Does anyone else feel paralysed by climate change?

[onebeauplace]

Just that really. Having seen all the covid induced panic (most of which was justifiable IMO), I can't really understand why there isn't the same panic and associated action over climate change. Do people think it just won't happen, or if it does happen that it won't happen in our lifetime, or do they feel like nothing they do will make a difference anyway, or is it that the changes we would need to make are too big and overwhelming to think about?

This is not a judgy post BTW as I really only started learning more about climate change a couple of years ago and I am not perfectly eco friendly in any way shape or form. Often I do just feel totally paralysed by it myself, feel like anything I do is pointless and wonder why more people aren't freaking out because there are real things to freak out about here. This is going to hit in most of our lifetimes - by as early as 2040 we could be seeing extreme changes that will cause a huge drop in living standards. Our children will definitely be affected.

How do others deal with this? I'm going through a complete existential despair thing at the moment where I feel there isn't really any point to anything as the future I sort of believed I had as a child isn't there, and certainly isn't there for my young DD.

Yes, I’m worried about the future.

Last month, I attended climate change training at work and learned that it’s now too late to keep the rise in global temperature to 1.5c. Apparently, 1.7c is the best we can aim for. This temperature rise sounds barely perceptible to me, but it means that we can expect a lot more extreme weather events.

I don’t have all the solutions, but I believe we’re not as powerless as we often feel. It’s no good outsourcing most of our manufacturing to China and blaming them for the resulting pollution. If we all buy less, manufacturers will make less.

I’ve just taken a tip from a book called No More Plastic, by Martin Dorey. I’ve gone through my weekly food shop and checked which products are wrapped in unrecyclable materials, or the most toxic forms of plastic. Now for the hard part - I’m going to try not to buy any of those products again.

None of us can solve it on our own but I do what I can. Avoid anything with palm oil in. Beeswax candles only. Choose food with fewer miles. Turn the heating down in winter. Don't use a fan when it's hot.
I've cut my mileage by half since working from home. Buying fewer clothes. More time to prepare food means using much less meat. Avoiding beef. Recycling everything.
No-one is perfect but get into the habit of doing whatever you can.

Fires in Siberia 🙁. Worst in 150 years

News about the fires is awful.

www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jul/20/heavy-flooding-hits-central-china-affecting-tens-of-millions

And this. People caught up neck deep in water on the Tube in China.

Oh but it doesn't matter because "there has always been freak weather", right?

Yes, the hot weather now was called summer in the Seventies.

Well both things can be true, can't they. Several summers in the 70s were extremely hot, but that doesn't mean that climate change isn't also a thing.

Some things are going in the right direction. Solid state batteries for electric cars for example: my dad was working on that concept in the 1970s. Once they get them viable commercially which is just around the corner now a lot of the big moral hurdles with electric cars (cobalt extraction, essentially) go away.

I think the big issue is that everything comes with a sting in the tail. For example, there have long been ideas mooted about installing huge solar panel fields in the Sahara. Theoretically we could generate up to four times the entire planet's current energy requirements. (Interesting article about this here.)

However, a solar panel field covering even just 20% of the Sahara would cause weather issues because the panels don't reflect light and heat in the same way that the desert itself does. Basically, you'd end up raising the global temperature and causing droughts and cyclones in other parts of the world.

Not to mention the huge vulnerability of having so much of the world's power generated by one or two countries. Recent history tells us that this is less than ideal, especially with volatile regimes.

The only way, really, to tackle this long-term is to reduce the global birth rate. Fewer people = less impact. Which is why the education and emancipation of girls and women in the developing world is so important.

Not only girls and women in the developing world. Our own population needs to fall too.

We're all furiously rinsing out our yoghurt pots while in China they can't build their new airports fast enough, and demand for electricity (for their electric cars) means they have over 180 coal fired power stations currently under construction, with more being planned.

@CrouchEndTiger12

I don't get the shit losing at 29c today.

I remember in 2003 doing my uni exams in a heatwave of 38c

1976 anyone - I wasn't born but we hear about it.

Relentless sun for nearly 4 months.
Rivers dried up Sharing baths Tap at the end of the street to fill a bucket with 99 ice çream comes were selling for 99p in London to tourists mostly And on

For anyone feeling paralysed and/or hopeless, or would like to explore a supportive global community of people taking action for the environment (big and small actions) then I can highly recommend 'The work that reconnects' There's lots of resources and trainings on their website:
workthatreconnects.org/

I can also recommend the book 'Active Hope' by Joanna Macy and Chris Johnstone - If anyone fancies joining a book group to work through it, please DM me as I'm thinking about setting one up in the next few weeks (before baby is due in October!).

For me, the rampant destruction of the earth's biodiversity and ecosystems coupled with climate change is terrifying and heartbreaking especially in the context of bringing new life into the world. It's so important that we take a moment or more to feel that pain and fear but without getting stuck in it - this is where the work that reconnects and active hope really come into their own. But, please do not feel that as individuals we can do nothing, there are many many people out there doing incredible things to protect and serve our beautiful planet. People using their big human brains to figure out new ways to use and build technology that works in harmony with the earth rather than against her. There is hope. By taking small and big actions, by starting a thread on chat forums, we can collectively contribute to a world that safe, healthy and viable for our children and for our children's children.

Let's also be kind to one another, climate change and ecosystems destruction are global issues that will require global solutions, so the more we reach out and connect with one another through respect and kindness, the easier it will be to find those solutions.

I don't 🤷‍♀️

I grew up in British Columbia, spending most of my childhood in the interior which is where there are forest fires.

I am no expert on fires. But I can tell you we had good years and bad years as far back as I remember, and I am in my 60s. We spent summers at Shuswap Lake and I remember very smoky skies. We were very careful not to start a fire.

We would drive to Vancouver to see grandparents at Easter and Christmas. I remember driving through forests that had been burnt. Our forests need fire to regenerate. Some seeds will not germinate without fires.

As a child I was constantly educated on preventing forest fires. There were games and badges to earn. We learned how to put out a campfire. There were TV ads about cigarettes starting fires.

Many of the problems now are from a lack of burning slash and building in forested areas. Also from not cleaning up.

I am not saying this because I deny climate change. I am only saying the forest fires are not unprecedented. They have been happening as far back as humans can remember.

www.nrcan.gc.ca/our-natural-resources/forests-forestry/wildland-fires-insects-disturban/why-forests-need-fires-insects-and-diseases/13081

I do feel overwhelmed but I also feel I have to start doing everything I can.

I wrote to my MPs and one has replied. I honestly feel they think the bluster they're used to trotting out is good enough. Not anymore, it never was. I don't care that he has LED light bulbs, I want him to do something instead of pat me on the head and think his spin is enough.

I'm angry!