To ask what you think about global warming?

[deeedeee]

After seeing comments on other threads , I'm wondering, what do most people think?

Are you worried about man-made climate change?

Are you trying to change any of your behaviour because of it?

Or are you not concerned?

but that the planet is heating up faster than it ever has in recorded history

Check out the Younger Dryas event. I don't think we are currently heating up 10 degrees C over the course of a decade.

Thanks for starting this thread OP
I just switched to a 100% renewable energy supplier Bulb
It wasn't any more expensive than my current npower tariff

Even if the event is tiny I would like to be able to say to my children 'I did what I could'
will have to hide photos of exotic holidays from my 20s

I found Bulb via this link www.moneysavingexpert.com/cheapenergyclub
Once you've entered your details they give you a list of suppliers and you can select "100% renewable"

The Younger Dryas event was a cooling event where the earth cooled by around 6 degrees over decades.

It does play at the back of my mind but on the other hand I have more pressing daily issues like keeping a roof over our heads and food in our bellies and paying extortionate childcare because we can't afford for me to be a SAHP.

Also a part of me selfishly knows how short life can be and I'm not going to tie myself up in knots worrying about what may or may not happen just to lay on my death bed wishing I'd done more with my life. I do what I can but living in the country as a community nurse I need my car so I can't help that but it is low emissions etc

I care about climate change but I also believe that people's lives are quite tough and people will make the decisions easier and better for their immediate situation and family.
We need to work to make the sustainable choice the more enjoyable or easier option. We need to campaign for safer and more pleasant streets for walking and cycling not just bleat on at people who prefer to use the car.
We should make disposable products pay for the cost of their disposal and therefore make durable things more cost efficient in comparison.
One of the things I feel worst about is the obsolescence of technology - though I do donate anything I haven't got the skills to refurbish or update to schemes that do.

LuluLozenge

The Younger Dryas represented a rapid change from warm interglacial to near glacial conditions in the Northern Hemisphere.

But you need to look at the end of the Younger Dryas. Temperatures rose 10° C in a decade.

OK, I'll check it out, thanks.

Re: the Younger Dryas - I'm no climate expert, but surely there's a big difference between the depth and long-term nature of the threat that is represented by anthropogenic climate change versus other types of climactic variation?

It's not all bad news!

www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/oct/23/the-guardian-view-on-climate-change-good-news-but-not-yet-good-enough

I think governments are taking notice, it's just a question of whether it's fast enough. I don't think we've done enough to stay under the 2 degree threshold though. It's a question of whether we can adapt to that. Unfortunately that burden will probably fall to our children, who will bear the brunt of its effects.

Am I aware of it? Yes.
Do I care about it? Not really.
Do I believe it's happening? Yes, but I believe humans have accelerated what happens naturally.
Is it about saving the planet? No, it's abot saving the human race and I wish people would be more honest that that is the end goal not the 'planet'.
Do I think the human race deserves to be saved? Not really.
Do I recycle? Yes, but mostly because it's the 'right' thing to do not because I believe it will have any long lasting effect.
Do I try to minimise my affect on the planet? If it's economically viable, yes I will. For example, I will walk into town rather than pay for petrol/parking, I try to get as many jobs done with the car in one go, etc.

As with AnyFucker I prefer to invest in helping people now as who knows how long any of us will be here?

shovetheholly what the Younger Dryas demonstrates is that rapid climate change is not new - and we should maybe be more concerned about what is happening to ocean circulation patterns which will significantly affect climate.

Not sure if this will post OK, but this is a really interesting timeline cartoon showing the global temperatures since the last ice age.

Link here if the image doesn't work.

You are right dee and I'm sure you'll not believe me but I wish I cared more in a way.
On a more abstract level I suppose I wonder if it is really our (as humans) job to fix this problem. If it all burns out in the next 200 years does it really matter. The vast majority of human life has existed where quality of life has been dire and now whilst developed countries have discovered how to live quite comfortably we've realised it cannot be sustained. I fear the earth is saying tough luck.

deeedeeee - saying that things like the refugee crisis are down to global warming are exactly the sort of scaremongering that turns people off the argument. What are the specific effects that you think LtEve should be worried about? Without extrapolating wildly i.e refugee crisis and war! Some areas are in massive drought but some areas of the world have an average birthrate of 8 children per mother, that is never going to be sustainable.

But no-one thinks a changing climate is new. The thing that is new is the fact that it's man-made, and that there is currently no way of reversing it, surely? The nature of the limits that we are currently encountering is very different in each case, right?

shovetheholly some elements of climate change are anthropogenic, but there are numerous other mechanisms at play - ocean circulation and variations in the Earth's orbit for instance, over which we have little or no control.

Yes, but there's a question of proportionality here. Isn't it it something like 97% of scientists that think that that the dominant driver of climate change since 1950 is human activity, and that consensus now is that the majority of that warming is anthropogenic? (See the 5th IPCC report).

But it's interesting how rapid shifts in climate have occurred in the past without any anthropogenic input, isn't it? Wonder what would happen if the earth's magnetic field changed substantially for instance?

It's not about saving the planet or saving the human race for me. It's about trying not to fuck it up too much for the other animals who live here. None of this is their fault.

How is it a wild extrapolation? It's pretty easy to see that climate changes lead to migration, and migration leads to conflict?
Is it necessary to say it in really simple terms? imagine the town next to you got burnt to the ground because of the choices the people in your town made. and then all came to your town to make you share your houses and food with them. What do you imagine would happen?

As I said before, climate change is affecting the country where I live, and has caused a large internal migration - people are moving to the cities where they wind up homeless and jobless. The same thing must be happening in many countries so it's not difficult to see that happening on a larger scale.

Jesus it's like an earnest conversation in the sixth form common room. Guys, if we all stick together we can change the world.

Sorry, don't care, not interested. I never walk anywhere, my car has a 6l engine and I tumble dry everything because it's easier and I hate the smell of line dried stuff. My life is going to be no more affected here than a hand wringing mum in Reading who cycles everywhere for the sake of the world.

A good start to not ending the world would be to stop invading countries and causing a total breakdown of civilisation. That will probably end the the world before a few pandas run out of leaves.

Hysterectical yep, it's up to governments, not individuals, to put changes in place. Because the bulk of people aren't going to change their lives voluntarily.

But it's up to individuals to put pressure on governments to make those changes.

They won't ever do it if they think most people think like hysterical does.
Those that are concerned need to put the pressure on.

Through contacting our MPs
Through talking to everyone we know about global warming and not staying silent through worry.
Through making different choices and not supporting products/activities that contribute to climate change.

I find it's incredible that people have this "it's not going to effect me so I don't care attitude". I don't understand how anyone could think that there convenience and comfort is worth more than someone else's security and survival. And thinking like that is not idealistic and childish, belittle me all you like.

Deeedeee, do you have children?