell, #Siemens, #GitHub #GoldmanSachs or #Google.
While they all claim they want to save energy and resources, they are corporations. They only care about optimizing revenues, which they are legally obligated to by being corporations. The real reason they want to save energy and resources is because they think it will make them earn more money in the end.
Corporations want to optimize their resources consumption to reduce their cost, not to save the planet.
They do this as a way to look greener, because they think it will attract more clients. It's marketing.
When corporations talk about #sustainability what they talk about is how they plan to make their company grow faster to survive against other corporations.
Under capitalism, corporations are in competitions. They have to grow constantly and acquire other companies in order to not be acquired themselves by other corporations.
A corporation talking about sustainability is only a mean to defend themselves against acquisition.
Yet we all know that infinite growth isn't sustainable!
Rich people, the 1% who own all of Earth's resources and money, are terrified of the #climateCrisis but not for the same reason as you and I. They aren't afraid for their life, because they own houses in countries that won't be affected by climate changes or mega-yachts that can move around in search of good weather.
No, rich people are afraid of the economic crisis that will come with the environmental crisis. They are afraid that their company will lose clients and lose value.
They are afraid other corporations will be more sustainable and will buy them.
The questions from the conference's crowd are all about "why should I be green?", "How will it increase my market value?"
They don't care about the planet, their workers, their social impact. They only care about their bank account. That's the exact definition of greenwashing.
So why should we care about them?
As someone in the comment remarked, using the expression "the 1%" is an exaggeration. Rich people represent much less than 1% of our population. The billionaires who own half of Earth's wealth are only like 26 (from memory. Maybe 28. Less than 30 for sure)
That's Elon Musk, Zuckerberg, Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos and few others. These 30 people have names and addresses. We're 8 billion humans suffering because of there 30 ultra-rich individuals!
How come we even let them do this???
So what's the solution?
There are many!
First, if you can, refuse to work for a corporation that exploit you! Go work for a non-profit or a worker co-op!
If you can't, form a union in your workplace. It's time for your bosses to start listening to their workers!
This conference from #GreenSoftwareFoundation is so frustrating to watch... They only talk about carbon emissions. They completely ignore the human cost! It's not just about #CO2 emissions! We're reaching the point where we're running out of resources. We're running out of petrol, rare metals (lithium, cobalt, etc) required to make batteries. We're running out of farmable land, which will cause a food crisis and famines.
We won't be able to transition to solar panels and windmills if we can't build them because we ran out of energy or resources! π
People are ready to transition. I see it. People are tired of their shitty useless job, their shitty useless politicians. People are ready for a better world, a greener world, a fairer world.
The only thing stopping us are the 1%. The rich folks. The politicians. The people with power. But their power come from us! Without us, they are nothing. They need our labour, our brains. We are the ones powering their money-printing machine!
So lets stop powering their machines! Let's kick them out! We don't need the rich and powerful people to build a better world! We can do a better job than them. We can organize ourselves!
If you want to help, join an advocacy group, go to your city council meeting, join your #union, go read about #solarpunk, start a #garden in your front yard! Learn to #repair your clothes and appliances instead of buying new ones.
You don't have the time or mental energy to do that? Of course you don't! We all work too much! That's the #neoliberal world we live in. So quit your job! Find a better job!
Start now when you are free to do so, or wait and be forced to do it in a few years.
When the climate crisis really kicks in, when infrastructures starts failing left and right, when food, clothes, gas and appliances will start costing 5 times what they cost today, when your house loses power multiple times a day, then you'll be happy that you had started to practice those skills!
You think it was hard this year when inflation raised the prices of everything because of the #UkraineWar, #heatWaves, #floods or #forestFires? Well you better be prepared because that's only the start! Every year from now on will be worst!
Better be prepared!
And by "prepared" I don't mean building a bunker in your backyard and stocking up on food, knives, guns and ammunitions like some people are doing. That's the individualist way of preparing and it will be useless.
The human species survived because we build social groups and worked together in solidarity. So we need to relearn how to work together.
We deserve a better world. We cannot wait for politicians or corporations to designer this new world for us. We need to dream this new world together!
What would you like in the new world?
In my #solarpunkDreamWorld, I want to work only 1-2 hours a day because machines handle everything else.
I want food that was grown locally and given to me for free because we have plenty enough and we can afford to redistribute the result of the collective work back to the commons. Because society recognize that every human has value.
In my #solarpunkDreamWorld, there would be less asphalt and more gardens. And certainly no golf courses!
In my #solarpunkDreamWorld everyone would have their basic needs covered for free (food, home, clothing, etc) because the community can provide it.
(Note that I said "community" and not "state". Here in Quebec we tried to have the state be a provider in the 1960s and it failed because we've let politicians take over for their own personal profit.)
We don't need the state to be a provider if we can learn to organize ourselves!
Devine Lu Linvega@narF During your 1-2 hours of working in the fields, you might not want to have machines at all around you, but your familiar and people you can talk to at the same time.
Wendell Berry wrote a really nice essay about machines in the field that you might enjoy :)
http://wiki.xxiivv.com/docs/economy_and_pleasure.txt
JonasFor those who can read French*, Samuel Lewis wrote about the benefits and necessity of working the fields by hand. More on their website : http://hoe-farming.com/le-travail-a-la-houe-2/
*funny as the author is English. Their newsletter is in English tho
Nikolay Robotoev π₯ποΈ@narF Working unions, repairs and gardensβ¦ You are talking about the Soviet Union π I donβt know what kind of image people around the world have about that time, but speaking about the residents, they were definitely tough, inventive, and prepared to live off the grid.
@mikolasan I know very little about this era. We don't talk about it in our History classes.
alcinnz@narF I want to add: Offer to help your neighbours to do these things! Form groups doing so!
This is how we build a new society!
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@narF congratulations, you've become an anarcho-communist
Julio π³οΈβπ π¨πΊ πͺπΈ πΊπΈ@narF Very dark observation. LOL
Susan Noakes@narF Or if we have lesders who block renewables development because all they understand is oil and gas.
π estoy desesperada π@narF what if the choice is between affordable solar panels / windmills and slave labor? much of the modern green concept is based on mining rare earth metals in Congo using child slave labor. letting Africa develop economically would significantly increase prices for these technological solutions in the west, but its also the correct and just thing to do.
which way?
which way?
@mapachin I absolutely agree that all humans deserve equal quality of life. Workers mining those rare metals should be paid higher than the CEO of the company, because they work much harder!
Benjamin Sonntag-King π@narF
That's soo true :)
(maybe not the 1% though: if you think "the 1% in the USA or in EU" yes
if you take that "1%" worldwide, these includes most of the middle-class people in the West ;) )
pgcd@narF they are not. They are hoarding wealth in many other, non-financial forms.
When manure hits the windmill, they'll use that wealth to, simply, own slaves.
When manure hits the windmill, they'll use that wealth to, simply, own slaves.
@pgcd π―
I would even say that, under our current system, people are already "sort of slaves". Most people are living pay check to pay check. They can't afford to lose their job. If they lose their job, they lose their home, they can't eat. Isn't that pretty close to the definition of a slave?
@narF it most certainly is. The main difference is that right now, we have the (illusion of) choice of what do with what we earn.
After the Jackpot, that's not gonna be true anymore - if you're lucky you just work for your baron, and if you're not you're left to die, because your product is not useful to your baron.
After the Jackpot, that's not gonna be true anymore - if you're lucky you just work for your baron, and if you're not you're left to die, because your product is not useful to your baron.
@narF Constantly growing corporations will lead to the cyberpunk world.
But I think that is not possible because of the human factor. One person cannot control everything till the very small detail in every branch around the world. He or she needs to delegate it to local managers. And thatβs where problems and conflicts are happening.
@mikolasan It doesn't seem to be stopping Amazon, Google or Microsoft to be in every country and in more and more aspects of our lives.
(but maybe i'm misunderstanding what you're saying?)
@narF Yeah, they expanded very good. But I think this is about their maximum. They can open new branches, but some will close. That is my point.
Although I would not put all these corporations into one basket. Microsoft and Intel open local offices for development teams in many cities. But Google keeps everything in one place (and office in Ireland for tax purposes).
But measuring the spread is not a correct criteria, otherwise DHL and Western Union are already ahead of everyone.
ChewieThat kind of thing would be interesting to me, but yes, the list of companies involved is pretty laughable.
Also, the list of projects seem pretty lame:
https://greensoftware.foundation/projects
Mostly calculating carbon footprints or how to optimize websites... seriously?? How can https://github.com/ec0lint/ec0lint be counted?
Website optimizers have been around for decades, what makes this one any different?
