to ask if anyone fancies joining a mumsnet climate crisis club

[areyoureadytobestrong]

Hi all, I've got a few "soft" resolutions about changing behaviours and I could do with being part of some sort of community to help me keep them.

I've broached to my family the idea that we should get the train on future holidays rather than flying (except for seeing grandparents in the US which I can't really do much about). It's doable but will take a bit of planning and determination.

Also I found out that my pension is invested in British American Tobacco which absolutely ridiculous and I'd like to change it (I'm self-employed so if I can just get round to it I could change this).

Lastly I left Ecotricity when I was on a savings spree a while ago and regret it. I ought to go back to them......

I was fairly active in campaigning about climate change back in 2009 but we gave up on our local group because people wouldn't engage after the recession. That seems to have changed now and I no longer feel like it's a lone battle round here.

Will wait and see if anyone turns up on the thread! It is a crisis that's going to affect our children after all.....

I think this is a great idea.
The only real thing I can do is cut down as much as possible on plastic but it's hard when the manufacturers don't help.
We've just had a new "take your own tub and fill" place open. So when I build up the courage I'll look in there.
I'm a bit worried it's going to be too expensive though as were on quite a tight budget.

Me! I'm horrified by the speed of climate breakdown over the last two years; the Amazon fires are terrifying and we need to act now. The thought of what the future holds for my kids is

We're looking at what we can do. I've asked to travel by train to Switzerland for work this autumn and we've agreed we won't fly again except to the US to see DH's dad, who won't by with us much longer. We looked into getting an electric car as we need to replace our dying fiat punto, but there isn't a charging point at DH's work so we can't for now. However, going to get a Nissan so we can part exchange for a Leaf when the network is in place. Also, we've just come into a bit of money, and we're going to spend it on solar panels - we live in the SW, which is the best place in the UK for this, apparently. Beyond that, doing all the other things we can manage - less plastic, growing veg, etc. And we went on an XR march last week...

The PP made a good point about putting people off with lots of Stop, don't, never type messages. More focus needs to go on how creating a greener society will make people's lives better.
DH tries to run his company on a four day week basis, cuts out one day of omission from travel and equipment and gives him more time with his family. Doesn't affect productivity or finances as much as you'd think, I think all companies should do it!
Provide cycle lanes then emphasize the health benefits...you know the sort of things.
How many people are genuinely 100% happy at the moment?
I'm not naive about the failure rate of utopias but people striving for them have brought us things like social housing and the NHS in the past, we need a hard sell on the most achievable green ideals.

Bad things
4 kids
Good things
No plastic waste
Grow 50% of our own veggies
Our 5 chickens provide our eggs
I work from home so no commute
Kids can walk to school
Meat free 5 nights a week (working towards 7)
Live in a country where out water supply is tank water from rain
Septic tank so no waste to speak of there and it fertilizes that garden
Recycling outweighs out landfill 4 to 1
Shop second hand
All Kids in cloth nappies
Breastfed them all
Kids all same gender so big hand me down culture
Keep cup for hot drinks out
Packed lunches in metal or glass containers rather than grabbing food on the fly with single use plastic or "compostable" packaging that never gets composted.
Responsible about where we spend out money ie no burger king due to unsustainable practices. Even boycotting the local pool cafe as they don't recycle their plastic waste
Use soap that I make rather than body washes in plastic containers
Bamboo toothbrushes and charcoal toothpaste in a tin
Wear same clothe again if not dirty
Use washing nuts
Electric white goods bought on star efficiency
Timer on the shower to conserve water (although I'll admit this is as much about not running the tank dry)
Reduced dairy

I'll join - there's also a board on climate change but it's very quiet.

Has anyone written to or been to speak to their MP about the issue? What was the outcome? I'm planning on going to see my MP once summer recess is over.

That's a great list Trebla. How do you find the soap nuts? Have done a bunch of the things you mention but haven't made the leap there yet.

Just to say I’m here watching the thread.
Am away from home (by train foronce......).

Having a bit of a wobble tonight and was wondering what your dh/dps are like; as in are they on board with the changes you're trying to make?

I firmly believe that any improvements to the current environmental situation will come about via systemic and political changes rather than via individual effort. However I've still been making small changes each week for a while now (ie week 1 stopped using carrier bags, week 2 swapped to a moon cup) and so far I've been pleased with how it's gone.

I've done a weekly shop today which involved a trip to the refill shop for washing up liquid, the food weigh house (with my reusable produce bags), the greengrocers (again with reusable bags) and the fishmonger with a Tupperware tub for my fish. So I got my whole shop with very little waste but what struck me was that all I've done is made a load of work for myself when I don't actually believe there's any benefit. Dh is genuinely not bothered about climate change so wouldn't dream of helping out either.

Has this just became another example of wifework?

@daisydoooo do you have a food weigh house near you?
I went to ours yesterday and got cornflakes, cous cous, almonds, raisins and dry butter beans and it came to around £3.50. Although I do think I was undercharged on the almonds!

As this thread will attract those interested, I suspect you all already know that MN has a topic for this

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/climate_change

(posted in case there are lurkers who might not have realised)

Watching. Does anyone use the search engine Ecosia? They plant a tree for every search performed, and it's actually a good search engine.

Thanks for that Edith. I knew there was an ethical living topic but didn't know about the climate change one. I've just enjoyed a good browse!

I have just been to Scotland on the Caledonian sleeper train. It is AWESOME!

I had not reaised how much air travel just depletes my (and the planet's quality of life). This had a totally different feel to it and the best thing is that the train arrives in Inverness at 8.45am (yeah!) so there is no horrible early morning got-up-too-early feeling.
The qualitative difference to how it made me feel is quite something - I feel refreshed thinking about it. Usually I just feel relief that I don't have to get on another Ryanair flight.
Have discovered there's a sleeper London to Penzance and am looking at my (depleted) pennies for that....

Has this just became another example of wifework?

Yup.

It's hard to make any meaningful changes if your family is not on board with the whole thing. Maybe the environmental argument is not strong enough for your DH, but you can convince him of other benefits? We are still far from plastic-free (no such thing as refill shops within a resonable distance), but we are mostly buying second-hand. DH isn't bothered about the environmental impact, but does appreciate it's just so much cheaper.

I agree the wifework issue is very real and one of the things I did wrong ten years ago (the last time I campaigned) was to "fall for" lots of the microconsumerism micro-choices mistakes that just resulted in me doing more work with little impact.
I won't get it right this time but I might get it a bit more right IYSWIM.

Interesting about the wifework angle - there's definitely a risk of that, I think. My DH and I broadly split physical tasks between us when it comes to housework, but I do the lion's share of the mental admin and while he's absolutely on board with the ecological arguments, it's definitely me who's done the thinking and planning while he supports from the sidelines Something to address...

Oh and Spudina I've just started using Ecosia! My 11yo DS introduced me to it. Only done 12 searches so far; need another 33 to get a tree planted

I'm in. Seriously terrified for my children now.

After listening to this episode Reasons to be Cheerful player.fm/series/series-2133470/ep-97-treedistribution-shrubtastic-reasons-to-plant I'm hoping that plants will save us. I've decided to ask for donations to The Trillion Tree Campaign for Christmas, plus donate a bit myself every month. www.trilliontreecampaign.org/

I'm voting Green now, whenever I can. I know that the vote will probably be wasted, but given the current situation I think it's the most rational thing to do. Plus if in 20yrs my kids ask me why I didn't help stop climate catastrophe, I'll be able to say I did at least do that.

still on wife-work and the female labour angle....

I was debating this with a friend who has started a local plastics action group and is focussing her attention on going into primary schools and engaging with the teachers and eco reps on what they can do to reduce their plastic use.

Whilst I don't want - at all - to put her off activism, it just seems like she's yet another woman being pushed into the (mainly) women's corner of primary schools which are (let's face it) fairly impotent. I feel we need to follow Greta's example and go to the powerful not the powerless. If the powerful changed their minds/behaviour, schools could be greened up almost overnight.

If my DH genuinely wasn't bothered about climate change it would make me see him in a very different light. It would really be a red flag, for me.

My biggest impact is energy use and vehicle use. So we've changed to bulb, we have solar panels and no gas; my car is frankly awful but I'm trying to look at ways to reduce my mileage (clock up a lot of miles driving round the countryside to talk to people about environment & conservation, ironically...) We rarely buy new clothes and consumer goods.

If anyone wants to know more about how organic, pasture-fed beef & dairy can actually be climate-positive then just let me know

I'm in, great idea :)

I'm trying to cut down my social media use a bit so not sure I'll be able to keep up with the thread but will try my best.

We've made some small changes so far but lots more to make...so far we have:

• Switched back to soap instead of shower gel/handwash. Have enjoyed this and now can't believe I ever changed to shower gel as soap lasts so much longer! You can also unwrap and store with your bedding/underwear/PJs and it all gets a lovely soapy smell

• Cutting down meat. Haven't given up but eating much less

• Really reduced the amount of 'new stuff' we buy. So reducing purchases overall and also buying second hand / antique / vintage

• Repairing instead of throwing away wherever possible. This has made a big difference and I enjoy learning new skills

Also just throwing things away less. Normally I would throw leggings away with a hole in - now I wear them around the house. Eventually I'll cut them into cleaning cloths.

I think that's it

Lots more to do but we are definitely using less resources than we were.

Very much interested at travelling on sleeper trains at the moment after enjoying the Caledonian sleeper to Scotland.
Thinking of taking the one to Cornwall next year. The “nighttime riviera”. Has anyone tried it?