Start buying reusable and BIFL goods and avoid everything disposable. It's expensive, but worth it for more than the planet. We need to have a lot more focus on the reduce and reuse components of the solution. Most of what we Americans buy is cheap disposable nonsense that shouldn't exist.
You say the disposable nonsense shouldn't exist, so wouldn't a better legal solution be lobbying to better regulate the facilities where these harmful pollutants are originating from?
My cynical outlook is that the organizational behemoths with millions of funds to throw around buying carbon credits do not want to bolster regulatory mechanisms, even in other sectors, for fear of their own sector becoming more regulated. There is a conflict of interest there.
And I don't particularly buy into the 'let's all individually make better choices' solutions either. Has consumer-side activism ever worked? On the other hand, look at the effects of historic crackdowns like the Montreal protocol regulation of chlorofluorocarbons and The Clean Air Act and its ban of leaded gasoline.
I'm all for regulating production of non-reusable nonsense. Coke is not a necessary product, there is no reason to allow them to produce single use aluminum cans. Coke should be a syrup mixed with carbonated water at the site of consumption. This is a real solution I could get behind and take seriously. By contrast I find mainstream environmentalism with the regulating plastic bags and straws and supporting "recycling" a virtue signaling joke and can't stomach supporting it.
Carrying this forward, stop buying shit. Humans today consume an ungodly amount of unnecessary crap. Just in terms of clothing the fast fashion industry has absolutely demolished our sense of longevity and repairability and convinced us we need entire new goddamn wardrobes every other year.
