To resent the cognitive dissonance that exists around climate change

Most of their buyers are massive companies, not someone filling their tank

The biggest polluters are the likes of Exxon, BP and Shell. If no one was buying their petrol then they would go out of business and their pollution would therefore stop. When you use fossil fuels you are funding them (and also funding Russia's invasion of Ukraine, wars are a massive source of pollution). Vote with your wallet and reduce consumption by as much as possible.

The plural of anecdote is not data. The quoted passage said "many", not "all". Six miles would be 30 minutes by bike so only 10 minutes more than by car, and it's perfectly possible to incorporate the school drop-off into that. You'd save a fortune.

Nothing we can do as a person or as a family will ever overtake the harm that the biggest companies do to our environment.

We can do our best, but we will never make even a dent in what is happening. Upsetting, but true.

Have you ever tried a bar of shampoo? They last absolutely ages, so you save money in the long run.

Electric vehicles are an environmental disaster. It’s better for the environment to keep running an old car for longer than buying an electric car.

It's not as black & white as that. It depends on how much you use it. Sure, old Doris who only uses her car to go to bingo every other Tuesday and therefore racks up little mileage should keep her old car. If you're racking up hundreds of miles a week however then you should replace with a newer, more efficient model.

But preferably the local buses should run late enough for old Doris to catch one to the bingo, while long journeys should be ideal for the train.

"actually many have reasonable public transport already"

This really isn't true. I live 6 miles from my place of work. To get there by public transport would take 1.5 hours. By car it's 20 minutes. Plus I can do school drop off on the way.

There's no way I could be without a car.

Lauded by Bill Gates...

This book argues otherwise, its an interesting read.
https://www.nottheendoftheworld.co.uk/

I care and do my bit but certain things are unaffordable. Eg rail travel/it’s cheaper to take the car. Refillable rice/shampoo etc/Cheaper to buy at the supermarket as I can buy value ranges.

Things I’m happy to do; Recycle/Use Vinted/Reuse gift bags

Won’t be giving up my plane travel (twice this year)

We’re changing the car from electric to hybrid.

Electric vehicles are an environmental disaster. It’s better for the environment to keep running an old car for longer than buying an electric car.

So YABU because you’re not fully equating everything.

However, yes I’m fed up of the “I drive a Tesla” so I’m saving the environment then going on 4 foreign holidays a year crew.

I do agree in many ways, and your post illustrates the OPs point

But come on, who buys much of the stuff from China? Do you know what they are doing with renewables ? Far ahead of the game, to get yet another economic advantage

I don't think that's possible, industrial technology led to the explosion in population, before then nature imposed hard limits on how many the land could support, we can't sustain a huge population without the technologies that destroy the ecosystem. If you have something persuasive to the contrary, but our lifestyles will have to return to something so basic and uncomfortable there is simply no chance of that happening. It's really far far deeper than "choices".

I do agree about transport
Given where we live, partly rural but nearish a city, our local transport is ok and cheap enough
National transport is shocking. I wasn't entirely in favour of hs2 for environmental reasons but it was supposed to sort out capacity and therefore prices. It wasn't about speed.
But it's more than transport. It's cheaper energy provision (getting there with renewables) and usage, retrofitting, less meat/ dairy (and as pp said eating locally not shipping in avocados),simply consuming less stuff and repairing/ reusing. As well as flights of course.

In no way saying I am good at this, and much of it needs government action, but plenty can be done by individuals

As another pp said, the overindulgence of food, drink, presents and simply everything at Xmas ( and starting with Halloween) is a start....

Aviation accounts for between 2.5 and 4% of global CO2 emissions. China's coal fired power stations are responsible for somewhere between 15 and 25% of global CO2 emissions. And that's China alone without considering India or the US - we were wringing our hands over having 1 remaining coal power station while China has over a thousand and are approving new ones at about 2 a week.

So people can stop taking flights if it makes them feel good about themselves but really they're just pissing in the wind. Personally I'm going to make the most of my life and fly as often as I can afford - but I only have one child, don't drive and am extremely frugal in many other ways. I'm not just being a completely selfish asshole, but travel is an amazing thing to do and even if we all give it up it's not going to save the world.

Our government preaches about the environment and simultaneously wants to build, build, build hundreds of thousands more houses, often destroying nature and countryside in the process. It’s totally hypocritical.

Or the people who are here make different choices

No, the car wasn't free but it costs me less than £500 a year in maintenance. It was also a cheap car. So far it costs me less a year than 3 family train trips. And this will reduce further the longer I have this car, assuming there are no expensive repairs.

A developed country is not one where the poor have cars, it is one where the rich use public transport.

We improve public transport and active travel infrastructure in provincial towns (actually many have reasonable public transport already). The more people who switch from cars to public transport, frequent buses will become more economical and they won't get stuck in traffic. The more people who switch from cars to active travel, the safer it becomes for everyone.

I have only read one response so far which nailed exactly what I was going to say. So many times in the last few years we’ve tried to sort out trains to go somewhere but the cost is prohibitive. Even with just one person travelling the car works out cheaper than the train almost always always, even with the railcard discount. As soon as you add in a second person it’s never cheaper by train. We just can’t afford to travel by train (but don’t use the car much either and rarely fly anywhere).

Was the car free, and no running costs

You have to be a special kind of stupid to still be a climate change denier given the overwhelming evidence.

kudos for honestly though. Most people accept it’s happening but think it’s someone else’s problem to solve. You’re at least being sincere

The changes need to come from the top. We were happy to recycle once the recycling bins were provided. All happy to reuse our plastic carrier bags when charges were applied.

I'd happily use an electric car if the infrastructure was in place and public transport if it existed effectively.

Once hydrogen fuelled houses have been developed and planes can fly by other energy, I'll happily use those too.

In the meantime, anything I do isn't going to make a jot of difference.

This is a very good post OP and I agree with your reasoning. I do lots myself for the environment but will turn a blind eye for other aspects

I totally agree that those citing China, India etc are the worst, just totally ignoring that our economy is funding theirs through everything we buy, and the fact that China is massively investing in green technology and energy

But we do need governments to do more. Unfortunately we are on the back of Brexit, wars, COL, covid. And seeing a world wide shift towards populist politics, much of which denies or works against climate change. The irony of this political view arguing against immigration,when their policies will cause major climate change in the future is staggering

But individuals can only do so much, they need transport, grants to retrofit homes, policies that drive businesses to consider the environment and investment in green policies.