Maybe I need to get myself a more progressive social circle, but the number of people around me who non-performatively care about their carbon footprint when travelling (and back the concern with actions, not words) is very very low.
I don't think I've ever heard someone mention their carbon footprint ever in real life. Only on an internet message board would someone be surprised that a blog post didn't mention it.
Quite a bubble. But I also think it's very performative which is why it doesn't show up in day to day convo. For example, even the HNer wanted to see a feel-good aside about saving the environment or at least some sort of atonement for their sins.
It's one of those things where we don't have any central entity to blame, so we look for small payoffs by holding random individuals to the flame.
In fact, becoming an ascetic would probably be counter-productive. I think a large benefit of publicly caring about the environment is the signaling. You show that (a) it matters (b) it's doable (c) it doesn't ruin your life. Then other people start to believe they can also do it. If you do let it ruin your life, that will serve to dissuade rather than persuade.
