Climate change - is this a wakeup call?

[Tulipomania]

Seeing the wildfires in Greece and Turkey.

The extreme heatwave we had here in the UK. Floods in central London.

Flooding in China. More extreme heatwaves in the US.

Is anyone else as worried as I am for the future of our kids, or are we just going to carry on ignoring the warning signs until it is too late?

Yes it's a wake up call.
Wake up calls have been sounding for AT LEAST 50 years (actually longer - look up American dust bowl, 1930s).
Most people won't change until forced to, by which time it's too late. Indeed, it's probably already too late. Just follow your own life and conscience.

Is anyone else as worried as I am for the future of our kids, or are we just going to carry on ignoring the warning signs until it is too late?

Well, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has been meeting now for decades trying to thrash out the right route forward. I don’t think it’s just you.

Does it help at all to know the immense amount of research and development going into this, even if it’s battling against human inertia, politics etc?

I don't think anyone is genuinely asleep.

I know, and we don't seem to be making any progress. We have a government that is hosting the most important international climate change meeting of our lifetimes in a few months time and seems to have a totally cavalier attitude to it.

Don’t forget the imminent collapse of the Gulf Stream and the mega-drought in the Andes! There have been wake-up calls for years but it’s too late now. Governments won’t force change (too much big business money), individuals can’t make enough impact (and besides, you only have to click on a random MN thread to find rampant consumerism and “but I need my wipes!” be they for make-up/loo/furniture).

Apparently the UK is one of the good places to survive, though, as we all hurtle towards the inevitable.

There's not a lot we as individuals can do. Don't have children and don't fly. The rest is dependent on corporations and governments. Write to your MP I guess to keep the pressure on.

Sadly I live in a Tory safe seat in the Shires, where my MP recognises there is a climate emergency (although he doesn't like the words) but totally fails to understand the solutions.

He thinks we need to be encouraging our kids to get the bus more.

“Don't have children and don't fly. The rest is dependent on corporations and governments.”

Don’t buy from corporations. Buy food from local producers. Get clothes/household goods second hand as much as possible.

My point is that most of probably know this, but we're not doing it.

We're hearing but not listening.

Don’t buy from corporations.
I’d add don’t support them through non-purchases either: sorry, knackered and can’t find the right words, but stuff like… where’s your pension or S&S ISA invested? Is your money propping up fossil fuels or fracking somewhere?

Random stuff like deleting all your old emails. Even sending a quick “thank you!” email at work carries a (tiny) carbon footprint.

Eat less meat. Don’t buy Bitcoin. Stop buying stuff, really.

There’s lots of little things we as individuals can do to gradually makeover our lifestyles to have less impact (incremental is better because if you try to change all habits overnight you’re likely to fail), but ultimately we need governments to commit to bigger change, faster.

@BahHumbygge

“Don't have children and don't fly. The rest is dependent on corporations and governments.”

Don’t buy from corporations. Buy food from local producers. Get clothes/household goods second hand as much as possible.

I think the problem is that all this is just the tip of the iceberg, so to speak. We in the West need to radically alter our entire lifestyles and change our expectations of how we live, rather than simply eat a bit less meat and take UK holidays. The reality is that virtually none of us would be prepared to make the necessary sacrifices. I know I wouldn’t be. I’m banking on a few more decades of relative comfort whilst I’m still alive, but am childfree so don’t particularly care what happens after that. Brutal but true.

Nothings going to change until it’s far too late and it’s terrifying.
The only way to make a difference is to admit our whole way of life is unsustainable and stop all the consumerism, but the economy is not going to like that.

On a positive note, the sun is a star, all stars eventually explode, so perhaps we won't be around to feel the full effects of climate change as the world will be no more by then.

We in the West need to radically alter our entire lifestyles and change our expectations of how we live, rather than simply eat a bit less meat and take UK holidays. The reality is that virtually none of us would be prepared to make the necessary sacrifices.

I think this is the crux of it. People like to talk about their concerns but then claim that not using the tumble dryer it turning the heating down won't make any difference so they carry on.

The people who are most vocal about climate change always leave me with the impression that the government needs to legislate because they refuse to be inconvenienced until everyone is inconvenienced but they like sounding as if they care.

There's not a lot we as individuals can do. Don't have children and don't fly. The rest is dependent on corporations and governments. Write to your MP I guess to keep the pressure on.

But when the government is hosting a climate change summit that they dont do remotely but instead fly world leaders in from all over the globe, when Biden flies from London to Cornwall with all his entourage and Boris jets back and forward to Scotland/Europe for meetings etc, while we are producing (and dumping) insane amounts of one use plastic (masks/LFTs/PCRs/ PPE), the majority will say why should I give up one fortnight in Tenerife?

If its cheaper to get a shop delivered from asda with a mountain of plastic instead of getting the bus to the wholefoods cooperative who only sell sustainable organic products wrapped in paper/ cardboard, and its going to increase your food bill by about 20% and you can perhaps only carry a couple of days' food home, most people are going to opt for Asda's plastic mountain.

We don't need to be lectured by governments and world leaders, we need them to make it easier to do the right thing.

There was a post about a camping holiday that was going to cost ridiculous amount of money. Unless you absolutely love camping, you're going to opt for a 5 star all inclusive somewhere hot where you get hot and cold running water, food pepared for you and no washing up

OP I've seen many threads like this fizzle out. What do you need from posting here - support for how you're feeling? Ideas for change? Just to talk about the situation? Other people's optimism?
My sense is that you are felling really upset by your own 'waking up' to how things are - which is completely normal and understandable but hard to deal with.
I was in that place over thirty years ago. I'm honestly wondering what, if anything, I can say that would support and help you - as an individual. Because that would be worth doing.

It's already too late. As you say, the government's of the world are meeting in a few months time. How are they getting here? Private planes. Could have done the meeting last year via video calls, but no no, hold a climate meeting after flying in.

Nothing can be done to stop it and by the time everyone stops being selfish and tries to act, it will be really too late. We could manage it now maybe if everyone would agree and act together, and I mean properly act not with our crap deadlines now, but it will never happen. Your kids generation is screwed.

I wonder whether the example set by the COVID emergency might shift our thinking from ‘we can’t possibly do that, how would it work?’ to ‘it’ll be difficult to do that, but the alternative is worse’.

@MoreRainThanAnyYet

I wonder whether the example set by the COVID emergency might shift our thinking from ‘we can’t possibly do that, how would it work?’ to ‘it’ll be difficult to do that, but the alternative is worse’.

I don’t think so. The main thing about Covid was that, however much many people dressed it up as caring for others and not being selfish, they fell into line with restrictions because they were scared for themselves and those they loved and feared an imminent threat. I don’t think we’re quite there yet with feeling at imminent threat, or being frightened of enormous risk to ourselves. Climate change is still something that’s going to affect other people first.

These chain of events really has me scared for our future. If its ever more clear our climate is suffering it's now. I'm so so worried for my child and for the planet in general. Its us. We are the ones rapidly increasing the killing of our world. How can money be more important than our world? It's like this whole pandemic, if people die there is no economy, if there is no anet there is no money to worry about. Yet all these corporations and government seem to care about is the things that are meaningless.

I know what we do is most likely a speck in the ocean but if everyone has this mentality of there is no point because I wont make a difference, that means billions of people will do nothing instead of changing. And as a collective our change will matter! We all need to do our part.

This isnt a joke topic. No planet no life. We may not be able to control the people above us but we have a responsibility in our own lives to do something, small or not

This isnt a joke topic. No planet no life. We may not be able to control the people above us but we have a responsibility in our own lives to do something, small or not

You're right, but sitting back at the end when it's all gone tits up feeling smug that you recycled your cans still got you to the same position as the ones who didn't, or did worse.

The little people (us) have little to no effect on changing the current outcome. It's the big corporations and governments that need to take bigger steps now, not by 2030.

There was a point actually in scotland about a decade ago (might still actually be the case, but im not sure), that the government had us using recycling bins etc wanting us to do our part, and THEY threw it all into landfill anyway. They had no recycling plant. So when you have a government who isn't fulfilling it's side of the deal, it makes the whole thing pointless. Bet they still fined people for not recycling.

You've got big businesses in other countries making all of the plastic that contains our food and drinks, that then ends up in the ocean. Oh and all the tourists leaving rubbish along our roads up here in Scotland, because there are no bins or anyone emptying them. Although that doesn't stop the public putting it back in their cars, but they don't.

We are in a climate emergency and yet we are holding yet another summit where all the heads of government and advisors will get in their planes and fly halfway around the world to attend. They will stay in the best hotels, eat and drink the finest there is to offer, be driven around in large vehicles then fly home again.
Yet you the little person living your ordinary life are being asked no take public transport, recycle every thing possible, scrap your summer holiday on a beach somewhere and buy secondhand and locally produced food.
Maybe someone could tell them about zoom.

It’s hard not to despair. There is a Maya Angelou quote which I am struggling to find, that is something like the best way not to feel helpless is to do something. I do feel helpless on this issue because in reality as well as our individual actions in climate change, to really stop the worst impacts, we need countries like China, India, Saudi Arabia and Brazil on board, all of which have showed a reluctance to make change.
But I have done a couple of things this month which have made me feel like I am “doing something”. (I already power my house from renewables, don’t fly, don’t eat red meat). I have signed up to Kilma an app which carbon neutralises my life for £6 a month. I’m trying to remember to take my own lunch to work to pay for it. I also have downloaded Treeapp which plants a tree everyday I watch a short advert. Next I’m debating meeting with my (Tory) MP during his surgery to discuss the climate talks. Even though I hate the man and everything he stands for. I’m also raising two very environmentally aware children. (Sorry this post was a bit rambling. Hopefully you get my point!)

If flying people round the world and buttering them up with posh hotels is what it takes to get climate agreements, that’s a worthwhile flight and hotel bill.