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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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

911 replies

Nightgardenisodd · 07/08/2021 20:59

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?

OP posts:
CarlottaValdez · 07/08/2021 21:34

The knowledge that we all die, whatever happens

This is what I cling to - in the scheme of things if I die early from climate change well ok. I nearly died of sepsis last year so I guess it’s not that different really. I sometimes wish I hadn’t had a child though. He brings me so much joy but I’m scared for his future.

DoingItMyself · 07/08/2021 21:35

I panicked in 1970. No-one else seemed to give a fuck so I stopped.

HungryHippo11 · 07/08/2021 21:35

Agree with others who said there's not much point in me buying a bamboo toothbrush and walking to work, when places like China and Russia are producing more and more plastic and pollution and nobody is doing anything about it.

Changes have to be made on a global or at least national scale.

Bobopalooza · 07/08/2021 21:36

@frumpety

A lot depends where you live , there are a few places including a lot of the SE where I would be nervous about getting a mortgage over the 15 yr mark.
why?
Carboholic · 07/08/2021 21:36

xkcd.com/1732/

Take one look at this graph and then please blush at ever having said “natural phenomena”.

OP:
Have fewer children
Fly less
Drive less
Vote!
Don’t buy shit just because an ad tells you you should or because the Joneses have it
Eat less meat

The big ones are probably flying less, voting better and having fewer children (though this is a hard one and very personal). Just because other people are doing something pr not doing something doesn’t mean you have to. Eg, if China and the US are pissing in the swimming pool doesn’t mean we should, and if MN tells you never to date a man who doesn’t drive doesn’t mean you need to own 3 SUVs. Doing something lessens anxiety. But there is a good reason to take this very, very seriously.

godmum56 · 07/08/2021 21:36

How would panicking help?

Maria1982 · 07/08/2021 21:36

@PlanDeRaccordement that is disingenuous at best, outright misleading at worst.

Climate change at the rate recorded in the past 30-40 years is not a natural phenomenon. Talking about the history of the planet and the fact temperatures have fluctuated in the past does not mean that current climate change is not man-made.

The evidence shows:
-rapid acceleration of warming since we started using fossil fuels in large quantities
-in addition the physics of greenhouse gases acting to trap heat leading to warming of the planet is really beyond discussion at this point! So many experiments have proven this.

I am guessing you believe what you are saying , but I strongly disagree and I hope no one else on this thread is misled by your argument.

ThirdElephant · 07/08/2021 21:36

Basically because there is nothing we as individuals can do about it. So the band plays on while the ship sinks.

HungryHippo11 · 07/08/2021 21:37

@Retrievemysanity

It’s awful. No positivity about it unfortunately. But what good will panicking do about it?
I also agree with this. Live your life and enjoy it as long as you can.
Tealightsandd · 07/08/2021 21:37

@CarlottaValdez

I think where I feel it’s impossible is looking at China and Russia.
To be fair to China, they were frequently condemned in the media of other countries when they took perhaps the biggest step towards tackling human overpopulation (which is the key to mitigating against climate change).

China has abandoned it's one child policy now, but parts of India are considering it (I think it's two children).

Only one country but it's a start.

Better access to and education on contraception is the way fowards.

But will we really do anything enough about climate change? I mean, half the world didn't want to limit flights during a pandemic. Would they accept rationed international travel (i.e. one flight a year except emergencies)? I don't know.

HasaDigaEebowai · 07/08/2021 21:37

why?

Because those areas will be under water

Maria1982 · 07/08/2021 21:37

@Bobopalooza at a guess, because the South East will experience much higher temperatures . Also depending on where exactly, risk of flooding

Maria1982 · 07/08/2021 21:38

Thank you @Carboholic for that link Smile

lannistunut · 07/08/2021 21:39

[quote PlanDeRaccordement]@lannistunut
This may all be true but has bugger all to do with the climate change impacts we face in the future which is going to make that lot look like a walk in the park.

Really? So fossil fuels have fuck all to do with climate change according to you. You deviating from the party line.[/quote]
Well I think you have deliberately misunderstood my meaning there, or maybe you genuinely misunderstood.
I didn't say fossil fuels have nothing to do with climate change.

If you are a climate change denier, there is little point discussing however.

It appears you are deliberately talking about other things, which is a technique from the deniers' handbook.

HasaDigaEebowai · 07/08/2021 21:40

Russia gains massively from climate change at least in the short term. Increasing temperatures mean it can access its ports for more of the year, its fossil fuels are uncovered and it also has massive land mass and a high percentage of daylight hours per capita which means that solar is a very good opportunity for it as a country.

So it’s in Russia’s interests for everyone to carry on consuming.

Supersimkin2 · 07/08/2021 21:42

Because 'changes in the future' turned out to be 'changes started yesterday.'

What gets me is that we were told temps would rise 1C which doesn't sound that bad - but Greece is on fire and quite big chunks of London are underwater. That's just tonight.

SantiagoSky · 07/08/2021 21:43

China has a decarbonization plan in place and will be able to execute quickly.

Zotter · 07/08/2021 21:43

I note billionaires are moving to New Zealand for what some say is 'doomsday insurance'.

Things are bad. They say there is a small window to act now to at least mitigate global temp increase.

ChainJane · 07/08/2021 21:43

Don't worry about it. Humans always predict the worst. 60 years ago people were genuinely scared that there might be an atomic war at any moment. 40 years ago we were told that AIDS would kill off huge numbers of people. 25 years ago I remember BBC news telling us that mad cow disease might decimate the population within a decade. Then it was terrorism, now it's climate change.

Humans need something to worry about, it is in our nature. It's also convenient for the powers that be because they can use whatever fear people have as an excuse to raise taxes and cut services.

The world is hotter than a century ago, certainly. But before industrialisation temperatures were already rising, ever since the peak of the "mini ice age" where the Thames regularly froze solid to the point they held fairs on the ice. Go back a thousand years and temperatures were about the same as they are now.

The point is temperatures have always fluctuated and the world has adapted to the new conditions. Yes, people die off and populations rise and fall. We are due a correction in population figures because there are too many people for the planet to support. Natural disasters such as floods and famine will help bring about the necessary reduction (because obviously politicians can't actively promote sterilisation or genocide). But that's always been the case, that's how we evolve - the people who adapt best to the prevailing conditions are the ones who survive.

The problem with those who shout that we need to stop climate change are misguided. It's the height of arrogance to think humans have the power to change nature.

MsTSwift · 07/08/2021 21:43

And still threads pondering about whether to have the third or fourth child 🙄🙄🙄

Bobopalooza · 07/08/2021 21:43

So it’s in Russia’s interests for everyone to carry on consuming

Even to the detriment of their children/grandchildren?

Fucking hell we are a horrible species Sad

adeleh · 07/08/2021 21:45

I am very frightened.

I am going to renew my efforts to turn veggie.
Buy clothes from ebay rather than new.
Fly less.
Look into solar heating.
Buy lots and lots of trees to offset carbon. It’s not that expensive. If everyone who could afford to do this, tried to do so, that could make a big difference.

PlanDeRaccordement · 07/08/2021 21:45

@lannistunut
Speak for yourself. I answered a question clearly and you deliberately misunderstood everything I listed by saying it has nothing to do with climate change, when everything I listed is powered through the use of fossil fuels....electricity, combustion engines to carry bins of rubbish away, plastic to use in hospitals, energy plants to power water treatment systems, water pumps and your taps and flushing toilets. All this is possible because of fossil fuels the #1 enemy to climate change zealots.....how disingenuous of you to suggest they have nothing to do with it when they depend on fossil fuels.

HasaDigaEebowai · 07/08/2021 21:46

If you are going to carbon offset by paying someone to plant trees please use the woodland trust and not one of the many organisations that plant a 2cm tree oversea which promptly dies or diverts much needed water resource.