If it’s that bad, why aren’t we panicking more??

[Nightgardenisodd]

Climate change.
I keep reading posts about it and it’s scaring the crap out of me for my DD’s future.
How bad is it? Anyone have any positivity about it?

You may not use these products, but plenty do.
My arguments still stand.
Your argument is that artificial grass requires less maintenance than lawn. The answer isn’t plastic grass; it’s not using fertiliser/weed killer.

Plastic grass isn’t only about flooding: it’s also about plastic leaching into the soil and water system, and failing to absorb heat the way natural gardens to, instead reflecting heat back.

Read start of paragraph 6…

www.google.co.uk/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/may/01/climate-change-environment-hope-future-optimism-success

We need to have hope otherwise people will just do nothing. It would be absolutely outrageous to go from not doing anything because of climate denial to not doing anything because it’s too late. There has to be a bit in the middle where everyone pulls together and tries. And read the last line of the article too…and please people stop blaming your own inaction on China… “there’s no point me doing anything because of China…” FFS.

For those knocking china they now lead the way in installed renewables capacity and have been leapfrogging everyone else in innovating in that area. Let’s not throw stones in glass houses…

Great to see another thread on this getting the attention it deserves!

I agree @tulipomania - thanks to the person who started them! I’m actually really impressed by the amount of people who know a lot. I always feel like a loner working in climate change as most friends and family don’t really properly get it so assumed everyone else was the same..

‘There has to be a bit in the middle where everyone pulls together and tries’

That would be good, yes.

How, though? That is v unlikely to happen.

@Dozer

‘There has to be a bit in the middle where everyone pulls together and tries’

That would be good, yes.

How, though? That is v unlikely to happen.

We have to show the political parties that we are ready to make the change and that we won’t immediately try to vote them out of office if they introduce a green new deal (or whatever it may be called). So that means changing our behaviour…eating less meat, flying less, choosing sustainable brands etc and voting for parties with the best green policies. I would happily vote Green simply to send the message that green issues matter.

There is change going on all around. I work in the pensions industry and new legislation has been introduced concerning climate change and pension investments. Currently, trustees of schemes are required to consider environmental, social and governance issues when making investments, e.g. are shares in BP a sound investment given climate change and potential class actions, switch to renewables… The upshot is that companies will have to become more green and sustainable in order to attract investors. That is huge.

I can see some sort of parallel with the early conversations on here,. admittedly with fewer people denying climate change

Unfortunately Covid has.shown us how little we can cope with major changes to our lifestyles, with everyone desperate to get back to ' normal' . I have very little hope that we will make the vast fundamental changes in how the world works in order to be able to counteract climate change. I think things may even out eventually with some humans left on the planet but they will be many fewer in number . It is bloody terrifying and is the one thing that makes me seriously wish I had never had DS. DH and I will be old and likely die before it gets unbearable but the thought of DS ( an only child) coping with the sort of world it will be alone is heartbreaking

Also, for those dissing China and India, it may well be that they manage their development similarly to the phone revolution.
Most of the developing world bypassed landlines and went straight for mobile phones.
So if the big developing countries can improve their standard og life without taking the insane fossil fuel route that Europe, America and Australia did, it will be ok.
Solar power, wind power, water power or nuclear power. Cheap, abundant and super efficient compared to the dinosaur combustion based power we use for energy and transport.
A lot of problems sorted if we turn to renewable power sources AND reduce our ridiculous over-consumption of goods.
It is ridiculous, I do mean those words.
And we are talking about a fairly gentle scaling down, not returning to the 1930’s

Heard a radio 4 Life Scientific podcast with a scientist who switched fields from astrophysics to the environmental impact of food production due to her concerns about the environment. Sarah Bridle is her name. Hats off to her!

We should be worrying about biodiversity loss as well as climate change. The numbers on insects are really worrying.

It's hard to be positive about the future on a macro scale.

@wherearemychickens

We should be worrying about biodiversity loss as well as climate change. The numbers on insects are really worrying.

Isn't there a statistic that 99% of all species that have existed are extinct ?

www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/mass-extinction

At least a handful of times in the last 500 million years, 75 to more than 90 percent of all species on Earth have disappeared in a geological blink of an eye in catastrophes we call mass extinctions.

Look around you…it’s obvious how bad it is!
The weather this year has been awful and summer hasn’t really happened. We’re having a more and more inconsistent seasons. People are dying of air pollution. Animal specifies are dying out.

Sensible people are taking action.

Selfish people can’t be arsed

We do all we can to reduce waste, minimise use of car, recycle, avoid buying plastic crap from China, try to buy locally produced foods. Then, we hear on the news that a train has been driven empty, from London to Glasgow to beat a speed record. The fact it failed is irrelevant, the fact it would have used 3,000+ gallons of diesel though is relevant. Then there was someone flying a plane round the world just for the sake of it, billionaires going up to space just because they can. Then 12,000 british fans have to fly to Portugal for a football match between 3 British teams. Why was it not played in the UK? It makes you think why are we bothering? Will our little bits make one iota of difference? Of course, we will continue trying to do our bit, but I just wish that more thought was given on the bigger, more wasteful decisions.

DGRossetti, I wouldn't be surprised, given how long life has been kicking around on Earth. I don't really want to be living through a sixth extinction event if it's going to lead to difficulties in my food being pollinated though.

River Wye is looking really grim this year - 10 years of austerity have really done a number on environmental protections in this country.

Back to, if we get the policies right, it's a nicer world for us to live in too - I don't want to kayak in a river full of green algae. I want to kayak in a river full of life with clean water I don't have to worry about accidentally swallowing.

Regrettably there is no positive, not one, we are a powerless majority in the Hands of a incredibly minute group of powerful and merciless corporations, govts and laws. we would need a complete overhaul of the capitalist system that we currently have in place, the system we have only ever had in place since king John signed Magna Carta. Personally I think the next 5 years will be the decider, our actions in this period I truly believe will decide the speed of the end of habitable life on earth for humans. after which if things do not change its sadly game over. The planet has existed far before and Will exist far after the human species, how sad it may be that we may be the reason for our own downfall, that the spicies we tell ourselves is the smartest, is actually the most destructive. Revolution is now the only way. And the crisis is in fact far worse, than being reported by MSM, politicians, states (with some even denying its legitimacy and some further saying that it’s a left wing, Marxist hoax 🤦🏼‍♂️)

Humans actually need to return to our pre-industrial selves were we to have any hope of curbing our effects and breaking away from the chains of consumerism and capitalism that is the sole reason for this crisis!

I say to my wife, I am terrified for my son (2y0) in 30 years to talk to me about wanting children and their future, because it’s here where generations will see the seriousness of the scale of this crisis.

The ever expanding universe won’t shed a tear if humans cause the extinction of our species which is where this is heading, and we will have been a mere dot on an endless canvass.

We can sing petitions give to charities (don’t do this the money is not allocated properly or legitimately to the cause) we can write to MP’s, protest and share stories on SM, we have been doing this (sm not so) since the 70’s at least, and the powers that be have actually strengthens their position of power.

Protests being seen as illegal by the Tory govt, and illegitimising them, during the turning point of climate change, scares the living s**t out of me, have a look at the projections, mass droughts in places where rain is in adbunace, famine, water shortages, severe floods, rising sea levels,

Our decision makers are sending us to space as the epitome of human intellect, whilst the planet is being destroyed.

Like corbyn or not, climate change is one of the biggest reasons for his defeat, because talking about climate change means one thing, profits will have to suffer.

I hope I am wrong, but the powerful have never reversed their power, the people have never been represented, and our species have taken and taken and taken the natural resources and beauty of this planet, to sell back to us for a profit 🤦🏼‍♂️

The British empire is one of the biggest contributing factors to climate change, and the systems of governance we see in the world today.

God’ bless the planet, and may life flourish if and when Mother Nature decides we have done far too much damage

Don’t panic, at this moment in time it’s scare mongering..

My lad came home from school terrified as the teachers said the Sun was going to explode and they have no future as the world ending.. I had to have a word.

The UK produces less than 1% of the worlds pollution. So if we stopped tomorrow it would have little to no difference.

Most of our energy is from renewable sources Wind, Hydro and solar.

Until China, USA, India, Africa get on board There’s nothing we can do other than research new tech to help..

So no don’t panic..

Look at all the Hoo Ha some people have made about having to wear masks, stay at home etc. Can you imagine what would happen if Govts told their citizens e.g. to stop all foreign and unnecessary travel, one car per household, cycle any journeys less than 5 miles, banned all plastics, etc. etc. The economy would fall through the floor...Interesting to see if any Govt. will have the guts to bring in the policies we all know are needed but are unwilling/afraid to follow.

@Globaluser

The people on this planet are selfish, unkind, and just absolutely awful; therefore the world is broken! My heart weeps for it and the children that live on it!

No disrespect at all intended here but what do you do (honestly) that is so much better than the rest of us? Do you drive? Fly on holidays? Eat imported foods? Use plastic?

Well if we were worried about it as a country I guess we wouldn't have voted the Tories in. It was very clear at the election which parties were going to take climate change seriously, and it was very clear that the Tories weren't. Extinction rebellion came along but everybody was all 'oh it's too disruptive, they should protest in a way that doesn't inconvenience anybody'. Now the government have made peaceful protest into a criminal act. We had our chance in 2019 and we chose not to take it. Heartbreaking really.

Sign up to your council's tree planting scheme. And cut back on meat, esp beef and dairy. The govts only care about money and the economy. But they have shown that they can act in an emergency like covid. They need to act in the same way. Every single person has to play their part. That influences govt policy and commerce too.