They have no clean drinking water and it’s your fault!

[Neapolitanicecream]

Watched Stacy Dooley “Fashion dirty secret” on BBC last night. Lost sleep over it. Michael Gove is clueless on the poisonings of water for millions of people. It’s a disaster and it’s our fault with buying cheap cotton. We need to do something! Kids are being poisoned 🤢 it made me cry

stonebake I'm with you on the robotic human thing 😂 it's the way were headed!

Or maybe we’re alrwady in the Matrix ! Not with bloody Sean(n) bloody Walsh though.

Apparently childcare is extortionate and a lot of parents begrudge it even though most of the staff at the nursery will be on minimal wage or not much more and think more should be done to subsidise it to a greater extent.

It's not apparent. It's real. Shatnerswig I agree with you, it should be subsidised.

Womanin green I think the way forward is for the mumsnet massive to get it debated in parliament!

If sex selection were allowed for couples who already have one child so they can chose the opposite sex for their second, perhaps there would be less families with multiple girls followed by one boy and vice versa. It should only be allowed in those circumstances, never to chose the sex of the first.

Trouble is that anything that tackles the problem head on is a vote loser.

I have the impression that anytime some small gain is made, such as increased food production per acre, the population increases to take up the slack. So even if everyone gave up meat, the population would increase to the level that non meat eating would sustain.

I found this video re exponential population growth interesting - “The most important video you’ll ever see”

Will Nature have to sort it out for us?

I want our politicans to know about it

@placemats I didn't say that it should be subsidised. I'm saying lots of parents think it should.

I was just about to ask what ideas people have for fashion if cotton uses so much water and synthetics don't degrade and are full of chemicals, and then I got to page 11 and bamboo clothes were mentioned.

Does anyone have any other ideas for making fashion more environmentally friendly or can recommend any ethical and green fashion brands? I prefer buying fewer high quality items over fast fashion so i don't mind spending more if the clothes last longer.

@Neapolitanicecream start a petition, if it reaches 10,000 signatures it will be discussed in the House of Commons (I think!)

Most countries are in the world have fertility close to or below replacement level.
The world population will continue to grow due to population momentum which is inevitable but limited. Even some very poor and low development countries like Bangladesh have achieved close to replacement fertility. The only region where population growth will continue significantly is sub Saharan Africa (excluding southern Africa) with only a few high fertility countries in other regions.
The key to reducing fertility is making safe, long lasting and effective modern contraceptives available and getting girls into school and the work place.

If sex selection were allowed for couples who already have one child so they can chose the opposite sex for their second, perhaps there would be less families with multiple girls followed by one boy and vice versa. It should only be allowed in those circumstances, never to chose the sex of the first.

Surely this can't account for very much of the current population growth, the majority of which is in Africa?

I had no idea growing cotton used so much water. Very thought provoking programme.

When you look at the amount of water is needed to produce a lot things its quite eye opening, my vegan friend from California had a conundrum this year regarding her Almond milk being greener and dealing with the usual drought.

If we are to tackle the problem its going to need a massive shift that is more than just going vegan/buying second hand/bamboo clothing and still in keeping with the 21st century lifestyle.

Even Greenpeace are in a sticky situation where they are anti nuclear and welcomed Germany's stance on decommissioning their nuclear power stations but now realise that Germany had to revert back to coal as a baseline so are making demonstrations, its a convoluted mess (especially if we take into account the mining of rare metals that are required to run modern day electronics) it's just not as simple as some on here make it out to be.

I'm not saying bamboo clothing is the answer, just that we should do what we can to ensure our individual carbon footprints are as light as possible.

There needs to be a huge shift in thinking worldwide at a government level.

Consumerism is killing this planet and we are all guilty of it, no question

Greenpeace is not what I'd consider a measured voice.

I think we can all still enjoy a good standard of 21st century living, much of what we buy gives us very little marginal utility or joy i.e we wouldn't much miss it.

sandinyourshoes that’s one hell of a frightening lecture.

Reminds me of something I heard about in a book once, called the “damned arithmetic”.

I have the impression that anytime some small gain is made, such as increased food production per acre, the population increases to take up the slack. So even if everyone gave up meat, the population would increase to the level that non meat eating would sustain.

That isn't likely to be true in most countries. Outside Africa, the large majority of the world has falling birth rates for reasons that don't really have anything to do with this. Women's education, better ability to control fertility and uncertainty about jobs.

I have bamboo socks and they're great!

Yes our success is or is going to be, the reason for our downfall.

I wish that that the worship of technology e.g. (creating huger and huger farm machinery and having to scrub up hedges to allow it into the fields would stop. That would create more jobs for PEOPLE ,as does organic farming. We need to have much freer thinking. Think how much better the environment would be if those machines were not even made !

That would create more jobs for PEOPLE ,as does organic farming. We need to have much freer thinking. Think how much better the environment would be if those machines were not even made
Um, you know that those machines feed more people more efficiently so we waste fewer resources. Organic farming is a huge cause of waste and inefficiency. I think things in moderation is best as there will always be extreme examples of extreme waste but in the main we as a species get more efficient and find ways to solve problems and progress.

No that's not true. proper organic mixed farming uses compost , which is created by the farm, also it does not use petroleum based fertilisers etc. that have to be transported so no wasteful fuel bills.

I think that if most countries were made self sufficient (obviously helping the poorest to get started) by not allowing huge conglomerates to monopolise the means by OWNING the seeds. Our world could feed itself without resorting to cheap poisonous wheat varieties and disgusting factory farming.

Just one of many! Organic farming is terribly inefficient and in an all things considered analysis is bad for the environment. www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/jan/07/organic-farming-environment-lord-krebs

The Guardian Agro correspondent is a twit and no doubt is paid to lobby for Monsanto. I wonder how we managed BEFORE all the poisons were shovelled on the land? AND how come so many people are ill and allergic all the time?

It works well here in Fr. and it's growing, the food is fresh. local and has flavour that I have never tasted before from supermarket food.

Stop the breeding? say people on Mumsnet who probably have their own kids.
We use too much of everything, its a global problem sadly

We live in a an aware and socially responsible country and millions of others do not. A major contributor to over consumption is over population and the indigenous population of this country has a birth rate which has fallen below replacement numbers so we are doing our bit.

We can all do out bit for the planet by not being wasteful but I wonder whether those who are virtue signalling so loudly would be prepared to, for example, eschew foreign holidays, unnecessary travel or keeping pets.

It is easy to blame others and run around like Chicken Little crying that the sky is falling in but, as Sam Goldwyn said, include me out.

We can all also do our bit by.... instead of the twaddle I wrote above.