There *are* tools to adress the environmental impact of products: Life Cycle Assesment (LCA).

Sadly, in most cases, LCA is used by corporations to greenwash their products by chosing arbitrary system boundaries (everything is connected and there are thousands of indirect effects up- or downstream that are indeed very difficult to calculate) and usually low-quality average values for the different parameters are used (regional differences are rarely taken into account: there is a difference if you throw away the packaging in Slovenia or in the US*).
And there is a general lack of data. Direct emissions are not so difficult, you can even put a price tag (that will be definitely too low, but still...). But how in Xs name do you put a number on biodiversity loss?

Some companies are really trying and use LCA to make good decisions based on data. But don't trust the big ones. Nestle & co employ armies of desktop sustainability PR staff to fool concerned consumers and legislators with fake numbers.

And, you are totally right: LCA does not integrate long-term effects on society or more complex issues like inequality.

Notwithstandig, there are people working in this field since the 60-70s. The German word is hilarious: "Technikfolgenabschätzung" (= estimation of effects of technology).
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technology_assessment
But apparently, these institutions either didn't do a good job, or (more probable) their warning voices weren't listened.
Take care and read about the Luddites (you'll be surprised):
https://thereader.mitpress.mit.edu/the-future-encyclopedia-of-luddism/

* Because Slovenia has waay better recycling facilities than the US. Just saying, if somebody had thought otherwise...🤔
@helenczerski
#Technikfolgenabschätzung #TechnologyAssessment #LifeCycleAssessment #LCA
#Luddites #Luddism #Technology

computer saboteurs CLODO understood AI better in the 1980s than most do now: "the computer became a parahuman entity (cf. the discussion on artificial intelligence), a demon or an angel.. anything but a zealous servant of the system we live in." https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/le-clodo-clodo-speaks
#clodo #AI #luddism

hello I will do an #introduction

i am not coming from twitter but thought i would use this opportunity to join one of the few internet applications that i think is cool and would like to support.

i am interested in #wildlife #birding #conservation and probably will use this site mostly as a repository for my pictures of birds and other animals that i see around #ottawa and #easternontario where i live

will follow people doing interesting work in #ecology, #communityscience, #citizenscience, #limnology

i will also boost tech industry critics who do good research and writing about silicon valley hubris and the harms caused by the internet

politically i feel some affinity towards #luddism #ecosocialism #marxism #dialecticalbiology #historicalmaterialism #socialecology #politicalecology #anticapitalism #convivialconservation but i am not particularly dogmatic or sectarian and not interested in arguing about politics on the internet; and am interested in connecting with people who share common interests even if they are not 100% philosophically or politically aligned with me

other interests include #folkhorror #horrorfiction #horror
as well as music, particularly #metal #punk and more lately, #ambient; i guess in some ways a synthesis of many of these interests are ideas related to #hauntology #psychogeography and the #weird