Code red for humanity -

[54321nought]

www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-58138714

UN climate change report

Climate change is already massive, unstoppable and hugely destructive.

We have to reduce the number of children we are having, reduce the amount of meat fish and dairy we eat, stop driving cars so unnecessarily, stop burning fossil fuel, convert to using renewable energy, stop sending rubbish to landfill, reduce reuse and recycle.

Otherwise the human race is finished. Its as simple as that.

I would say I agree, but the third world continue to have loads of children, and western population is in decline (without counting the unwanted immigration).
So actually it's a mistake to have less children, we have to keep a strong demography, or it's the start of the end of our civilisation in a few hundred years as we know it

What impact did the Covid lockdowns have? There is literally no mention of the economic/ societal shutdowns.

If the answer is ‘not a lot’ then what’s the point of changing our behaviour? Genuine question. We’re not going to get to the level of compliance over the last 18 months.

[quote AlaskaThunderfuckHiiiiiiiii]@Hekatestorch see this annoys me. I do what I can I recycle, I don’t go abroad, I have meat free nights and I get my milk from farm near me, don’t have the heating on stupidly high in the winter and have a well insulated house. Unfortunately I live rurally no where near school, shops, doctors and I work in rural community nursing covering a large area so I rely on my car. It’s a new 1.2 small car so hardly gas guzzling. As for car sharing it wouldn’t work in my situation[/quote]
so, you are not in the classification of "unnecessary car user" are you? most car drivers are. You are not.

The problem is capitalism. People, governments & ruling powers are greedy, and as long as there’s money to be made there will be a real conflict of interest. It’s the quest for riches that carries the ultimate penalty

@Lapsidasicle

What impact did the Covid lockdowns have? There is literally no mention of the economic/ societal shutdowns.

If the answer is ‘not a lot’ then what’s the point of changing our behaviour? Genuine question. We’re not going to get to the level of compliance over the last 18 months.

Massively reduced pollution, and lower birth rate.

Also it may be an unpopular opinion but I think we should stop keeping people alive past their best, the amount of people sitting wasting away in care homes with dementia and other illness that would have killed people years ago are now managed. It’s quantity over quality and it’s ridiculous. I’ll be making up a directive to ensure I don’t get treatments if I develop dementia etc

I also don’t believe electric vehicles is the answer. The government encouraged diesel cars as being better for the environment until they weren’t and I think electric will go the same way

China, the USA, India, Russia and Japan are the biggest polluters, they need to do something about the environment, it's not with western women having less children that we will save the planet

@54321nought no you’re right I’m not, outside of work my car is used odd weekends to go out but that’s it, unfortunately all drivers get tarred with the same brush

@Julie010177 exactly it will completely change the power balance of the world.

"if the Lancet’s projections are accurate, by 2100 the number of people aged over 65 will outnumber the under-twenties by 670 million"

I'm sustainable as I can be but the economic uncertainty in the UK is what is really worrying me. 5m are already on NHS waiting list & they think it could be 14m next year!

@AnneLovesGilbert

It’s terrible.

And the day this comes out the government are trying to stop wfh in the civil service getting yet more people commuting, a few days after Shapps was begging people to fly away on holiday and the PM’s COP26 rep admitting electric cars are a faff, suggesting people stop rinsing dishes and saying the government is encouraging personal responsibility and won’t be telling anyone what to do etc etc etc

It’s a joke.

Yes, this.

You might want to have a word with these feckers

@54321nought but lower birth rates in the west are not necessarily a good thing. Why do you think China is implementing a 3 child policy?

@LarryTheLurker

Don't waste my time with this headless chicken routine. You panic if you must, but be more responsible than to try to spread it. Neither the planet nor the human race is in danger. Global temperatures, excepting for the record El Nino in 2015/16, are no higher now than they were two decades ago.

You really want to reduce global carbon dioxide (not carbon, that's something completely different) emissions, go talk to the Chinese, Russians and Indians. There is nothing - absolutely nothing - we can do on our little island to bring global CO2 emissions down, so stop pretending the only way to avoid disaster is for us to destroy our society.

Have you lived under a rock during the past 4 years? 2017-2021 have been the hottest on record. Also do you own a recent car / smartphone / flat screen TV / headphones, etc.? Many of these will have been made in China - but for people like you in the west. It's selfish and ignorant for people to blame Asia, Brazil etc. for the climate emergency whilst carrying on with their own consumerist lifestyle.

@JaneJeffer

You might want to have a word with these feckers

Really? Great 😫

It's selfish and ignorant for people to blame Asia, Brazil etc. for the climate emergency whilst carrying on with their own consumerist lifestyle.

completely agree, the west need to stop consuming

Humans might be finished, but over time planet earth will be fine.

Ive recently read "How bad are bananas" by Mike Berners Lee. I would thoroughly recommend it. Interestingly, from a CO2e (carbon) perspective cycling a traditional bike comes out worse than using an electric bike due to the amount of power used to operate it (which in the case of a traditional cyclist translates to food consumption).

Obviously I could do with losing a few pounds and so that wasn't taken into account in his calculations but its a really fascinating book and helps to cut through the confusion about what choices are best

@rottd

It's selfish and ignorant for people to blame Asia, Brazil etc. for the climate emergency whilst carrying on with their own consumerist lifestyle.

completely agree, the west need to stop consuming

very good points

I’m 45, I’ll be dead before it happens so I’ve no skin in the game so why make the rest of my life miserable

Unless you're expecting to die pretty soon it will absolutely happen in your lifetime. It's happening now.

I am doing all that I can. But we need government help with some of the big wins. So for example I could drop my child to nursery and go to work by bike. The reason I don't is because the roads aren't safe, people drive like lunatics around here. There is very little in the way of public transport. Having unisex showers at work doesn't help either.
Also converting to solar is just too expensive

@HasaDigaEebowai

Ive recently read "How bad are bananas" by Mike Berners Lee. I would thoroughly recommend it. Interestingly, from a CO2e (carbon) perspective cycling a traditional bike comes out worse than using an electric bike due to the amount of power used to operate it (which in the case of a traditional cyclist translates to food consumption).

Obviously I could do with losing a few pounds and so that wasn't taken into account in his calculations but its a really fascinating book and helps to cut through the confusion about what choices are best

That does sound interesting, but it does assume a link between calorie consumption and exercise which isn't actually that straight forward, although I don't really want to get into that here

@Tuscancat

I am doing all that I can. But we need government help with some of the big wins. So for example I could drop my child to nursery and go to work by bike. The reason I don't is because the roads aren't safe, people drive like lunatics around here. There is very little in the way of public transport. Having unisex showers at work doesn't help either. Also converting to solar is just too expensive

Yes, cutting down on car traffic and encouraging cycling is the best way forward, I agree the government NEEDS to prioritise this

A pity the Green Homes Grant was such a failure.

Thanks for the book recommendation @HasaDigaEebowai

Yes, cutting down on car traffic and encouraging cycling is the best way forward

but what about all the online deliveries?