With forest fires burning across Europe and another heatwave on the horizon, how much are you personally willing to change your lifestyle for future generations?

[Chocolatefreak]

Genuine question for discussion purposes. Let's assume, for the sake of argument, that you believe tackling climate change and environmental degradation is a shared responsibility, involving not only governments and corporations but also individuals.

With that in mind, how much would you personally be willing to change your lifestyle if it meant giving future generations, including your children and grandchildren, a better chance of living on a stable, healthy planet?

For example, would you be willing to:

a) Dramatically reduce your consumption of meat and dairy, so that more agricultural land could be used to grow food directly for people rather than feed livestock?
b) Restrict air travel and most car journeys to occasions where they are genuinely necessary?
c) Stop buying more than you need, only getting clothing, gadgets, and other consumables only when they are genuinely necessary rather than for convenience or entertainment?

If not, where would you draw the line? What changes would you consider reasonable, and which would you consider asking too much?

But I'd support some form of rationing for flying, food, water and clothes etc if it made the difference

@Whynottryagain how would rationing for flying be structured? I’m not saying you’re wrong, I’m just interested to know how it would be organised and how it would be enforced.

I think the cost of living plays a part. 2 parent family with one child but both having to work full time makes things difficult to go and choose public transport, find the time to charity shop other than the local village.

We grow our own veg but it’s hard to afford enough land to make it really make a difference in our area.

If we had more time, I would, or if we had more money, things would be easier to choose better.
We support local where we can but realistically we’re all working our asses off to survive.

@Chocolatefreak you have asked posters if they vote. Who do you think is the most environmentally conscious party?

What happened to freedom of speech?

Well, I will be trying not to start any fires. That's about it for now.

Trump has messed the energy sector up this term. But in his first term his drill baby drill made the US an energy exporter for the first time in 2019 and massively improved the economy.

There’s no point - it’s too late.

How dare you complain about my post?

It won’t make much difference when countries like the USA continue with their habits. Drive absolutely everywhere, use disposable cookware and plates, run A\C and dryers…they dwarf us in population so anything we do is cancelled out a million times over.

We can all make a huge difference! There are so many terrifying headlines about climate change - it’s easy to lose track of the progress made globally in recent years. UK has successfully cut emissions and renewables are booming.

Personally, the changes I have made do not feel like a sacrifice - I am used to them. I have been vegetarian a decade and try to eat as little dairy as possible - it has taken a while to get used to but I love cooking and everything I eat. I try to fly as little as possible and as a result enjoy holidays more - and love holidays in the UK and by train.

I buy pretty much everything second hand - from books to clothes - and save so much money.

Most people’s carbon footprint is our homes (installing heat pumps, solar panels, insulation), transport (driving and flying), and diet (meat and dairy). So if overwhelmed I would focus on those three - not worrying about things like plastic or air miles. Do what is sustainable for you and take it step by step - if you love something, cut down rather than cut out, and find other areas you feel more ready to compromise on.

What is sad is many feel ready to give up, without researching much - actually we do have the tools we need to make huge progress on tackling climate change and preventing much (although not all) of the potential damage.

I think with our children we owe it to them to do our bit - including when we vote. Governments and businesses are driven by us - we are the voters and consumers. We can’t say it has nothing to do with us

For anyone feeling stressed and overwhelmed by climate change, I recommend looking at the work of Hannah Ritchie, a data scientist. I recently read her books “not the end of the world” and “clearing the air” and found both pragmatic and positive

From a personal point of view, it is the government's mind that needs changing, not mine. I've been an environmentalist since the 1970's. Our local council is actively encouraging the building of tens of thousands of new homes in our local area, most of which is on prime agricultural land, and the rest of it comprises a combination of flood plains, wooded areas and nature reserves.

What the fuck are we supposed to do when councils will not listen to local people telling them that what they are proposing is a shambolic plan which will result in ecological and environmental disaster?

We could stop mass immigration from the 3rd world. They are bound to consume more here than they would back where they come from.

I plan on doing sweet fuck all. I’ll start giving a shit when the big giants do. Until then, no, I won’t stop anything.

If you had DC and they wanted to move to Australia. They wanted to do the working holiday thing their government allows people to do.. how would you recommend they get there?

Global heating is likely to cause more mass movement of people, creating climate refugees. However, I think you’ve said more than enough abhorrent things on this thread and will not be engaging with your posts.

Thank you.

My views aren't at all abhorrent. Only what most people in this country believe.

What we also need is for laws and regulations to completely ban intensive meat production which is not looking after the welfare of animals.

Yes definitely this, and also to stop the appalling practice of salmon farming which as well as being extremely inhumane, is also doing untold damage to the environment.
The UK government claims to care about the environment and wants to ban trail hunting on animal welfare grounds yet there is silence about salmon farming which

I've never been on a plane, I don't drive, stopped buying clothes, I've got enough to probably last me out, I'm flexitarian & eat very little meat, I recycle everything I can, I just do it & don't preach. Over to you, China & USA.

Do you think every aspect of travel for leisure is enjoyable? The queues, the crowded cities, the expense of hotels, the logistics of tickets etc? The superficial aspect of modern sightseeing trips?

After a holiday flight last year, both dh and myself have decided we'll never fly anywhere again. We don't fly every year, but it's always a bloody nightmare.
Last one was particularly bad, herded about like cattle, locked in sweaty shuttle buses, it was all just so awful and makes you dread the journey home.

Nope. Not worth it to me any more. I do, however, love a train journey.

China accounts for 33% of emissions. The UK’s share is 0.8%… I’m afraid it makes f all difference if you choose to cut your own emissions by going vegan.

Weirdly despite knowing the maths, my ‘bit’ has been to train or drive rather than fly for short haul trips and perhaps more controversially, have a smaller family than desired. In fact, the single biggest thing you can do for the climate is either not have children or limit your family size…Once upon a time I would have said this was a disaster for our economy but with AI dispensing the need for humans, perhaps it isn’t.

I don't have children so I have not been selfish enough to burden the community. I just pay for everybody else to do so. I don't drive (have always used public transport) and not flown for 10 years. I cant remember the last time I bought any clothes/ I sell antiques which is the ultimate form of recycling so I am already doing more than my share.

I already don't fly, and have lovely holidays by train where I can just relax with my book for hours- it's so much nicer than the stress of driving or airports

Couldn't agree more.

Got to look at per capita.
https://www.worldcountrydata.com/en/rankings/co2-per-capita

Its US, Canada, Australia, the Middle East

China is better than Japan and on par with the Netherlands.