I'm a mum going to COP26 - AMA

[ParentsForFuture]

We're Charlotte and Rowan from Parents for Future UK, a growing group of parent climate campaigners. We're going to COP26 in Glasgow to demand ambitious action on the climate emergency and are planning what will be the biggest mobilization of parents ever on a single issue, with other parent groups. Mumsnet reached out to us to come on and answer your questions on COP26 and how parents can make their voice heard. Our work is led by parents and rooted in love (and fear). Charlotte (Mumsnetter) is from Bath and Rowan is from Oxford, and we each have two children, aged 3 and 7.

Very grateful for you setting up your group and attending COP26

What, in your view could/should each individual do to assist with the efforts to halt runaway climate change?

Eg. Have less children (too late for some); eat less meat; travel less by air; drive smaller cars; buy second hand; invest with ethical banks?

Any clues gratefully received.
I feel so powerless and the media just talks of the problem but little guidance of the potential solutions

Speaking of sheep farming -

This article is an excellent summary of the real issues in relation to UK farming (written by a farmer some of you may have heard of)

unherd.com/2021/10/boris-johnson-is-no-green-superhero/

[quote Daftasabroom]@Heruka research doesn't show that giving up meat would have the most environmental impact. Livestock and manure account for 5.8% of emissions, burning fossil fuels for energy accounts for 73.2% of emissions.[/quote]
Yes sorry I wasn’t clear, I meant I thought there was clear evidence about which dietary choice has the least negative impact on the environment.

Too simplistic to get distracted by how delegates arrived or diet choices
There’s big government - COP pledges
There’s small changes - how they get there

I have a sheep farm but it's not a hill farm. It's 'less favoured' grassland which is useless for growing most crops except grass.

Oh definitely lots of options other than steep hills, I was just trying to go for an example that's easy to imagine and obvious why it would be difficult to plant crops!

Obviously it's all a balance — New Zealand lamb, not a great choice (unless you're in NZ!). Lamb from a UK farm bought in season, quite probably better than something made with imported soy.

@Blofeld

What is your organisation doing to engage with working class parents?

The environmental movement is dominated by middle class, typically white folk. I’m WC background and lots of people living on my estate don’t give a shiny shite about the environment. I do blame the environmental movement as it’s not bothered to engage with us!! You go onto websites and they’re clearly aimed at educated, leftie types (I’m generalising but that’s how it feels).

People where I live aspire to owning lots of stuff and spend lots on cheap tat. Also multiple expensive cars on HP. Drive short distances to corner shops. I’m not talking about people in poverty, but working class communities where there is a fair amount of money, but low awareness of climate change and the environmental impact of their behaviour.

@Blofeld Hi we have regional groups across the country that do lot of outreach within their communities. As an organisation we are really conscious about reaching out to diverse groups and I'd disagree 'that the grassroots movement' isn't bothered. Most folk I know in this 'movement' are working hard to get EVERYONE engaged. But 99% are also volunteers, learning as they go along. So if you have great ideas on engagement, PLEASE do share.

Check out How Bad are Bananas by Mike Berners Lee
Really good book that helps navigate ju at these issues : nz lamb etc

Thanks for replying @ParentsForFuture
That’s heartening

My ideas are mainly to engage influencers. That’s who people listen to. Until people like the GC or Mrs Hinch are talking about the environment, I doubt many of the folk round here will listen.

Newspaper of choice is probably Daily Mail, Sun and recent headlines mean people are starting to wake up but when they click on Friends of the earth website etc, it looks like the National trust and not appealing/ engaging to people who are not very connected to nature, livbig in urban environments.

Mrs Hinch is phenomenally popular round here, the pink stuff and zoflora - keeping your house clean (while screwing the environment) is a popular pastime for women I know.

But I applaud your efforts and thank you. It’s just so depressing to be surrounded by people who are seemingly oblivious!

We need diverse champions ... Greta, Attenborough and the Royals I applaud for their efforts, but they aren’t really representing our society.

@OldTinHat

How did you travel there?

Yes indeed.🙂

@GoodbyePorpoiseSpit

Too simplistic to get distracted by how delegates arrived or diet choices There’s big government - COP pledges There’s small changes - how they get there

It's ama post.

OP- please ignore the posters questioning your travel arrangements and other such trivial issues. You don’t have to justify anything, there are bigger fish to fry! These posters are acting out of (under-standable) defensiveness because they don’t want to change their behaviour and can’t imagine the alternative. The world will move on and they will need to catch up regardless.

People do probably need to have choices taken away from them and reasonable alternatives offered. Much easier to achieve this if the worlds governments are on the same page and act in unity.

Hi OP can you answer the question about nuclear power?

Would your group advocate for it as it’s a relatively carbon neutral power source?

Very curious to know your group’s stance on it. As you may gather, I’m a big proponent of it and think it could really cut down on carbon emissions from developed countries.

France has one of the lowest carbon footprints in Europe because of its huge nuclear fleet. Lower than Germany which is trying to lower emissions through renewables.

I live in Glasgow and I can assure you the vast majority of folk in this city couldn't give a shit about climate change. They are more concerned with living in poverty,poor health,an education system destroyed by the SNP and heating their homes as cheaply as possible. I will be doing absolutely zero to prevent climate change while rich folk lecture us while they blithely continue living the good life and getting richer.

@MrsBerthaRochester

I live in Glasgow and I can assure you the vast majority of folk in this city couldn't give a shit about climate change. They are more concerned with living in poverty,poor health,an education system destroyed by the SNP and heating their homes as cheaply as possible. I will be doing absolutely zero to prevent climate change while rich folk lecture us while they blithely continue living the good life and getting richer.

I can't help thinking that you've got a point Mrs. The High Heid Yins careering about in their limousines. Biden's staying at Dalmahoy so Glasgow wasn't good enough for him.

WarmthandDepth

Posters cringing about MC virtue signalling, worrying about bonfires ………

Absolutely genuine concern here and really don’t understand posters who have been snarky about that concern.
I was very surprised to read a poster who is clearly committed to doing what she can to end climate change - to the extent of travelling to COP - condoning “bonfire night”.
Every year, I worry about the shit that the millions of bonfires and fireworks send into our atmosphere for no sane reason whatsoever. Same at New Year, but multiply it to billions as country after country compete.

I don’t understand why some posters have been really snotty about my (much earlier) comment. No, I’m not an “expert”. All I know is that my asthmatic son has flare ups, without fail, every November 5th/6th and 31st December/1st January. Doesn’t take a genius to work out why. You can see and taste the crap in the air. And it’s all so unnecessary.

Or are we only supposed to be concerned about putting crap into the atmosphere if it doesn’t spoil our fun?

Seem to remember people feeling the same way about balloon releases just a few years ago. Thankfully, the damage they cause is now widely recognised. Can only hope that by 2030 bonfires and fireworks are a thing of the past, too.

The thing here is that the bonfire produces stuff that triggers asthma , but doesn't notably contribute to climate change

Cars do both

Few of us have the mental energy snd cash and time to do everything, hence the need to focus and prioritise the big hitters

Travel, home heating ( insulation) , food

Yes, do all of those. Why not bonfires and fireworks too? Doesn’t require any effort at all, just don’t.

If woodburners are harmful, as they are we are told, why is burning wood outside less harmful?

Well, my question wasn't answered, but can anyone else answer it for me?
What's the most important thing an ordinary person can do re climate change, or is it too late for the individual to make an impact?

Your position on hydrocarbon extraction is inconsistent but also unsustainable.

You say you don’t want any new production sanctioned. Yet you also say “'completely eliminating' our usage of fossil fuels is impossible since our society itself still runs on them”.
You also recognise there needs to be a transition.

But that transition requires a seismic global shift that changes every aspect of modern life. This isn’t just about gas guzzling cars but it’s about the fact hydrocarbons are used in nearly every aspect of life.

Hydrocarbons are needed to manufacture steel needed for new trains, concrete for new infrastructure, in aspirin widely used as affordable pain relief and of course, in the manufacture of solar panels and wind turbines.

What we should instead focus on is decarbonising the process of extraction and production as much as possible. For example, offshore production facilities can be powered by wind turbines and abandoned reservoirs used for the storage of excess carbon. This approach is far more realistic and enables a managed transition instead of blindly saying “we must stop new production”.

This also doesn’t even get into the geopolitical importance of countries, whether the UK or elsewhere, having security of supply or indeed of placing the burden of production on poorer African countries to satisfy our unavoidable reliance on hydrocarbons in the near and long term.

What are your views on this? And secondly, why do you focus on oil and gas production when, for example, seabed dredging by large fishing vessels emits as much carbon as aviation, or that concrete production produces as much as 6% of the world’s carbon?

Seabed dredging is something that can be easily regulated by nation states and lead to defined gains. When regulation of this and similar contributors to C02 emission is combined with measures to improve the climate impact of oil and gas production, this is a far more sustainable approach that takes into account the reality of our global economy and the way in which lives are lead around the world. And in this context, I’m not just talking about our nice lives in the West but also in countries less developed than ours where changing to electric cars, biomass heating and veganism simply isn’t feasible due to severe unrelenting poverty with no state assistance.

I appreciate this is more of a rant than a question but when we’re demanding change, surely it’s better to make demands for specific, identifiable and quantifiable changes across numerous aspects of our daily lives as opposed to one close to impossible demand that no modern country can support in the near, medium or even long term future?

Tbh the best thing for planet earth is a natural dying out of the human race. Not exactly what most of us want to hear.

Nevertheless there's no harm taking action to mitigate against the damage to limit it.

For starters people travelling domestically could take the train rather than fly... Eg. Glasgow to London (yes I'm talking about you, Boris).

@ADreadedSunnyDay

Do you think it would have been better had COP26 been held virtually rather than encouraging delegates and the 100,000 support staff, activists etc to travel ... personally I think this would have sent a much clearer message about doing things differently and would not smack so much of hypocrisy ...

Multilateral negotiations work much better face to face. Informal discussions can continue over a cup of tea to go back in room with a compromise.

@MrsBerthaRochester

I live in Glasgow and I can assure you the vast majority of folk in this city couldn't give a shit about climate change. They are more concerned with living in poverty,poor health,an education system destroyed by the SNP and heating their homes as cheaply as possible. I will be doing absolutely zero to prevent climate change while rich folk lecture us while they blithely continue living the good life and getting richer.

I don’t think you speak for Glasgow, although I understand your point. Many don’t have any space to think beyond poverty and other problems, and I understand the concern for sure about rich people using up fossil fuels and lecturing poorer people who naturally consume less. BUT, to say you won’t do anything because they won’t, to me, is impossible to understand. It’s your kids, and their kids, whose homes, livelihoods and health will be negatively affected. The rich don’t give a shit about them but I know you must.

I know many in Glasgow who think like this and are willing to take action on behalf of those who can’t even think of future problems because of their circumstances.

@Maireas

Well, my question wasn't answered, but can anyone else answer it for me? What's the most important thing an ordinary person can do re climate change, or is it too late for the individual to make an impact?

@Maireas Every little helps.

Recycle only when you can't reuse.

Reuse whenever possible.

Make do and mend.

Buy secondhand.

Limit flights.

Public transport systems need to be improved. Across the country (and worldwide).

Smaller families should be encouraged through education and good access to contraception.

Think hard about cryptocurrency. It's very energy hungry.

Consumer products need to be more durable and long lasting. Mountains of phones and laptops, etc thrown away every year. These need to be made better able to deal with software updates.

We need less of a throwaway society.

@Maireas

Well, my question wasn't answered, but can anyone else answer it for me? What's the most important thing an ordinary person can do re climate change, or is it too late for the individual to make an impact?

What one action best for you to take depends on your life. Assuming you are fairly typical uk

If you are a regular flyer, cut that right down to once a year or once every two years.

If you are a big beef snd meat eater, could you halve that consumption. Could you get down to 250g a week? 100g?

If you live in a cold house , insulate.

You could look at an ev, or perhaps instead you could try and halve your annual mileage , 5000 miles a year? 2500?

If these options are not available to you now, then mailing your MP or volunteer to create a sustainability group at work that will look for energy saving opportunities