to civilly ask you to use your cars less

[mosquitofeast]

My last thread was deleted because I was not being "civil" enough, I don't actually think it is a subject there is much room for civility in, but I will try!

My last post was to try and answer some questions about me. Here they are

I think I have answered these.

No I am not a strict vegetarian. I don't buy milk or dairy, but eat it in other peoples houses,

no I don't fly,

foodmiles, well, I take them into consideration, but they are not the only indicator of the environmental impact of food. Tomatoes grown in a heated greenhouse 2 miles away might have more environmental impact than tomatoes grown outside in Spain, and flown in.

I have 2 adopted children, 1 is an adult no longer living at home I currently have 3 foster children, but that is likely to change this week

Yes I have a pet, it came with one of the adopted children.

No I don't smoke

@Orchidsindoors

Silly thing to ask in the middle of a pandemic. More people should use their cars currently to stop it spreading on public transport.

not for two miles though. If a journey is less than two miles, why does a healthy person need a car or public transport? Unless, as I said on the previous thread, it is for Genuine safety fears, or genuinely heavily loaded, and not with shopping!

@Kelcat9494

I appreciate your concern but I am going to use my car the exact same way as I did before reading this. Thanks though.

Yep me too 😁

Not possible around here. The only bus stop in walking distance takes us to the nearest small town. The bus times are 9am or 3.20pm and that is literally it. There is not enough to do in the small town all day to stay there all day. We do not live in walking distance to school either so not an option there.
If we had more public transport options then I would, however, I doubt that's ever going to change 🤷‍♀️

OP, why do you think your tastebuds are more important than the future of our children?

(Now do you see how reductive and hostile and stupid you sound?)

You can ask

I can ignore you and mind my own business. I like to drive and sometimes go for a drive for the fun of it. DH goes on his bike for the fun of the drive, not to go anywhere specific.

You do your bit as you like, and I keep doing what I enjoy 🤷

I drive 400 miles a week because I’m trying to build a career in a particular field.

If the NHS was able to provide more training positions for this role (which there is a national shortage of) then I’d be able to work in my hometown.

No because otherwise future generations won’t make a statue of me that they can hate and throw in the river while despising my slave making existence.

I want that statue.

@mosquitofeast lots of the schools I am looking at are 2 miles away, I don't have time as a working parent to walk my kids 40 mins to school, and 40 mins back and then again in the evening. I work full time. 2 miles is an unreasonable amount of time to expect people to walk from a time perspective. Cycling is not readily available to everyone for various reasons, though that is something I would consider when they are old enough to go independently if I am happy with the route.

not for two miles though. If a journey is less than two miles, why does a healthy person need a car or public transport? Unless, as I said on the previous thread, it is for Genuine safety fears, or genuinely heavily loaded, and not with shopping!

Because they've got busy lives and not enough time to walk.

Because it doesn't fit in with their work schedule and nursery drop offs.

Because they don't like walking.

Because they like the comfort and use of their car .

Because they live in a hilly area.

Because you don't get to question why, it's an individual decision. Not thankfully yours!

Because they have to go somewhere else afterwards? Because adding 30-40 minutes each way to an errand is not practical? Because it's pouring with rain and they don't want to spend even more time getting wrapped up in waterproofs and then getting dry again afterwards?
A million reasons. That's why.

Is it shocking? How do you know without knowing what the stats actually say? Do they even break those journeys down by type/reason?

And how is it actually defined? If someone does all their errands at once, they've amalgamated them into one trip which is more environmentally friendly. But once it's broken down into 2 miles to the bank and 1.5 miles to the supermarket and half a mile to the petrol station and 2 miles to collect a child at a play date it could easily be classified as 4 short trips, when it's actually one longer one with various stops.

He/she also stated that driving 2 miles is as bad as slavery, so we know that he/she feels a slaves life in his/her mind is worth very little.

what? I drew a parallel between what we think of slave traders now, and what future generations will think of people who destroyed the environment in our time.

How is that saying I think the life of a slave is worth very little. If you read my other thread you know I foster freed child slaves. I have several in my household today, although they have gone to a summer school this week, to help catch up

I'm working full time. A 2 mile trip (each way plus shopping time) would take around 90 minutes on a good day, but more like 2 hours. If I can't do a big shop as I'm carrying it I would have to do this 3 or more times a week. When would you like me to make the time to do this?

Ok. I'll bite again. I'll stop using my car when:

YOU get rid of your pet and grow all your own food, stop using electricity and live off the grid and stop consuming dairy and meat of any kind.

Only then will your arguements have any legs to stand on. Otherwise, you are just spouting pointless, self-righteous bullshit.

Get over yourself.

Individual people making excessive short journeys is not the thing that's going to reduce the planet to burning embers. Huge businesses and production plants are. I'm sure it makes you feel better to think you aren't contributing to the destruction of the planet. And we can all do little bits to help. But if you've got this much energy to spend berating and roaring about climate change, you'd be better off directing it elsewhere. As you said, we all live in a democracy, you can make change happen OP. You just have to try harder.

But why is not being heavily loaded with shopping not a reasonable reason OP. I cannot carry everything needed for a weekly food shop whilst walking with my child, I cannot get a delivery slot for love nor money right now here and I cannot go more than once a week.
I also wouldn’t fall into the safety or the heavily loaded issue when I travel by car around 1.9miles each way. I work 13 hour shifts so don’t really want to spend an additional hour a day walking when I’m already exhausted and have a lot of other stuff to do. It seems your definition of reasonable doesn’t fit most peoples. I do walk when possible but for the food shop and travel for work I won’t stop doing those under 2 mile journeys in the car.

I think you just need to concentrate on what you can do and not involve yourself in other peoples life decisions. It really isn't any of your business. There will always be someone more extreme than you so there will be others who think you don't do enough, you've just drawn an arbitrary figure of 2 mile journeys.

@doityourselfnow

not for two miles though. If a journey is less than two miles, why does a healthy person need a car or public transport? Unless, as I said on the previous thread, it is for Genuine safety fears, or genuinely heavily loaded, and not with shopping!

Because they've got busy lives and not enough time to walk.

Because it doesn't fit in with their work schedule and nursery drop offs.

Because they don't like walking.

Because they like the comfort and use of their car .

Because they live in a hilly area.

Because you don't get to question why, it's an individual decision. Not thankfully yours!

Because they've got small children with them who can't walk that far yet.

Because you're on your way to somewhere else afterwards.

Because it's pissing it down with rain.

Because they're exhausted before they even started.

Honestly, can you really not understand why people might not want to or be able to fit in walking instead?

what? I drew a parallel between what we think of slave traders now, and what future generations will think of people who destroyed the environment in our time.

Which is the same as saying you think people who traded in human lives are on an equivalent moral footing to people who drive their cars for short journeys.

Don’t you think that slightly minimises the horrors of slavery? That you think buying and selling humans is an equivalent offence to driving short journeys?

If you don’t think those two things are the same you should apologise for comparing them.

I am vegan, I live rurally. I try to tie up going to the shops or anywhere to other reasons to go out. So I don't end up doing a journey for one thing like popping to the shops for a carton of oak milk.

@allfalldown47

Saying you're a strict vegetarian but you eat it in other peoples houses, is as shitty as me saying I don't drive my car on short journeys but I do if I'm driving someone else's

Get your eco credentials sorted and come back when you are in a position to preach.

Otherwise you will continue to come across as a condescending, uneducated, hypocritical fool.

I didn't say I was a strict vegetarian?

I do my best to protect the environment, as I think most reasonable people do, but obviously 50% of car journeys being less than 2 miles, and most of them unnecessary is a major concern, as it does indicate that there are still some people who are not taking any responsibility at all for the environment.

Obviously it is impossible to live without any environmental impact, but we need to aim to be sustainable . Otherwise the human race's residence on Earth is by definition not sustainable

Despite the obvious shortcomings in her own life when it comes to protecting the environment, she has honed in on this specific issue with intense hostility, and shown no appreciation for the limitations placed on people’s lives - particularly the fact that adults are expected to work full time, maintain a house, raise children, exercise, socialise and the rest of it in 24 hours a day.

what do you think I should change in my own life?

Plenty of people work full time and raise children without a car

So you don’t want to change anything in your life but you are lecturing me to change things in mine?

@SimonJT

OP, by eating both meat and dairy you are supporting several things, you’re paying someone to torture and then murder an animal. You’re paying for deforestation, you’re also contributing to a lack of food as you would rather huge areas of land were used to feed livestock when a smaller area could feed a greater number of people.

If someone had any concerns about the environment they wouldn’t eat meat or dairy. Just as if people valued animal welfare they wouldn’t do it either.

I never buy meat or dairy

How do I get to work without a car? How do I visit family?