To think that people are waking up?

[1980Gal]

Something has changed in me. I can't stop thinking about how everything I do affects the environment. Is it just me or have others experienced a real shift in thinking and feeling? Yes there are loads of people who have already been especially conscious of these things, and I'm sure most of us do the obvious like recycling where possible, but this feels different. DH feels the same, like something has 'clicked'. Last week he said he's only going to eat red meat once a month due to environmental impact - very out of character. I keep thinking of Greta T travelling for days/weeks by boat when a flight would have got her there in hours. Are others feeling the same? Do you think something might be happening nationally to people's mindsets? Is there now more hope than ever that we might just not f**k up the world?

Honestly, 40 years ago I was going to fry in a nuclear holocaust or die horribly from radiation poisoning. 25 years ago I was facing being squashed by glaciers in the new ice age.

You forgot the bit where we were all going to be poisoned to death by acid rain. And now we’re apparently going to cook to death in 12 years. Happy times!

How lucky we are that Greta Thunberg, patron saint of the environmental movement, is here to show us the way to salvation.

I must say that a while you do get a bit about the endless scaremongering. Frankly I just ignore most of it nowadays.

I think a lot of older people are doing more to try and help the planet. A small independent garden centre/nursery near me started selling fruit and veg loose and then ventured into products such as lentils, rice, pasta in dispensers. You can take your own containers or buy a glass one from them.

They started with 15 dispensers and less than 6 months on are now up to over 40. They say they are amazed at how well it is doing but almost all people over the age of about 40 that go there.

They are also now selling shampoo, conditioner, washing up liquid, washing liquid, fabric conditions, shower gel and again you take your own container and keep re-using the containers.

Of course I am old enough to remember the old weigh and save shops which were exactly the same idea but they died a death didn't they? Me and DH loved them.

How many youngsters honestly care about recycling or the planet? Look at the state music festival sites are left in - even tents, tables, chairs left behind. It's mainly young people that attend those. Quite a few of our youngish neighbours (20's and 30's) don't ever put out their recycling bins

Let me guess. You have kids? And this emotional awakening came after having them, right?

Literally the worst thing you could do for the environment is add more consumers to an overpopulated world.

Sure, buy reusable straws if it makes you feel better. Or "only" eat red meat once a month (lol in which case why bother? Just stop the red meat, and if you really care, stop all meat).

Its nice you care and doing something is better than nothing. But the damage is already done and any effective change needs to be made at government level and within businesses.

woodhill theoretically, but they're not being used many times by anyone who doesn't want to drink melamine and formaldehyde.

Bamboo cups aren't actually made of bamboo, they're made of powdered bamboo mixed with malamine and formaldehyde to form mouldable resin which becomes toxic if filled with hot liquid such as coffee...

Melamine causes kidney and bladder damage.

The cups don't biodegrade because the bamboo is powered and mixed into the non biodegradable resin.

Was this not reported in the UK? If you're still using one I guess you're saving the world in more ways than one...

It's a fad for most people, just like every time it comes around

How very true. There's a useful piece here (though I'm not keen on the provider) on countless previous "last chance" warnings of catastrophe: www.climatedepot.com/2015/11/06/every-un-climate-summit-hailed-as-last-chance-to-stop-global-warming-before-its-too-late/

Inconveniently, quite a lot are from "reputable scientists" too ...

Thank you Edna. I had no idea. So frustrating when you get one as a gift. Are the plastic ones sold in Waitrose any better?

woodhill obviously a reusable cup is better - the old metal camping cup from the back of the cupboard would always have been better than buying a new bamboo cup, but people want to buy something fashionable, not look a bit like a homeless person...

I cant wait to hear everyone complaining that they cant have a break in the countryside anymore because it has "been shut down and everyone made redundant" If you dont eat meat, dont use dairy products there will be no farms, the fields will be full of weeds within months, all of the animals slaughtered and most village shops and pubs will close. So your cosy country weekends will be no more

Chemicals released in to the atmosphere have been highly regulated
We nearly did all die in a neuclear strop.
In those cases human action ( or inaction with big red buttons) has prevented bad things for happening,
That is not an good excuse for doing nothing,

I agree but I think it probably depends on the area you live in and the company you keep. Round me everyone has become very eco over the last couple of years and it has a knock on effect. It definitely shames me in to making better choices and I'm grateful for that.

And I think emotions will spur people into action more than knowing on a 'cognitive' level that they perhaps should change what they do

some people are just not willing to change at all.

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/3680846-To-rely-on-my-tumble-dryer

I'm a bit cynical on this. I do my bit in recycling, etc and am old enough that I've never been into throwaway fashion, although that is getting harder as clothes now are poorer quality and don't wash and wear as they used to. I too remember all the previous warnings.
I am confused though. Greta Thunberg sailed to New York on a ship that took God knows what in technology and emissions to build, with a crew, some of whom were flying home and a new crew flying out to replace them. Younger people seem to be more swayed by these arguments yet want to fly and travel more than we did and have much more of a "throwaway" attitude

When we really wake up, we'll realise that the planet is suffering from a human infestation. You know you're in trouble if you start blaming ruminants for producing too much greenhouse gas and that there should be fewer of them in the world when you know the real problem is the billions of human beings, particularly the ones with all the technology (seriously, how colossally polluting is it to create computers and smartphones and then constantly have to upgrade them?!) in the West... The world population has more than doubled since I was born. Bamboo cups, walking a bit more, flying less and sorting out my recycling is not going to cut it (although is obviously better than changing nothing at all), and I don't fancy killing myself off. Far more radical change is likely to be necessary at some point, but nobody is ready for that, yet, whatever form it may take.

countless previous "last chance" warnings of catastrophe

Very interesting. I’m more and more convinced that the modern environmental movement, with its endless apocalyptic prophesies, is a replacement for religion. Humans need some kind of punitive belief system and here it is. We will die for our sins.

Lowlandlucky don't be silly, you're going to seamlessly switch to vegetable production overnight to be self sufficient in fresh garden peas and carrots to feed the entire population for Brexit - there are MN threads to prove it.

Compost your cows immediately and plant onions and turnips, where's your Blitz-Spirit?

Jillyhilly exactly this.

Honestly, I don't think about it much. I'll die before the planet does! Seems pointless when you think you're doing the "right" thing, by say recycling, and then find out it all gets shipped abroad or ends up with the normal rubbish.

Stop driving if you care about the environment. Take public transport/walk or cycle instead. Cutting out Red meat entirely is a drop in the ocean tbh

I don't know, I think it's often lip service. I work with 3 vegans ,my partner is talking about voting green. We all fly multiple times a year and showing no signs or desire to reduce this.

I think more people are more aware and mindful which can only be a good thing. But I think our efforts are a drop in the ocean really.
I'm Vege, don't buy much new stuff, take old stuff to charity/recycling. We only have one car. We've family holidayed in UK this year etc. Is it enough as a family? Probably not. Not sure what else we could do really.
I wonder if families should be encouraged to have one rather than two kids but don't think this should be enforced.
I'd like to see it brought in that individuals should only fly once a year but I think this is too radical for most people and obviously bad for businesses.

I’m more and more convinced that the modern environmental movement, with its endless apocalyptic prophesies, is a replacement for religion. Humans need some kind of punitive belief system and here it is. We will die for our sins

Interesting point there, Jillyhilly. I hadn't thought about it quite like that, but there could be a lot in what you say

I don't give any thought to any of it. I just carry on my daily life.
When the politicians give it some serious thought, then I will too.

@Kummerspeck. Totally agree with your whole post. I am also confused about Greta T for the reasons you state and because I don’t understand why a child who clearly suffers from a range of mental health issues has been put in this position - and why more people don’t question her role in all this.

However I also think she fits nicely into the “environmental movement as religion” metaphor. She is the high priestess or the Christ figure, suffering for our sins and showing us the way to salvation through which we shall avoid being thrown into the (literally) fiery pit (in 12 years).

Have a look at Terracycle as they recycle a lot of things that so called can't be re-cycled. We started recycling oral care, crisp packets, snack packets and baby food pouches in bins at tbe school to make money for the school as the roof is leaking. There is money to be made from recycling.