Yeah, I agree - unions and representative collective bargaining is the best shot that most of us have to effect any meaningful, positive change, and I hope that our willingness and ability to unionize only increases. Unions seem to be trending upward these days, at least relative to the past couple of decades, but they also seem to largely operate in an employment-centric capacity.
When it comes to environmental concerns, though, it really does feel fruitless. I’m not saying that giving up is the answer - just that it’s important to acknowledge and accept when the situation feels futile, and continue to try regardless, especially in light of our collective fates at the end of the road. In the US, at least, corporate influencers have had so much time to set things up in their favor - through the courts, legislature, and minds of the people - that it feels like we’re fish caught in their net.
Representative democracy is our best bet for effecting positive change on that front too, but our current conundrum is that many of our representatives have stopped representing us in meaningful ways, often paying lip service while they get paid through Super PACs and amenities. The best way to change that, short of violence (in which the outcome is, at best, mutually assured destruction of both government and populace) is, again, voting together, at the same time, and in the same direction.
I still hope for a better future, and I will do what is in my power to try and realize that future. I just hope that there are enough of us trying, at the same time, and in the same direction.