Comic Strips

I'm Asian. Don't take my just-rising living standards away from me.

Nothing is being taken away. You and your countries have the biggest chance at actually making things better! Rising living standards doesn't mean "copy the West and all its mistakes". Don't look at the West as if they have it all figured out.

You could have walkable, green cities and towns, with amazing public transport! It costs less than forcing everybody to have a car, keeps more people healthy as there will be less pollution of all kinds (noise, particles, chemical, industrial, ...), and makes for much happier citizens.

You could invest in green technologies like solar, wind, hydrogen, heat exchangers, etc. It will mean cheaper bills for everything (transport, heating, cooling, appliances, ...) and much less dependence on foreign companies (once things are set up). No more oil and gas imports would be amazing for your country's autonomy.

Going green doesn't mean worse living standards, it means exactly the opposite. You could leapfrog the West and raise the living standards for millions of your countrymen and countrywomen.

Things you can do yourself. Select those that are right for you:

• Most trips are <3 miles. Use a bike or e-bike where it makes sense, or public transportation if it’s built out.
• Take steps to avoid the consumer-for-the sake-of-consuming mindset. Get things secondhand or from buy nothing groups.
• Eat less meat. Vegetarian dishes can be flavorful. Even a grilled cheese and some soup is delicious. Miso also has that essential umami kick. As a reformed “need meat with every meal” type person, it’s doable, you just have to rewire your mind and gut. It’s a thing you can do to both save you and your environment.
• Donate to climate advocacy groups and call your political representatives.
• Recycle - it’s oddly getting a bad rap these days, because we’re the downstream consumer to the folks designing and making crap, but we still also have responsibility in the chain.
• Avoid things like fast fashion - buy things with sustainability built in and leave intense shipping logistics out.
• compost and grow your own food if you have the space and time. Less transport and typically better for you. At the very least, you’ll know what you’re eating.
• purchase personal carbon offsets from reputable organizations
• consider investing in a heat pump and insulated glass windows when it’s time to switch the older ones out if you have a home.
• Avoid buying items that are simply packaged water. Try to buy concentrated items and then add water at the point of use. Soaps, detergents, bottled water, flavored drinks are easy ones.
• Use a smart thermostat and set it between recommended standards for your region. You can always wear slippers / more layers to warm up when slightly cold, or run fans, hydrate and wear light clothes when a little warm.
• Procure preventive maintenance on big ticket items and use your built in paid warranties. So many pieces of equipment fail due to some minor thing that could have been addressed earlier.
• encourage others, evangelize sustainability. Political movements need to meet certain thresholds to turn into action.

I’m Asian. Don’t take my just-rising living standards away from me.

edit: how did I forget: every time I hear someone say they can't do anything why bother, I want to say you sound exactly like the boomer in the cartoon, it's funny how so many people blame boomers for doing nothing but then simultaneously argue that it's not worth doing anything

You have an opportunity unlike the rest of us to have rising living standards in addition to not contributing to the problem

Solar + Battery + EV's will save you billions of petro-dollars not going to the likes of Russia/Saudi Arabia/Iran etc

I can already see that this is not reality:

we can reduce our footprint, but it’s small compared to corporate bullshit

Recently announced in Vietnam:

Hanoi plans to ban fossil-fuel motorcycles from its city center in July 2026, part of a national drive to cut emissions and air pollution. Its commercial capital, Ho Chi Minh City, is weighing a similar step. By 2030, Vietnam aims for a third of cars and more than a fifth of motorbikes to run on electricity.

Vietnam’s motorbike market, at about 3.5 million units a year

https://apnews.com/article/vietnam-evs-motorbikes-yamaha-vinfast-4ab76826787a806392655b843c374f3a

That's 3.5 million small footprints that will soon be making a positive impact :)

This is not a zero sum game, every single little bit helps

Just because its small doesn't mean it doesn't have an impact. I want to be able to tell the next generations I tried in ways thst made my life less convenient.

On my street alone (in thr US), half the houses have massive lighting setups and inflatables for Halloween and they're about to switch them over for Christmas. Three months of absolutely unecessary electric usage. Sure one can argue that if they shut them off it wouldn't have a world changing impact but it's hard not to look at that and go wtf?