AIBU to be really scared of Climate Change

[MagnificentDelurker]

Everything seems to have accelerated with heat dome in pacific causing 1 billion creatures dying to the floods in Germany, etc.
We are running out of time and stuck with politicians that will not lead.

www.motherjones.com/environment/2021/07/heres-what-climate-scientists-are-really-saying-about-this-catastrophic-summer/

Most people DON'T deserve it though. Most of us are just plodding along trying to live our lives. We didn't ask to be born in these times. I blame the world leaders, the ones with the power to make change. The planet is fucked up, but I don't think us ordinary people deserve what's happening.

No, YANBU. We’re fucked.

I suspect North Korea has other things to think about. I suspect overall that their contribution to fossil fuel emissions is very low. I hope that the US, followed by China and maybe India will make changes that start to have impacts. And UK/Europe continue to reduce emissions

YANBU 100%, however its not humans that im concerned about, arrogant greedy bastards that we are as a species.. its the animals i am sad for.

Unfortunately people aren't willing to give up luxuries and will continue to have more children than is necessary.

Population growth in the west is not to do with having more children than necessary.

China and India are not helping at all and USA and Russia are not doing as much as we have.
It is in those countries that protests will have most effect, we are on the right way and progress is being made.

We in Europe also need to face up to the impact of our consumption. We offshore a lot of our emissions to countries like China, India and Brazil.

We’re about to sign a trade deal with Australia where farming practices are far more environmentally damaging - so undermining the progress we’re making on agricultural emissions domestically by paying for damaging production overseas instead.

Our haloes aren’t that shiny. We’ve done the easy stuff. Offshoring our emissions then blaming those countries isn’t the answer.

I'm terrified for my daughter, who's 3 years old. Sometimes on more negative days I think well, when it happens at least I'll still probably be here with her - I can't bear the thought of her dealing with things on her own. On my better days I have hope in technology and human ingenuity. Mostly I just try and do the best I can to limit my own consumption, and not dwell on it. I'd drive myself mad otherwise.

It was only the hippies in the 60s worried about the planet. Too many others were too busy buying everything they could in order to improve their own lives, cars being the biggest purchase and governments rubbed their hands together at yet another way of making money. Oil barons became even richer and nobody gave a monkeys about the planet. Those attitudes will be difficult to change years on.

People like Dimbleby and Monbiot who write and campaign on these issues unfortunately already live in a way that is seen as luxurious and indulgent by the vast majority of the population. It’s no wonder people don’t listen. It’s seen as an entirely middle class preoccupation and that’s exactly what it is.

@seashells11

Most people DON'T deserve it though. Most of us are just plodding along trying to live our lives. We didn't ask to be born in these times. I blame the world leaders, the ones with the power to make change. The planet is fucked up, but I don't think us ordinary people deserve what's happening.

No, you don't deserve it. No, you didn't ask to be born. No, it's not your fault. Blame whoever you want. Doesn't make a jot of difference though - don't have children if you don't already. Encourage your children not to have children. That's all you can do now.

stuck with politicians that will not lead

Well we get what we vote for. The only people to blame for shit politicians are the people who vote for them.

I'm hoping genetically modifying plants will help. There's some interesting research on increasing carbon capture in common plants.

Personally I'm far more worried about our ageing population & the fact no one wants to address it. The NHS & many other public funded bodies are on their knees now, what will it be like in 10 yrs & then combine that with a shrinking tax paying population.

@Ooodlesofboodles

Actually I'm not too worried about China they are rapidly cleaning up their environmental act. Any my god when they decide to do something it damn well happens.

According to google “As of 2021, there were 1,082 operational coal power plants in China”. Are they really cleaning up their environmental act?

ukcop26.org

I want to do something for 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Glasgow in November, I just don't know what :(

In my head I would fly like superwoman to Glasgow, then I'd hulk down the doors, and Professor Xavier their heads into agreeing to make the changes needed.

There’s absolutely no point in me consuming less because there are 1.5bn people in China who are consuming more. For every coal fired power station we close down China builds 10 more. In this race to get ahead, if the West takes its foot off the accelerator it will be overtaken and dominated by other economies that don’t give a shit about pollution and climate change. As an individual I can’t make a difference and the UK is so small that even as a nation we can’t make a difference. I’ll be dead before it all kicks off so I don’t care anyway.

It horrifies me to the extent that I can't think or read about it in too much depth, it's too overwhelming.

Some great suggestions upthread about individual changes we can all make. Yes corporate and government changes will have the biggest impact, but we can't claim to want to stop climate change and then do nothing to amend our current habits. Doing something, even if very small, makes me feel less powerless.

Eating less meat, consuming less (fast fashion etc), walking and cycling where possible, less or no flying. Changing banks is also a really big one, I banked with HSBC for years and they are one of the biggest funders of rainforest deforestation. I can't believe it took me so long to realise how bad they are. Moving to an ethical bank or building society is a huge step, they invest your money into green energy and social enterprises that are positive for people and the environment. Co-op are really good, Nationwide are supposed to be the most ethical of the bigger banks.

^ And that example of utter selfishness illustrates why we are in such big trouble

The aging population is a worry. One that is kicked into the long grass and also worries me as I age.
China is also a huge worry , but who will take them on? Who will tell them what to do?
Will they listen ? I fear not actually!

Oops- that was directed at Silveroaks entitled selfish excuses

And also saying 'ah but China are so much worse, so why bother' is such a defeatist argument. Some people don't want to just give up and watch the world go to shit.

Yes, it's salvagable.

I suggest signing up to FutureCrunch. They keep you up to date on the positive changes happening to combat global emissions. The problem is that really big change - on a global level - starts out almost imperceptible and then gathers pace until its inevitable. That's why we are in this mess in the first place and how we are going to stagger out.

Here's a few things going on at the moment;

• a massive global divestment in fossil fuels. It's hard to find anywhere prepared to underwrite the insurance for a new coal station outside of China (and even they are rethinking coal projects). On top of that, it's now cheaper to run solar and wind stations than coal and the economics are only going in one direction. The UK will shut down it's last coal station in 2024.
• Remember that Alaskan pipeline in America? The one trump gave the green light to? The company have shut down the project after lawsuits and Biden's election. It's officially deceased.
• The same is about to happen to the combustion engine. Now there is a legal framework in place to stop selling petrol vehicles, manufacturers are racing not to be the last man standing. It's going to flip in the next five years (due to production line set up).
• Climate campaigners have successfully sued Australia, the Netherlands, Ireland and Germany to tighten up their climate change plans. The same applies to Shell and ExxonMobile. They key date to watch will be 2030, when most businesses and countries must halve their emissions. That includes China by the way.
• I understand that industry is looking at renewables and a way to generate green hydrogen to replace fossil fuels in the heavy-duty processes such as steel works.
• Short-haul flights are likely to die. The overnight sleeper train is making a comeback in Europe and France is banning flights under 2.5 hours. It's mostly symbolic, but a pointer to what we can expect in the future.
• Africa is leapfrogging over Europe; if we actually keep our promises on climate funding, that continent will kick-start their green revolution before we finish our own. It's a win-win as we accelerate the race to net-zero and opens up a massive new market. That matters as most of the population growth in the future will be there. If we get it wrong, so will most of the climate refugees.
• Have you heard of the the Great Green Wall being planted in Africa? Or the Billion Trees project in the Americas? Or China's 6.6million hectare reforestation (the size of Ireland)? We can replant and regenerate areas. I just hope we get the chance to do it with the Amazon.

The downside is that we should have done it all at least three decades ago and there will be massive migration, death and property damage as a result. Some areas of the globe will become unliveable in the coming years due to a lack of freshwater, extreme heat or rising sea levels. There's also going to be more tropical disease, the spread of more pests and more extreme weather. This could have been avoided, but humans don't do well with abstract futures. We may get lazy about the smoke alarm, but we will do something when the flipping roof is on fire.

I’ll be dead before it all kicks off so I don’t care anyway.

And this is why we have the problem

Yep

We are PROPER fucked

Like the big bunny (for those who are fans of Lock Stock)

Interesting post @TheABC

I'm also worried about future pandemics as apparently they will become more common