Degradation of the planet is an essential element of the function of capitalism. There isn't another way to have capitalism, yet we desperately try to keep capitalism functioning even though it is clear capitalism has no future to offer us other than a future featuring a dead planet.
Take for example food distribution under the capitalist mode of production and consumption. Raw materials are shipped from all around the world (requiring fossil fuels and packaging). The packaging is then removed at the factory and discarded. Once the food product is made, is it repackaged in new packaging. The food product will then be shipped to a distribution center, and eventually a grocery store, where the outer packaging boxes are discarded, and the food placed on a shelf. Here, the food product may sit in a heated or air-conditioned well-lit environment (more energy use) until it expires if it not chosen by a consumer, in which case it will be thrown out. If it does get purchased, it will go to a home where the food itself is removed from the packaging, which gets discarded. When the food is prepared for a family meal, all the dishes for that one family will be done, requiring warm water, soap, and labour. Leftovers may be refrigerated and may well end up being discarded.
An alternative to this free choice system littered with wastages at every step is a food distribution system directed by the people. Everyone in society has to eat, and anyone who already does not have money to buy their own food is provided with the either money to buy food by the state (welfare payments), or can visit a food bank, so free food may as well be provided to everyone. This would function as a type of universal income. There are multiple ways to go about providing this free food.
An improvement over the grocery stores system would be a weekly delivery of a set amount of food for each family, depending on the size of the family. A box would arrive weekly with all the food needed for that week. A downside of this is that all the food would have to be packaged, leading to landfill waste. It would also be difficult to calculate the exact amount of calories needed, leading either to food waste due to excess, or hunger if not enough. Furthermore, families would still be required to take all the time to prepare the food during their limited leisure time outside of work.
To reduce the packing and labour time needed for a meal, a good alternative would be a soup kitchen where anyone could come to get a free meal at any time. The food would be simple and healthy, to discourage overeating. There would be great efficiencies in the preparation of large quantities of meals. Possible objections to this system would be made by people with preference for a particular cuisine. This could be addressed by rotating the meal types and encouraging people to be open to trying new things. Allergies and food intolerances would require special care. The food would need to be vegan because the effort to reduce capitalist waste would only be a half-measure if planting wrecking animal products were served.
There would be great push-back from the grocery and restaurant business. As the saying goes, "you are either part of the solution, or part of the problem". There is no solution at all within capitalism itself; it is not reasonable to expect capitalism to solve the problems that it keeps creating. The problem created by capitalism is that it keeps creating new problems. So, for the grocery and restaurant industry, they would have to step aside for the sake of the planet and all life upon it.
This essay will end with a critique of the one most conspicuous aspect of capitalism - the personal automobile. The emissions, land use (roads and parking lots), accidents, are quintessential capitalist problems. Moving beyond capitalism would mean ditching the personal car entirely. In place would be enhanced public transportation. Police cars and ambulances, and other first responder vehicles would still be permitted. If complete removal of cars would be too much of a shock, then at least having people pay the full costs upon the planet and society of their vehicles would be a first step. In this case, annual license fees for a personal automobile (exclusive of insurance) would be in the thousands of dollars.
This new social environment, with free prepared food for, and roads less clogged with cars would lay create the basis for a mental framework from which the dismantling of the remaining capitalist features of daily life would proceed.
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