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?

@StoneofDestiny

Panic achieves nothing

Unfortunately not panicking isn't achieving much either

Individuals trying to offset their carbon footprint is all well and good but it’s tinkering around the edges. A report in 2017 found just 100 companies were responsible for 71% of global emissions. Unless corporations fundamentally change the way they operate we’re fucked. Us not rinsing our dishes at dinner time isn’t going to do shit without radical change from powerful corporations. That means lobbying and pressuring for change.

Also… anyone old enough to remember when climate scientists were predicting another ice-age was coming?

What if the overdue explosion of a mega-volcano caches up with us? That’ll cool things down for a bit.

And if there’s a more deadly pandemic and two thirds of the world’s population dies it would be horrendous, but you could probably stop worrying about carbon dioxide and the gulf stream slowing.

As StoneofDestiny said so succinctly, panic achieves nothing.

COP26 in November should reeeeaaally come up with some plans and restrictions globally.

A wider question would be why the MN climate change board is hidden away.

Science is telling us loud and clear that the current level of pollution/warming/population is unsustainable. Humanity, in some form, will survive but in vastly reduced numbers. It's too late now to stop it.

[quote PlanDeRaccordement]@54321nought
Read this article and then tell me it’s not natural...
news.climate.columbia.edu/2014/07/11/what-geology-has-to-say-about-global-warming/[/quote]
The author of that piece also wrote this in 2017:

“The physics of global warming is as scientifically irrefutable as the mathematical properties of the number pi. The world MUST warm as the burning of fossil fuels causes atmospheric CO2 levels to rise. Warming will only cease when people take action to reduce CO2; no legislation, no executive policy and no political theory that does not lead to CO2 reductions can be effectual, for the laws of physics cannot be gainsaid. Scientists throughout the US must repeat this message in every conceivable forum: Climate change is not a hoax and those who believe it to be one need to reconsider, for inaction today endangers the next generation, both in both in America and around the world.”

www.ldeo.columbia.edu/users/menke/blogs/NotAHoax.pdf

Yeah I think it's bad, but for our mental health we need to avoid catastrophising, try to enjoy your life band look at the many things you can do to help, around reducing meat & dairy consumption / flying less / changing heating systems..if we all did these things it would help. I worry about the 'it's too late' idea, it's defeatist. There are reasons to be optimistic, there's a lot of money to be made out of renewables now, that's new...we can change. Humans are really good at solving problems when they put their minds to it!

Its outside my control so I block it out. I do little things - im particularly good at my reduce reuse recycle but I think deep down Im not prepared to make hugely significant changes like subsistence living until forced.

I agree with @emmylousings

I don't think it is too late.

We can change course, if we ALL do our bit,

Stop flying and using cars! Stop eating meat and sending plastic to landfill! Stop wasting water and energy and electricity!

You know what to do

( these are not absolutes, by the way, I don't mean stop using cars EVER - but most car journeys are unnecessary, what ever anybody claims)

It is REALLY bad.

Much worse that you think.

People aren't panicking because:

a) they don't realise

b)they can't process it

c) they don't WANT to process it

d) they feel helpless and that they can't do something about it

and

e) it won't happen to them

I have children - and much as I love them, I wish I didn't;t.

I am glad beyond belief that I don't have grandchildren, and I hope that that state continues, much as I would love to have them.

We should have done something about it 30 yers age - we we too arrogant.

We can possibly do something abut it now - but we have to act quickly to prevent the worst (we are far too late to prevent any repercussions)

This is unlikely to happen for all of the above reasons.

We have so little time. SO very little - and still, even now, our own Prime Minister is negotiating to allow further fossil fuel inroads.

@OnlyFoolsnMothers

The US has 30 times the airports of China with a quarter of the population.
The UK has nearly the same amount.
The EU has 6 times the number with less than half the population.

Humans can't control everything, even though we like to think we can.

The planet can only support a certain number of us before it struggles. We are vastly overpopulated and unfortunately that means things like fires, floods and pandemics will happen and they will kill huge numbers of us off.

It's always happened and it will continue to happen.

I feel the same and it worries me that there seems to be no chance of global consensus and joint action on this.
I don't want grandchildren.

So once Western nations have closed 3/4 of their existing airports and reduced their flights by say 200%, perhaps China will be inspired to have a rethink.

@54321nought

I agree with *@emmylousings*

I don't think it is too late.

We can change course, if we ALL do our bit,

Stop flying and using cars! Stop eating meat and sending plastic to landfill! Stop wasting water and energy and electricity!

You know what to do

( these are not absolutes, by the way, I don't mean stop using cars EVER - but most car journeys are unnecessary, what ever anybody claims)

YES!!!!

Listen to naught!!!

PUT PRESSURE ON YOUR MP - ON EVERYBODY!!!

It is our CHILDREN we have to think f.

The good news is that if things get as bad as predicted, resources will finally switch from attempting to prevent the inevitable, to mitigating the consequences.

I too think and feel that it is that bad. Really fear for future generations in particular.
I can’t wrap my head around eg reading news story about the Andes having no snow cover due to severe drought and the very next is something about some c list meaningless celebrity or new recipe for this or that (both of which I often read!).
Frightening.

Large areas of Greece, Turkey, western USA are on fire. Record rainfall events in China & Europe. Just in the last few weeks.

The permafrost is melting & this is & affecting the oceanic currents. If/when they change, the biodiversity in the sea will rapidly decline. Once we reach the tipping point for this - and we won't necessarily know when we do until after it's happened - it's unlikely to be fixable. And it could end most of the life on earth as the oceanic flora provide more than 50% of the oxygen in the atmosphere.

There are big threads like this on Reddit, MN, various social media daily now. Nothing changes. People still buy water in plastic bottles, cheap acrylic clothes made by child labour in unsafe factories in the third world. Makeup & other products with mica which is often mined by children in unsafe conditions. Eat large amounts of farmed fish, caged eggs, farmed meat where the animals are fed an artificial diet, which makes them sick & bloated, producing much more greenhouse gases than animals that eat a natural diet. Drive instead of walking, cycling or using public transport, & we're now in a situation in some countries where it appears virtually impossible for the majority of people to get to work and/or access basic services without a car. There will only be one winner in this & TBH I don't think it will be humans.

I am more worried about deforestation that global warming itself., because it will accentuate it!
In the meantime there are plants enough to fix the CO2 produced, that should balance things. But we keep destroying jungles!
Also, why the hell are we not going full steam ahead for renewable energy? Solar/ wind/ waves/ waterfalls and so on? We are still depending on burning things, combining with less trees!
All environmentally friendly options are expensive. I have still not figured out why putting a solar panel on your roof, or building a windmill can be more expensive than digging a flipping hole in the middle of the ocean, and pump highly flammable gas, liquid and gunk out?

In short, if every drove less, ate less meat, recycled more (including buying second hand not new), sell or give away items that are still useable instead of sending to land fill.

If everyone just did that bit less it would make a difference.

Walk short distances instead of jumping in the car. Have a vegan meal a couple times a week. Buy some clothes from charity shops of the like of Facebook market place, declutter and sell/give things away. Reuse bottle and tubs, don't just throw them in the recycle bin. Buy stuff from refillable shops.
Lobby with big businesses and MPs for them to change how they package stuff.
Don't have garden fires, or let fireworks off (the smoke created from both harms the environment), fly less and holiday at home more.

Humans are horrible. We've spoilt the world around us, and there’s not enough of us on the planet who care enough, so you feel kind of helpless that anything you do yourself is so minuscule as to pretty much not make any noticeable difference. We don’t deserve to survive. People won't panic until the results of what we've done affects them personally, by which time it will be too late.

This sounds a good initiative www.greennewdealuk.org/get-involved/

“ How we win

The Green New Deal is a big and ambitious government plan: we know winning it won’t be easy. But history shows that with two key ingredients, we can achieve big and ambitious things.

To win a Green New Deal we need:

People power: a large, diverse, vocal and active base of public support
Political power: a critical mass of supportive politicians.

We’re not blind to political realities: we know that winning a Green New Deal will be harder under a hostile government. But we don’t have time to wait around. By focusing on building a powerful base of support, we set the stage for the Green New Deal to be won as quickly as possible.”

I am really wondering why so many people on this thread are blaming poorer nations. Have you looked at the carbon footprint of an average Indian as compared to an average British person? Even if an Indian woman has 6 children, their carbon footprint is tiny compared to Boris's 7 or 8 children.
.
India signed the Paris agreement; it's the USA under Trump that didn't. ( Now reversed under Biden). Please stop blaming the bogeyman of the Indian woman with 15 children. They hardly exist in real life where birth rates are actually falling. Or poorer nations building much needed infrastructure. Why the hell shouldn't they?

I think the worst aspect of climate change is some poor woman in China is blamed for it , when huge global oil corporations-usually American- are spared.

Countries are already experiencing negative effects of human causing climate change