This is what people should really be worrying about ...

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Even if you haven't been worried (yet) by current increases in extreme weather events, this should ring alarm bells. These currents are what keep the UK and other northern European countries relatively warm compared to Greenland. : BBC News - Antarctic ocean currents heading for collapse- report
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-australia-65120327

So if everyone stops having children where do you think these immigrants are going to come from? Or is it just the UK you think should stop having children?

If this really is an emergency, along the lines of a world war - why is it not being treated as such? Why not issue individual carbon rations immediately? For those who didn't use their quota, market value would allow them to profit. Businesses could be assessed for their current carbon footprint and be forced to reduce that annually going forwards. Of course this would be radical and be complicated to deliver - but arguably far more was implemented far more quickly in response to Covid. Ultimately, only a top-down strategy on this sort of scale will achieve what is constantly purported as the desired outcome. Currently, there is no joined up thinking - we are supposedly in a catastrophic climate emergency, yet the same global economic drivers are encouraged to perpetuate. We continue to facilitate the needless transport of goods around the world - instead of concentrating this movement only on products that cannot be produced locally. We continue to encourage industries and people to move around globally - both for work and leisure.
Personally, I have serious doubts about the degree to which climate change is attributable to anthropogenic causes - beyond marginal impact - the climate has always changed and sometimes that change has, through natural feedback mechanisms, been extremely rapid (eg the Dansgaard-Oeschger events of the Late Pleistocene, which saw sudden warming of up to 8 degrees centigrade, occurring in possibly as little as 10 years). So, regardless of the causes, we need to be building in resilience to climate change - instead of being silly with our use of resources and doing daft things like concreting over flood plains. Also, I think our main concern should be threats to biodiversity - sometimes prioritising reductions in greenhouse gas emissions has a positive impact on this...but there is a risk that this is seen as a secondary consideration, or simply a potential spin-off, rather than being the principal concern.

This person has literally described a conspiracy theory.

This is the kind of positivity I come to MN for 🤩

You seem to be doing enough worrying for both of us.

Eh?

Not only Nuclear war, but I was of the generation worried about the possible escalation of the Falklands War, i.e. whether we'd be conscripted etc. And before that, worried about all the strikes, unemployment, rubbish piling up on the streets, etc. I remember worrying every night watching the news to see yet more firms going bust making hundreds/thousands of workers redundant and wondering just where it would all end. We certainly had lots of things to worry about back then too!

Generation X ?

I remember all what you described.

And yet we are still here!

Me too, also Gen X.

I remember having many discussions at school about whether friends in large cities would be evacuated out to us in more rural areas - in between talking about boys, our hair, pop music etc😂

I was aware but cannot change it so not worried

Another Gen X here

As a teen I worried about nuclear apocalypse and Acid Rain, and the forests disappearing

My left wing eco dad saying the end was nigh

He is still saying the end is nigh. He's almost 90 now

I do not talk myself into worrying more.

Worrying does not solve anything. Getting everyone into panic mode does not help.

Yes the climate is changing. It has always changed, there have been ice ages and there will be more ice ages (coming soon in a few thousand years or so)

We will all see massive change to our lives and life styles. It was ever thus.

I don't worry. I act. I do my bit to help hit the 1.5 degree target.

I have kids. What else am I going to do?

Just shrug and let it happen?!

There are lots of us.

Lots of us doing a little bit adds up to a lot.

We can all read up on how we can help, we can all vote and write to our MPs about things like green energy.

We can all rein in our consumerism.

We can all use our critical faculties to ignore the conspiracy theorists and listen to the scientists.

(On the topic of consumerism:

www.vogue.co.uk/fashion/article/how-many-clothes-do-we-need/amp )

My biggest fear was the Nuclear one but they didn't actually help with what they put on TV to be watched and heard .

The Day After
Threads
Testament
When the Wind Blows

Two Tribes
Dancing with Tears in my Eyes
Who Needs it (living in the shadow of the mushroom tower, who needs it. by Hazel O'connor)

Seems to Me that now it is more climate change focused and everywhere.
I just feel sorry for those , probably younger than Me, who are so worried ,as that was Me, but around 40 odd years ago. Try to live as best you can doing what you can.

Can someone please explain in real terms what they are saying is going to happen please?

How long before we see temperatures change? What will summer and winter look like?

More extremes.

More severe storms and more of them.

Harsher winters

Longer and hotter heatwaves.

Rising sea levels. Low lying parts of the U.K. like Norfolk and Portsmouth underwater during rainy season then indefinitely.

Praise be! Hate the fucking heat (totally misses point of the post)

I think more importantly exactly what action we should take and what the effect of that action would be.

If we cut all emissions to zero today, how much longer would we get?

My suspicions is it wouldn't be worth the effort, but few will take action without a tangible goal.

I think there needs to be a rebalancing.

The average UK person emits 13 tonnes CO2, and might feel they're doing their bit. Especially as the average person in the US emits 21 tonnes. But compare that to Malawi, where it's 0.2 tonnes.

If we won't stop over-consuming, then reducing population would be a good thing, with most impact coming from reducing the number of people in the highest emitting countries

Also, just because there might be other factors and areas where even bigger changes could be made, this does not absolve the individual from doing what they can. Of course individuals can't fix every climate change issue. But we could at least stop contributing to them.

Wading through the greenwash takes effort, but being aware of the main issues and what consumers can do, will be worth it.

Try reading James Clear "Atomic Habits" for an account of the power of small changes carried out by hundreds of thousands of people, hundreds of thousands of times.

Regardless of what happens to the weather in the tiny area that is the UK, we will be significantly affected by warming elsewhere around the globe.

Think about food production - the UK is nowhere near being self sufficient. And mass migration of people away from the worst affected areas - there will be huge refugee crises in a number of places.

If we cut all emissions to zero today, how much longer would we get?

Net zero isn't the solution, it's a means to an end, and if all 2050 targets are met, then global warming should not exceed 1.5C. This will still bring changes that are hostile to human life, but could avert complete crisis.

Nothing we can do. Compare our output to China's which is currently building more coal fired power stations.

I know all that already OP, and I have been following such things since the 1970's. I personally cannot change what happens to the Gulf Stream. There's nothing I can do - as a family we try to be as eco-friendly as possible, and I can't see that me worrying about it will do anything other than make my mental health worse than it is already.

Humans and wonderfully resourceful and adaptable. Part of the reason we are still around after so many millions of year. So that’s hopeful.
We will adapt and find new ways of being and living. That’s just the way of things

Okay, but that's not going to happen. So we're not going to avert that crisis, maybe not even delay it significantly.

So now we're asking people to change their lifestyles for nothing.

I'm pretty environmentally friendly by default but wouldn't break my back to possibly stave off a possible crisis at some point.