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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

AIBU to be terrified by what David Attenborough has said?

416 replies

ArcheryAnnie · 04/12/2018 00:16

He's just said about climate change ""if we don't take action, the collapse of our civilisations and the extinction of much of the natural world is on the horizon." He's not the only one saying this - it's now common currency amongst scientists, and indeed anyone paying attention.

www.theage.com.au/world/europe/civilisation-may-collapse-if-climate-change-ignored-attenborough-20181204-p50jzs.html?platform=hootsuite

There's no time left for pissing about. We've got to take radical action now. It isn't something that any of us can ignore.

OP posts:
WhattodoWhattodo2 · 05/12/2018 20:42

The climate is changing though. If manmade, doesn’t look like man is doing much to stop it. If not manmade, man can’t do anything anyway. But the problems created by climate change are starting to show themselves.

Oakenbeach · 05/12/2018 21:23

The climate situation sadly seems both evidentially true and happening, and hopeless.

No necessarily hopeless!

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/3443677-To-wonder-if-the-climate-change-message-is-too-negative

howtobehuman · 05/12/2018 21:24

There is so much conflicting information it's no wonder people are confused. So from what I can gather - don't fly, don't drive, don't buy unnecessary stuff, all pretty obvious. Food is a bloody minefield - eating less meat is good?? But it's grains that are bad?! I was going to look at an electric car but won't bother now! What household stuff is most effective? As in reducing use of appliances, that kind of thing?

Jux · 05/12/2018 21:25

All our sheep - well, the ones I've seen and probably see about 10 or 11 flocks in various different fields on a regular basis - look healthy and pretty lively. The lambs are lovely and they really do gambol! I haven't seen any limping or with wool hanging off, though I've seen them with full woolliness and just shorn and every stage in between. They seem well looked after. We're in Devon, just over the Dorset border, so I feel confident enoughh to say that both Devon and Dorset have pretty happy sheep.

I know a couple of farmers round here who keep cows. Their herds seem pretty OK too, and I know the farmers tend them very carefully. Hearing them talk about their cows you'd sometimes believe that they're talking about pets!

Aria999 · 05/12/2018 21:26

previous post is a link with a guide to using investments to help against climate change (which I just googled after reading this thread)

MaryLouFreebush · 05/12/2018 21:30

FunkyKingston, yes you're probably right actually, hadn't thought of that. See? The problem is so overwhelming, potential solutions will cause knock-on effects & further problems. I don't know what the answers are.

GhostsToMonsoon · 05/12/2018 21:35

Pashal - read this, particularly Myth 2.

SarfE4sticated · 05/12/2018 21:47

howtobehuman this column in the Guardian is pretty good for sensible balance advice:

www.theguardian.com/environment/series/its-not-easy-being-green

Zzzexhaustedzzz · 05/12/2018 23:46

Aria I know nuclear has a lot of positives but for me they are outweighed by having to rely on humans who make money from it to also make damn sure it’s safe. In unpredictable climates, shit happens that hasn’t been taken into account.
I mean, look what happened in Japan! Has that leakage even been stopped?

Zzzexhaustedzzz · 05/12/2018 23:53

‘As long as it doesn’t happen in my lifetime...’
Wow.
But anyway, it is more than likely great impact on climate and therefore all life on earth will occur within the next two decades. For some, this is a blue skies scenario. I’m talking from scientific research.

Commonpeoplelikeme · 06/12/2018 00:00

@SpoonBlender I admire people like you. Not having kids is a powerful and selfless choice. I love my kids and I had them because I wanted them but I bloody fear the future for them and their kids if they choose to have them.

Oakenbeach · 06/12/2018 00:09

I admire people like you. Not having kids is a powerful and selfless choice.

Not having kids should be a personal choice based on a desire for children and the ability to provide a stable, loving home, not part of a planet saving crusade!

The UK needs people to have c. 2 children per family to ensure population stability. If we all have no kids we’d have major problems. Look at Russia and Japan where this is becoming a major issue.

Population growth is due to people in the developing world living to good ages (a good thing!) before they’ve reached a level of prosperity that will naturally lead them to stop having large families. The best thing we can do is to accelerate their economic development to ensure they reach this point sooner.

SpoonBlender · 06/12/2018 00:30

Oh, for sure - I just happen to not want kids, and that's worked out well as an environment footprint saver. I'm not condoning it as The Way Forward.

LTSal · 06/12/2018 02:20

This link (hopefully works) and if you scroll down you can download a short summary of some ideas of what could be possible to get us in under 2degrees. www.mottmac.com/releases/mott-macdonald-sets-out-timeline-to-achieve-historic-paris-agreement
Although as I sit here in the USA I am dispairing; I haven't been able to get a 'glass' of water for days it's all plastic, everything is disposable, just horrific. Angry

TibetanMountains · 06/12/2018 03:44

I honestly think we have probably now passed the point of no return. People are making personal adjustments which is great - but there is no real slow down in the production of single use plastic.

I live in Asia - the beaches are just covered in plastic. Everywhere you go pretty much everything is still sold in single use plastic - to the extreme that a plastic drink cup with straw is then put in a plastic bag.

I don' t have kids (not through choice) and sometimes this makes me grateful I don't.

Darklene · 06/12/2018 04:46

I’m not the first to say it but I hope humans become extinct. We’re the fucking parasites and the vermin.

Aria999 · 06/12/2018 04:55

I hate misanthropes.

Aria999 · 06/12/2018 04:56

(Speak for yourself)

TibetanMountains · 06/12/2018 05:47

There are some who believe we are already in a time of mass extinction.

There are theories that the earth has already been through a series of epochs - three or four already, when pretty much all human life was wiped out in a very short span of time. Those that put forward these theories believe another epoch is imminent - as soon as 2030 - 2040. There are grounds to believe that the world has had very advanced civilisations in the past (maybe more advanced than we are now). These civilisations existed in what we now consider 'pre-history'. Graham Hancock has written some very interesting books on this.

Silkie2 · 06/12/2018 06:03

Population control would be a start. Trump reduced funding to Africa to appease the Catholic Church (I think was the reason).

Commonpeoplelikeme · 06/12/2018 07:09

@Oakenbeach missed the point. And remember we have one planet. Not quite sure how having 2 kids is going to save it either.

Gaspodethetalkingdog · 06/12/2018 07:29

Destruction of the environment and killing off other life forms is accelerating - destruction of rainforest to grow palm oil, destruction of the Amazon to grow soya beans for human/animal feed, plastic in the ocean inside fish/other marine species, yes the planet is doing great!

kikisparks · 06/12/2018 08:30

@BoswelliaGoldMyrrh you don’t need animals in farming:

freefromharm.org/sustainable-agriculture/beyond-manure-the-future-of-veganic-farming/

We will need to change our models slowly over time but it is possible.