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?

Thank you Zotter - that's a really helpful post.

@ohthatbloodycat

The problem is that many of the world's people are stupid. On the motorway the other day, the people in the car in front opened their windows and threw out all the litter from their car. I know it's a drop in the ocean (!), but what hope does the planet have when there are STILL knuckle-dragging scumbags like this on it.

Thats not the issue to climate change, you're calling other stupid, whilst actually not understanding what the causes and prevention methods are - the issue is top down government and global policies - which are not amended as they can't give up the crack of the cash cow from various industries.

The biggest changes we as individuals could make are stop eating fish, stop eating meat & dairy & try to buy food without packaging.

Your view of the 'people being stupid' is part of the problem.

Us minions have limited control - and infighting is just absolutely encouraged to detract from the fact ALL of this could be changed much more quickly - and could have been years ago.

Cars, diesel, are one issue, BUT - If you stopped industrialized fishing today globally - you'd likely stop & start to reverse climate change issues with a massive impact very quickly. If you stopped Beef farming - you'd add an extra 30% to that effort.

I do not eat fish or meat - I drive a petrol car. I know my input is greater than a fish & meat-eating Tesla driver. Read up, make changes to your diet as this has fundamental impacts.

@me4real

The climate change' will come to nothing significant and then they'll claim it's because of stuff we've done to counteract it.

Whatever the outcome it'll be used to prove their theory is true. Like they do now with every type of weather being claimed as evidence of global warming or whatever they've had to rename it..

Being unfalsifiable is the mark of a dodgy theory.

You're absolutely wrong & naive.

The gulf stream has seen major impacts to patterns this last few weeks which signals major weather issues moving forward. We've seen unprecedented high temperatures in multiple locations. We've seen major flooding in NY, UK, Germany, Turkey & China this past 3 weeks .. The global weather patterns are becoming extreme.

@Janemact

It is very bad and scary. Our best hope is to persuade other big governments to cut back their emissions. Our government is doing all the wrong things, cutting aid for women’s education, clean water, world health problems at the same time as encouraging new coal and oil extraction. Their plans for achieving their excellent goals to cut carbon are non-existent, and they just cut the warmer homes scheme with barely 10% of it spent insulating houses. If Johnson can persuade other countries well and good at COP26, but his variety of charm seems only to work on some of the English. (Trust issues!). Try and do something about your own carbon footprint, and campaign if you can find the time -anything from greenpeace, Friends of the Earth, To Extinction Rebellion. You will feel better if you do something, and it really is an emergency!

Banning fishing would have a far greater impact. So Vegan yes - not just meat.

Industrialized fishing via bottom trawling emits so much carbon, in addition the fishing methods used absolutely desicate the sea of carbon sesquation plants and organisms that suck up Co2 are unpresentated rates . The sea is the co2 absorber. Its being abused under the guise of back hander funded charities giving out false narrative blaming 'us' individuals.

Its literally easy as fuck to make a massive impact. NO FISHING.NO MEAT.

But no fishing no meat is never going to happen.

Banning petrol and diesel cars, taxing all flights to high heaven, forcing new homes to be environmentally sound, investing heavily in renewable energy - they’re all things that impact on people less and so might stand a chance.

We don’t even do the easy stuff. It’s been known for years that painting rooftops white would have an effect on temperature increases. Apart from a few initiatives in LA where they’ve painted some roads pale grey and a small percentage of buildings in New York, it’s hardly been used at all. It could buy us ten extra years but nope, not happened.

How do you figure banning petrol/diesel cars (when EVs are still expensive and lack infrastructure), and taxing flights (when most people still want a holiday and aren’t yet on board with climate change) impacts people less than “no sausages”?

The investment in renewable energy is being made; the electricity companies are already on the path to net zero. The real trouble is that we’re aiming for net zero by 2050, when really we need to be at minus zero by yesterday.

Humanity is nothing more than a virus wearing shoes, some of the virus want the host body to survive, some of the virus doesnt care if the host lives or dies as long as it can keep doing what its genetically designed to do which is reproduce, now some of the virus is trying to leave this host in the hope that it can infect another host

On the radio 4 news just now - the gov make 20 billion pounds a year in tax from fuel, petrol etc, what do you replace that with if everyone has electric cars. Something else will need to be taxed to raise that amount.

Sadly 95% f people aren’t on board with the message.

We have to stop air travel for holidays. We have to move away from a throw away, disposable consumer led society.

But I don’t think we will until things have got a lot, lot worse and it’s too late.

But the ev deadline is already in place.

People will accept evs more readily than no meat.

I’m not saying that meat and fish shouldn’t also be consumed far less. But it’s a difficult change to get people to accept.

I'd say adapting to the climate change is a better option than fighting. There are some benefits that come with it too, not only downsides.

@forinborin

I'd say adapting to the climate change is a better option than fighting. There are some benefits that come with it too, not only downsides.

What benefits?

Millions of people will be displaced, with widespread famine and drought. Wars over water.

I think that post means that the benefits are in the adaptation?

But I suspect a lot of benefits are only from a privileged perspective, e.g. climbing off the work treadmill, buying some land and becoming self-sustainable (while doing some white-collar WFH to sustain the instagram chickens).

Millions of people will be displaced, with widespread famine and drought. Wars over water.
Read the original studies, not the media representation of them. Many of them present a much balanced picture. Some areas will have increased water stress, but some will have reduced water stress - it is not like water will suddenly evaporate to the outer space. Vegetation is expected to flourish in presence of extra CO2, leading to increased agricultural yields and a reduction in droughts and hunger levels is expected in many regions currently suffering from it. Displacement can be prevented by technology - the Dutch were doing it for centuries, before any climate change. It would be wise to invest into that rather than into the paper straws and cotton buds PR campaign. We are allowed different opinions on the matter, no?

@burritofan

I think that post means that the benefits are in the adaptation?

But I suspect a lot of benefits are only from a privileged perspective, e.g. climbing off the work treadmill, buying some land and becoming self-sustainable (while doing some white-collar WFH to sustain the instagram chickens).

Yes, that is exactly what I meant, you are very perceptive!

I think the benefits will not be felt by the displaced.

One you reduce living humans to a cost/benefit spreadsheet, you're in dangerous territory ethically. The costs will fall on people living today. It is only possible to discuss cost/benefit like this because you yourself are not in the group going to be displaced.

Not sure if anyone has mentioned the small matter of soil. Because of the way we farm, and the effects of climate change, the UN predicts we have only 40 harvests left at the current rate of soil degradation.

That’s 40 years of food.

On a planet that’s population is due to be 9 billion in 2050.

There are different opinions about the amount of years but the point is that we are not using the earth in a way that is sustainable.

We are.

I have been in the middle of a bushfire, one of the ones you might have seen on the news from Australia last year. That's what's coming down the line.

But stopping climate change lies less with individual actions than with systemic change. We could all stop flying and emissions might go down slightly, but not enough. What is needed is for governments and big companies to make the huge-scale changes - switching entire national electricity grids to renewables, phasing out coal burning power stations and petrol cars within the next five years, incentivising manufacturers and households to electrify so they don't need to use gas. Taxing the living shit out of companies that run high-emitting operations.

The bad news is that the scale of change required is vast. The good news is that it has already started.

People just don't want to give things up. Foreign holidays, theme parks, swimming pools, gyms, mobile phones, tablets, supermarkets, cars, flying, downsizing houses, new clothes, make up, perfume, new shoes, meat, dairy products.

All of it is unnecessary but who cares, you have your new nikes and you can upload the picture to instragram where very one can tell you how amazing you are.

The amount of energy wasted for Internet servers is alarming. But its OK. Because we can chat about it on Mumsnet.

Big business don't want to give things up either.

So nothing will change

People are already moving being displaced by drought and flooding, especially in subsaharan Africa.

Humans are, for the most part, selfish, shortsighted and unwilling to give up things for the benefit of future generations.

We should have stayed as hunter gatherers. The agricultural revolution ruined humans. Idiots!