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?

Stop destroying green fields for more houses and grow your veggie food there. We’re naturally carnivores so leave the animals alone.

That's time I'm not going to spend.

I am not going to do any of those things, but I haven’t had my children which is my contribution.

Not a).

b) Already fly very rarely and drive an electric car.

c) I think we’re pretty frugal with stuff compared to the average family but could be even more so. I’d be willing to do more on this front.

I’m a childfree only child. There won’t be any future generations “future generations” from me.

All the forgone long haul flights and vegan meals in the world can’t top that.

Yes, the behavior of the 1%, corporations, politicians etc is inexcusable.

Do you vote?

Yes but we flew there because we wanted to.

Ofc, the average person can take a year off work to sail to Australia and back (not including time spent in Australia) unless you’re advocating using a heavily polluting modern ship with diesel engines? Egads. Ok that would be more polluting than a long haul flight and shave off 4 months ship time.

Some people REALLY won’t like this answer haha! Because having a child is by far the most environmentally damaging thing you can do.

When you go back to India and see how much more difficult life has become for the very poor due to climate change, how do you feel?

Agree re farming.

And to someone else who talked about being vegetarian or vegan - we need to collectively eat less meat, not zero meat.

It would be a real win to cut out all the low welfare meat imports and focus on UK produce.

When Europe was in the grip of a heatwave in the late 80s with fires breaking out everywhere i made substantial changes to my lifestyle. Then I got ill after being vegetarian for over 20 yrs and watched as land across the country became increasingly nutrient depleted with chemical fertilisers/pesticides/herbicides being added in greater volumes to grow arable crops for human consumption (I live near the Fens and worked for ADAS).
I still shop for clothes in charity shops, grow some of my own food, run a v small car so I can get to work, haven’t flown long haul for over 11 years, only had 3 short flights to Europe ending over 8 years ago. I tend to holiday at my home and rarely go anywhere. Life’s ok, but it’s not exciting. And no, I won’t be giving up my grass fed/finished/raised steak because I’m doing enough.

@Chocolatefreakcompletely agree about meat - it needs to be quality not quantity for the sake if the farmer ,the land and the animal. It used to be a weekly treat - now people mindlessly eat meat every day. Bonkers.

You can get it up on the net.

“All of humanity's problems stem from man's inability to sit quietly in a room alone.”

― Blaise Pascal,

Did you hike in Switzerland's magnificent mountains and see for yourself how much the glaciers have retreated?

Well that would really only apply to those eating too much meat.
Most people aren’t eating too much meat because they can’t afford it.
So this would apply to the top 20% income level and we should probably think about deliberately not allowing population growth (without killing anyone)

I’m already cutting down on meat and have been for some time
I fly a lot less frequently (once a year when it used to be several times)
We’ve gone down to one car (DH likes going out on the bus/train)
I’m not much of a consumer anyway and what I do buy is mostly from vinted (my phone is one I’ve had for years on a sim only contract)

People eat a lot of cheap meat in fast food.

Cruises are weird, in that they could be an eco friendly option- they don't have the same structural barriers baked in that aviation does- but currently they're not. For example, cruise lines would rather power their ships using polluting generators while in port, which is a dirty way to generate power and terrible for local air quality- rather than work with ports to use shore power (some ports insist on it now though).

But there are cruises and cruises- you can book a cruise on a wooden sailing ship rather than Carnival of the Seas for example, and these two would have completely different environmental impacts.

I am a vegetarian, though I do have cheese. I have stopped driving, as I am an OAP and can't afford the 300 quid per month that a car costs. If I go to Europe, I go by train. Local trips I go by bus or if the weathers good I cycle. Personally, I think it is too late, we needed to act 40 years ago. It is just going to get worse.

I am already doing everything you are listing.

• I have been vegetarian for years
• I hate flying and have no intention to ever being on a plane again if I can help it
• I don't buy as much 'stuff' as I used to as I am on a tight budget, I really cut down things like shoes/clothes/make-up and if I need something I will always try a charity shop first. I have more than enough 'stuff' already
• I don't have a car.

Unfortunately it is often the case that the better option environmentally is extortionate To get a train to where my parents live costs around £700 for the 4 of us. To fly it is £350 for the 4 of us. We would absolutely get the train if it wasn’t so expensive. As a PP said, things need to be dealt with on a far bigger scale than people giving up holidays and meat. Andy Burnham seems to be pro fossil fuel from what I hVe read…

They work from home - their boat.

And the people who want to travel for holiday?

YP who wants to travel? People who need to go for business? People who have relatives abroad?

And if the employer doesn't allow this.