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?

I don't go out my way to read about it.
We are small fry in the UK. Using paper straws and recycling wine bottles wont do a jot when the bigger nations and industries are belching out fumes/waste. You can restrict yourself to be environmentally friendly, but you will suffer the same as the nations that are doing nothing at all. It can seem futile and pointless... but, using a paper straw meant a cute sea turtle didn't have a plastic one pulled out it's nostril for a Tick Tock video.

So what will happen..and when?

It also means stopping developing countries having what the West has enjoyed over the years, so that’s a pretty colonial attitude
The US has approx 4% of the global population and is responsible for 27% of total carbon emissions. Call it colonialist if you like but it’s simply not possible for all countries to have that standard of living. Even the US can’t afford to continue like that.

I don't think we should underestimate the cumulative impact of all of us making those small choices. Choosing the local veg scheme instead of the supermarket generates demand for a different economic system.

But that only works when the veg scheme is available and affordable at the same price as the supermarket. I can afford supermarket veg but I can’t afford the veg scheme.

In this country I think it's wetter winters and drier summers - already starting to be seen - together with sea level rise, probably on a timescale affecting our grandchildren but possibly our children depending on tipping points and whether any of them cascade

True, Amima. That's back to needing government intervention again because the cheapest should be what's best for the environment

I’m in the Pacific North West as mentioned by another user and we are having heat wave after heat wave up to 47c when an entire town was completely burned down by a spark from a train breaking, residents were given just minutes to evacuate. We’ve finally had a day of rain after 40+ days totally unheard of, and the next one is starting up in a few days.

It’s very hard to know where to start as it’s been made an individual consumer lifestyle choice and seems to be mostly swapping one thing for a slightly better one but is still more consumption just with better branding when we actually need to reduce consumption as well as have better alternatives

Let me give an example. I used to buy earbuds with plastic sticks. They were awful for the environment but I needed to clean my ears so what could I do? Then the government banned plastic sticks and the earbud manufacturers started making paper sticks instead. I happily buy the paper earbuds and use them to clean my ears. But until they were manufactured and put on the shelves I couldn’t buy them. Extrapolate that to everything that’s wrong with the world. The government and the big corporations need to make the changes in order for the rest of us to be able to adopt them.

India, China and soon Africa are going through the equivalent of the industrial revolution. We have no chance.

I actually think China has more chance of successfully implementing measures to stop climate change. It’s a Communist country, they do what they’re told otherwise they get shot. The problem is in Western countries where the government says “You can’t travel” and people go “Eeeh nah, I hafta have me two weeks in Benidorm mate”.

@Amima - no, you didn’t need to clean your ears. People have lived for thousands of years without sticking twigs into their ears. Marketing companies working for personal hygiene companies told you it was the done thing to clean your ears and you - along with all of us - believed them. Repeat for 99% of products we believe we need to make our lives happy and complete.

Who is 'we;?

Some of us knew this fourty years ago and were acting accordingly.

What are YOU doing OP?

@Susannahmoody

India, China and soon Africa are going through the equivalent of the industrial revolution. We have no chance.

Not to mention the huge population explosion in Africa.

[quote Sarahlou63]@Amima - no, you didn’t need to clean your ears. People have lived for thousands of years without sticking twigs into their ears. Marketing companies working for personal hygiene companies told you it was the done thing to clean your ears and you - along with all of us - believed them. Repeat for 99% of products we believe we need to make our lives happy and complete.[/quote]
This. Is like the countries (US?) who think vaginal douches are a thing you need to do to keep clean. Our bodily orifices are self cleaning.
That said, I do use cotton buds but for crafts, not shoving in my ears.

I campaigned on the streets to get the climate change act passed - that was satisfying.
I ran a friends of the Earth group too-that was frustrating - it was a bit like this thread.

Now I’m involved with big business (automotive and aerospace) as they decarbonise, and deal with China. It’s positive and exciting. I move them along.

I think if we had more mothers in engineering and CEO roles we’d progress faster.

Thank you slippery - have signed up!

Amima - no, you didn’t need to clean your ears
Oh god no, I can’t stand having wet ears. If I’ve had a shower I need to dry them out with a cotton bud. And I need to use deodorant and brush my teeth and a number of other things that are technically not essential for survival. If we’re going to stop doing everything non essential then we basically revert to being animals.

The best thing we can do for our survival is invest in R&D for artificial environments on Earth and on Mars. I'm with Elon on this. I disagree with him that population collapse is a bad thing.

I've been encouraging my daughters not to have children. I hope the advice will stick. I'm going through a cancer scare at the moment and Global Warming definitely makes me feel less attached to life.

I'm absolutely terrified about the latest gulf stream stuff.

I get why there's been a softly-softly approach to environmental campaigning in recent years (encourage everyone to take just one step, etc etc) but I think we are at the point where high-carbon stuff needs shaming, on a worldwide scale, the way things like drunk-driving fell out of use because they became widely socially unacceptable.

@Amima

But that only works when the veg scheme is available and affordable at the same price as the supermarket. I can afford supermarket veg but I can’t afford the veg scheme.

I'm on a very small (substantially lower than average) income, so I hear you on this - but I promise, if you can't afford the veg scheme, then you are going to get an even nastier shock when there's societal collapse and worldwide food shortages.

if you can't afford the veg scheme, then you are going to get an even nastier shock when there's societal collapse and worldwide food shortages
I’ll deal with that when it happens. Same as I don’t have a pension and I know I’m screwed when I retire, but I don’t have the money to pay into a pension for tomorrow because I have to prioritise keeping a roof over my head today. Lots of people literally live hand to mouth, they barely survive and don’t have money to invest in their future.

Also as I said, it requires widespread systemic change. I’m equally fucked if I spend my money on the veg box but other people can’t afford to so we still end up in the same situation. We all live on the same planet - if even 10% of us fail to participate we are ALL doomed.

I'm 45 and it feels like we have known about it all my life yet governments have not done enough. I just feel like individual efforts are pissing on a massive fire and governments need to take drastic actions to prevent the worst effects. But ultimately all the plutocrats in the world don't give a shit - look how much money those on the rich lists have made in the last year. There is just too much money to be made out of it by disaster capitalists.