Will changing things in the uk actually help fight climate change?

[edin16]

So when you have a Google of climate contributors per country the uk contributes less than 1% of the total.
How much will changing practices in the uk actually help?
Don't get me wrong, I'm not cynical, I've been using many products (reusable sanitary wear, nappies, straws ect) for years, but will each person changing their practices in the uk actually help in the climate change battle?

The only way I can see it happening is if we do things like stop buying from China (who are the highest contributors), but then does the uk have the capacity to provide the products that we usually get from them?

Maybe I'm just being naive...and I will continue to do what I can but I feel like I'm more helping the fight against land fill rather than global climate change.

Please no haters. I'm genuinely curious as to how it work.

90% of the products we sell at work are from China

We won't be boycotting China anytime soon!!

There's an interesting book called 'Atomic Habits'

jamesclear.com/atomic-habits

about his tiny changes can yield immense results. One of his examples is British competitive cycling success, where the coaches sought to make lots of 1% improvements (in tech performance, athlete recovery times, fabrics etc) and put together they were a gold medal game changer, even though each in isolation wouid be seen as unlikely to yield a big result.

I think that message applies here.

Even though as an individual, you can't fix the big stuff that is down to other nations or industries, but you can make a 1% change to your habits, and those added up will make a difference

No. All pointless and posturing. Depressing all round.

We outsource a lot of our 'bad practices', and buy huge amounts crap from China so are contributing to China's environmental issues. Just because 'the UK' only contributes 1% doesn't mean we don't contribute to other country's higher contributions (too many contributions but you know what I mean).

We could help more by buying less, especially plastic crap, eat locally and seasonally.

One country changing things wont make a huge amount of difference.
International consensus and agreements will, even if certain big countries don't join in.
But it takes negotiation, compromise, and trust to get that agreement between countries. And it can't all be done in a one off meeting. It needs repeated pressure, continual tracking of progress and regular, scheduled discussions. Waiting for "someone else" to do it first wont work, because all nations will end up waiting for the same thing.
You need the pressure and the backing of ordinary people from around the world, but you also need their representatives and leaders to get together make agreements, commitments and promises.
Like some kind of Conference... Of Parties.

No. I’m sick and tired of reading about exciting new ways to penalise ordinary working people when the big polluters aren’t tackled.

Do people honestly think I LIKE driving miles to work and back? That being stuck in traffic enhances my life in any way, shape or form? Of course, I’d prefer to live nearer to work, but it’s footballer’s wives territory and completely unaffordable for us. Even then, I’d still have to drive as there is no direct public transport and it doesn’t run in conjunction with my shift times.

I’d love to have a local job, but all that is available in my ex-mining town is low-paid, low-skilled work like warehouse/care/factory. I have an injury that means I can’t do those types of jobs, even retail would kill me as I can’t lift/carry. That’s what really annoys me; people have zero idea what it’s like living in places like I do; all the decent jobs went and nothing came to replace them.

They're seriously need to think about what they're doing. These heat pumps being pushed are expensive and frequently ineffective/inadequate, electric cars have numerous problems/issues surrounding them and current cars are struggling to run on this E10 fuel.

They're just having knee jerk reactions to things without proper planning. As usual, the poorer will suffer as a result.

China gets the blame but aren't other countries such as the UK and USA causing the issues in China? They do our manufacturing for us so we can sit and say our emissions are low. Obviously China could look at other ways of greener energy, etc but I agree we either stop using them or could we look at ways of supporting such a change in their energy production? And more importantly could we just as individuals in the western world stop buying so much crap?

@CovidCorvid

China gets the blame but aren't other countries such as the UK and USA causing the issues in China? They do our manufacturing for us so we can sit and say our emissions are low. Obviously China could look at other ways of greener energy, etc but I agree we either stop using them or could we look at ways of supporting such a change in their energy production? And more importantly could we just as individuals in the western world stop buying so much crap?

A lot of the UK and similar economies have improved their green credentials by making easy swaps such as coal power to natural gas, and outsourcing to China. The hard part in actually changing habits and cultures still hasn't really happened.

At a personal level, the "climate crisis" stuff just turns me off; especially when spouted by a bunch of hypocrites who rack up more environmental damage in a year than I manage in a decade.

That doesn't mean that changes are not worth making though, and smaller personal changes usually have other benefits, often for saving money, health or resources.

Over time, my CSP save money, resources and are more comfortable to use. They aren't single-handedly saving the planet, but they are a worthwhile change. When I had two children in cloth nappies, it made a noticable difference that we still had space in the wheelie bin each fortnight.

It's not practical to live without a car, but walking locally and doing some journeys by bike saves money and is great for fitness.

It would be better if products were better designed for longevity. It irritates me that a lot of newer clothing wears out more rapidly than my 20+yo items, but I tend to be selective about clothing and have little interest in fast fashion.

Thinking too big is pretty off-putting, and it's more rewarding to think about the wider benefits of smaller changes that can be made.

Changing things in just YOUR home will make a difference, gosh what a question imagine everyone thought like this

I so sympathise with all views on here even @WouldBeGood!

Those small changes can indicate a change in mentality though, which is what's needed.

Agreed it can seem pointless to suffer when we contribute so 'litte' (although depends how you measure it and its disproportionate to our population).

But we need to pull together and am hopeful this mentality change will even affect China, India, Russia and Australia eventually.

I think this jamboree in Scotland which shows how the elite don’t give a fuck has been the final nail for me @Stovetopespresso.

Well. Back when the U.K. was part of the EU we had soft power and influence.

Could the EU together set an example, as well as financial incentives for the world? The U.K. example backed by the threatened Netherlands and rest of Benelux, coupled with a reformed Germany and France together? I believe so.

But, you know, nationalism, flags, yay.

Britain shuts down coal fired power stations, imports power from other countries- can be held to ransom and cut off any time
get told to 'buy electric cars' - where the fuck is all this electric coming from- oh yeah power stations we dont have
wind - solar blights on the countryside and dont produce enough
every other country agree to changes and do fuck all to change anything and take the piss out of England/Britain

Who’s told you wind and solar are blights on the landscape? I love the aesthetic of windmills, as much as I love art deco and art nouveau. The focus on aesthetics is like the focus on fast fashion, as changeable as the wind and entirely commercially-constructed.

The problems of how much there is and the limitations on battery technology are better founded, but being explored. If only they’d been explored better with more funding earlier, rather than exploding consumer uses.

Yes it will.
We can change attitudes, we can influence policy, we can develop technology, we can pressure other countries, we can shift our consumption habits to reduce our footprints, we can implement natural solutions to help nature & wildlife, increase resilience to flood, drought, air pollution and water pollution, we can provide a greener cleaner living environment for our communities, all whilst helping address climate change.
There is loads and loads we could do in this country to make a local, national and global difference, if we all tried, even just a little bit.

Well looking at the COP26 (lack) of progress, we should really just throw in the towel, give up and go home. Why do you think the world’s billionaires are exploring space?!

China, US the middle east and Australia and many others are just not interested. Europe is making progress and could deliver the change required, but the rest of the world is not with us.

Nothing’s is going to change. You’re living in cloud cuckoo land if you think COP26 is gonna make a difference.

I’m resigned to the consequences and even though there is still hope (tech progress) there is nothing you can do to prevent what’s coming so you might as well get over it and not let it get you down. We can’t control it.

No. It will make no difference whatsoever. If every single one of us in the UK died and the whole of the UK rewilded it would make absolutely no difference whatsoever. The only thing that will make any difference is a huge HUGE reduction in human and to some extent animal numbers. Let's say 10% of us left. And that's what will happen. We will use up our resources, fail to live long and prosper, fail to reproduce and fail to raise children to adulthood. People will not give up stuff. We see it all the time - 'I want to get back to working in the office/have IVF/ get a puppy/do something fabulous for my 40th/invest in a pair of boots. Society would completely break down if we started doing that stuff anyway. It's not about about electric cars, reusable straws or Greta. Those are just money making schemes on the back of climate change and Greta sells papers and TV hours.

Could the EU together set an example, as well as financial incentives for the world?

Like Germany you mean? Banning nuclear, opening up new coal mines at a huge rate and signing up to the NordStream deal with Russia to pump gas straight to Germany?

Interested to know how you think that is setting a good example. Do what we say, or what we do more like.

You clearly didn’t pick up on my mention of a ‘reformed’ Germany. They once led us in renewable power. The only chance we have is if nations work together.

But humans are the most stupid and rabid species on the planet, so here we are.

"Could the EU together set an example, as well as financial incentives for the world?"

They could, but they didn't seem to be showing much sign of doing so. They have agreed targets, and are taking similar steps to many developed nations, but aren't doing anything exceptional or innovative.

It's difficult being front-of-the-pack on this. UK was early (not first, but early) in announcing date for end of sales of new petrol cars - howls of protest about how unreasonable (and a number of personal slurs on Gove). That all died down, and many other countries have now made similar announcements

We need to stop buying “stuff”. That in itself would make a massive difference.

Read “how bad are bananas” by Mike berners Lee. It tells you the carbon impact of hundreds of every day decisions from buying strawberries in December or buying cut flowers (majority of which are flown into the country) to installing solar panels or buying an electric car. It’s a brilliant book.

You really can make a difference. Businesses won’t change unless their customers start asking for something better/different.

The US, Australia, China are looking at Europe and the progress we have made and thinking “no thanks, we don’t want high petrol prices, high energy costs and a burgeoning social security system to catch the people who can’t afford the higher cost of living (aka as socialism which Americans are very scared of). They are NOT looking at us as a great example unfortunately.

Yes.