To ask if you realise we are going through a sixth mass extinction of species?

[amandacarnet]

There have been five mass extinctions of life before. The most famous of which wiped out the dinosaurs. With the rate of extinction of species it is clear we are currently going through a sixth mass extinction. This is caused by climate change and human wrecking of animal habitats. And it will if not halted, lead to the extinction of humans.
It is not going to happen over night, this is not a made for TV disaster movie. But as we ruin more animal habitats and climate change gets worse, we will make living environments for humans worse. In Avery short space of time we have seen decreasing world wide fertility thought to be caused by plastics, much more frequent occurrences of dangerous weather, rising sea levels that are reclaiming land from humans, and decreasing levels of animals that are needed for human survival such as bees.

I do what I can, but I just feel it's all so pointless when the majority of countries around the world are doing less than nothing, ie actively ramping up their energy use. So yes, I will continue to recycle, compost, walk everywhere I can etc etc, but at the end of the day I feel that we are going to wipe ourselves out, and sometimes I do feel like this is probably the best thing that could happen to our poor planet.

One thing to think about, for example, is that replacing all our petrol and diesel cars with electric cars in going to involve the opening of more mines (to produce lithium etc for the batteries, etc), therefore increasing carbon production (Just the crushing stage of processing ore uses up 3% of the world's total energy use per year). Would it not be better in the long run to make a law saying that you can only buy a new car when all the old cars are unusable? Actually, thinking about it, Cuba's ahead of the game on that one aren't they?!

but there is so little we can do individually.

That simply isn't the case. Individually we can lots of things which collectively make a difference or extend the time we have to find the big solutions.

Hang on, of its happened 6 times before (I am interested to hear the other 5 times, I only know of 1) then is it not inevitable it will happen again and there's not much we can do about it? I'm sure the dinosaurs weren't over using plastics or all doing all the other things we do that cause pollution.

YANBU OP, Franky I think the apathetic are pathetic! A lot of people who post on Mumsnet are parents and yes, yes, I know there are other topics and threads on pets, so this is not a slight against those who are not but I can't fathom a time in my life where I would 'give up' on my children, yet so many on this thread are doing just that. And yes, I personally can do a lot better in limiting the impact I have on the environment but that's exactly what I intend on doing for my children's sake not just sitting back and wishing them the 'best of luck' for their future existence! Extinction Rebellion has put the spotlight on these issues and that needed doing. Equally, it is incredibly patronising to argue that it is a middle class indulgence, and the 'poor' have other things to worry about. Being politically disenfranchised is something to worry about, having no say, no power, just makes you poorer. Stop telling people on low incomes that they can't do anything, your effectively putting them in their place by doing this!

My Grandad was a working class Durham man, the most gentle and modest man I think I have ever met. He was involved in the D-Day landings, when he first landed on Gold beach he was being shot and fired at so much that he had to lie face down on the beach for about 7 hours, he witnessed his friend's head being blown off. On the 50th anniversary of the D-Day landings we visited Normandy with him to collect a medal. I was only a young teenager at the time and had never seen him cry or look vunerable in any way but it was almost too much for him revisiting this beach, the emotions he must have been going through, I can't begin to imagine. To think that he did all that along with others of his generation for a better future, for his children and children's children and now it's too much for us to contemplate peacefully exercising that democratic right they fought for, to demand change from our government, to even vote, to contemplate doing things that inconvenience us a bit like sorting our recycling! Telling people they are the wrong class to even have to worry their little minds over this existential crisis is just going to make things worse, everybody can do something and should don't get caught in the 'sucker syndrome'!

I haven’t seen apathy on the thread.

Resignation perhaps, but even the people who are resigned to it are still saying they’re doing their part.

Knowing that it’s inevitable and refusing to full out panic about it, is not the same as being apathetic.

Well I'm not a fatalist or a Climate Change denier and I'm afraid the 'resignation' arguments start to fall in to that territory.

There is no way people on this thread are doing all they can do, simply no way!

www.huffpost.com/entry/opinion-gleick-new-york-times-climate-change_n_5b61fafbe4b0b15aba9f3959

Don’t be so ridiculous. Resignation does not mean denial, ffs. 🙄🙄🙄

Resignation is the opposite of denial.

It means that you have understood and accept your fate.

You are resigned to it. That's what it means.

Even if we are doing our bit individuals won't make change. It needs to come from the top.

I trust everyone is voting green party at their next elections?

Have done for nearly thirty years now. When there has been a green candidate in the area.

Ive never been on a plane or had a fancy longhaul holiday. Yes, there are solar panels and recycling (more help to not buy all the pointless shit in the first place though). I abandoned fucktons of plastic at sainsburys repeatedly when I couldn't buy loose veg in 2000. They bought a bin.

I was trying to stay healthy on bean feast chilli and sosmix when 19 - now, thanks to the vast amount of money people spend to be like their influencers, you can actually buy a load of things that don't need a bit of animal in them without bits of animals. For a higher price, usually. And you won't be threatened with being forcefed like a fois gras goose because 'you're obviously anorexic'.

I eventually studied environmental science.

There's this thing called Deep Green Ecology.

From my point of view, any actions we take should be like the person who cleans the kitchen and leaves light bulbs and toilet roll for the new person moving in to their old house. Not to do us a favour, but to try and not fuck it up so much that it takes the next inhabitants a few more million years to get sorted.

It would be great if enthusiasm worked (the number of undercover police and the way environmental activism is on radicalisation and terrorism definitions suggest that it's going to become a potentially dangerous business soon enough), but when, as a species, we will rape, torture and murder others for the crime of not believing in exactly the same deity/blend of magic and superstition/not at all, we should recognise that, on the whole, we are nothing but bad news.

And, if we could be responsible enough to try to not fuck everything up for other species either here or yet to evolve, that would be a fucking result,as it goes against everything that makes us human.

You are very literal, I said 'territory', as in that line of thought results in the same outcome- inaction!

Climate Change Deniers have changed their rhetoric and do now admit that human activity has had an impact on climate change but they disagree with most of us on the extent of it, so they have 'resigned' themselves to this fate as they don't believe it will make any difference.

The article I linked highlighted the impact of taking action. What is the point in arguing over whether we should resign our children to this fate, you are wasting precious time that we don't have, distracting attention from those who want to do something.

Do you have children?

People might not be doing all they could possibly do in an ideal world, but they might be doing all they physically can do. A lot of people are dealing with daily drama in their lives so what box you put the can in is not exactly at the top of their list.

Do you have children?

Yes.

Climate Change Deniers have changed their rhetoric and do now admit that human activity has had an impact on climate change but they disagree with most of us on the extent of it, so they have 'resigned' themselves to this fate as they don't believe it will make any difference.

I think you are lumping a whole lot of different views in together there.

I'm not and never have been a CC denier and I do think the impact will be devastating. That is what I am resigned to.

The same way as I am resigned to nuclear devastation if someone decides to press the button that starts a worldwide nuclear war. The impact would be devastating but there's nothing I can do to prevent it.

And yes, I have children.

'Daily drama' prevents a person from putting a can in the right bin. I am struggling to see why that might be a regular occurrence tbh.

Im voting Green in the next election..Lets face it ...the others are hardly roaring success and don't give a shit about climate change.
Unless we all give up our cars i think we are fucked. Good riddance too.

Yes

What about the explosion of AI? Perhaps the robots will sort this mess out?

Also having a climate change denier as POTUS dosn't help.

I’m switching to green voting too.

The problem with voting green is our FPTP system, otherwise I definitely would

Oh god, you're not Emma Thompson are you?

I was 'live and let live' (generally) about protesters until a group of anti-fracking messers moved into the county, spent their days being angry about the harvesting of fossil fuels and then climbed into their knackered M-reg Diesel Mondeo estates/old smoking camper vans en masse to go home.

Charlatans.

Brieandchilli The rise in instances of Ebola might suggest that there are some things we can't protect against.