"It feels like one of the best ways to solve this issue is to have people who care in government... Leaded gasoline is an easy success story: once regulators put a cap on it, companies phased it out worldwide in <15 years."

I mostly agree that it feels like the government is best suited for collective benefit, but history seems to have very few examples where we've managed to get proactively ahead of severe health or moral hazards. OSHA policies are typically written in blood, not derived from hazard models. I think that we got ahead of the ball on CFCs, but I also recall the ozone layer hole being related to that. Maybe we can consider that banning PFAs or the Clean Water act were at least alongside the curve instead of behind it. (And I seem to recall that California kind of forced the envelope on a lot of these things).

In the face of that fact, the first thing that comes to my mind is that I have to think for myself, and not wait for a government policy to affect my personal set of values or morals or whatever. I am increasingly trending towards veganism these days, but my partner is not quite as far along. When I was looking to buy her chicken, I did my research - of course discovering that I could pay more for chickens that had decidedly better lives. I am blessed enough to afford that, so I do it.

I am making a difference, and I am not the only person who thinks this way. Blogs like these, as well as their audiences, are our crucible.