Do you care about climate change?

[julieca]

Not just in an abstract way. But would you be prepared to accept radical changes to your lifestyle to reduce climate change?
Or do you think continuing to live your life the way you want is more important?

YABU - No I don't and I want to continue living life as I want
YANBU - Yes I do and would accept major changes to my life

Yes. Some of my key decisions are made with climate change in mind, eg I’ve been vegetarian my entire adult life, I try to eat local, I don’t own a car, I have one child by choice. I’m a fanatic recycler. We’re renovating an old house to be very energy efficient.

YANBU. Climate change is the biggest issue facing our world at the moment. It completely dwarfs Covid.
People accepted lifestyle changes due to Covid, so we all need to accept major lifestyle changes to stop climate change in its tracks.
It's scary and depressing that so many people in the world don't appear to understand how serious it is.
I'm still clinging to hope though. More and more people are becoming vegans and giving up their cars etc. I believe there's still some hope, and I haven't given up yet...

Yes. I'm a right pain when it comes to the 3 R's.
I've also started taking my own little tea towel to work to wipe my mug and spoon up and not waste paper towels. And I start at 9:30 so I can walk in.

No, don't care. Will obviously have to take whatever mandatory things come into force, but up until that point I'll just continue how I currently do.

What changes do you mean?

@DrSbaitso lots of things are proposed. Changes to heating systems, much less flying, much less consumption, less driving, etc.

I care very much

But since the Tories prioritise business there's no way they will do anything about the multiple pointless flights people take

I've got better things to worry about.

No

Yes. Obviously as an individual, some choices I make undermine others.

I look at my household where I have stopped buying fizzy drinks and use home made skin and hair care because of the bottles, drive an electric car bought when the previous one was written off, very rarely fly etc... and my sone does 3D printing which requires resin in 1L bottles, alcohol, and loads of plastic waste and I fret.

It needs government level change and science to sort out, more than individual changes.

That said, the little bits I do send a message about its importance to me. If only the Green Party had a decent, serious climate change focussed agenda I could vote for them on. I mean, I vote for them but they haven't a snowball's chance of getting in. And wouldn't be competent if they did.

And it has to be made financially viable for people. I have the luxury of choice. Many people don't.

It's the 'new products' that annoy me. Absolutely unnecessary for the most part. 50 billion brands of shampoo, and half used bottles binned or languishing on a shelf.

Yes, to a point. We've a hybrid car and have switched to almost fully vegetarian meals. But unless someone wants to build a new trainline nearer to my work or pay my mortgage I will have to continue to drive, for example.

I can’t vote as while I do care about climate change and the environment, I don’t view the lifestyle changes I have made as “major”. They are relatively minor imho. Usually when activists talk about “major” lifestyle changes they seem to be implying a regressive, low tech, sort of romanticised primitive lifestyle.

I care deeply about it.

And I think at the moment more sustainable options are generally more expensive because demand is lower. However I also feel that thise who can afford to pay a bit more for sustainable options should, to increase demand and therefore lower prices for those on lower incomes. Then the sustainable option becomes the only option.

Secondly - move pensions or ISAs into funds which have divested from fossil fuels. A fund which invests in resource extraction is now a rationally bad investment - for proper fundamental reasons - get out of oil and gas or watch your pension fund halve in value.

To a point. I care about it in that it’s causing significant damage to the planet and to future generations. However, I am getting absolutely sick of all the posturing and tinkering around the edges under the guise of saving the planet - random 20 mph zones, people glueing themselves to roads and Harry Windsor flying in his private jet to speak at yet another global enviro summit is turning me off the whole issue - and I now find myself switching off the TV whenever Greta appears as some sort of Messiah figure and not recycling my jam jars in protest at XR’s latest nonsense.

So I’d be happy to see global changes - but until China and the rest come on board all the recycling in the world isn’t going to stem the tide.

I care. And i'm really trying to do my bit but it's actually really hard e.g. I worked out buying plastic free/no waste/ items only with recyclable packaging cost me €60 more than my shop would have otherwise last week...there are a lot of people who can't afford that extra expense. The bus for my kids school doesn't drop off/ pick up anywhere near my house so car journeys are necessary, I've looked at heat pumps to replace our boiler system but both the initial and then running costs are way higher than what we pay now..there are lots of things our government (I live in Ireland) need to sort to make living in a sustainable way actually achievable for all.
In the interim I carry on with my shampoo bars and recycling and trying limit consumption and I guess if we all did it might make a difference but it does feel like this tiny action against a tsunami at times.

OP, I posted YABU because the questions are loaded. I care about climate change but a radical change to my lifestyle will have almost no impact. The UK is doing comparatively well on its per capita output compared to the rest of the world. Radical action needs to be taken in relation to countries like China, India, the US and Australia that are hugely reliant ok coal and refusing to give it up within the timescales needed. That is why COP 26 is so important- international action must be taken. But even this international pressure is probably not enough to change the practices of major polluters.

I care massively.

I also think only draconian legislation will stop people mindlessly, endlessly consuming – thread after thread on here with shopping as a hobby and buying “bits” in cheap shops – and we need sweeping legislation akin to rationing.

I also think the poor will get absolutely screwed because all the major changes to cut emissions such as electric vehicles or changing heating systems currently have a huge price barrier.

A lot of it depends on cost. I already do a lot of things like not eating meat, cycling to work, not flying, drying washing outside, rarely buying new clothes, etc but this is easy because we can't afford to do otherwise.

Changing heating systems, adding solar panels, etc would probably be prohibitively expensive.

As others have mentioned it's the really rich who should be doing much more - starting with reducing pointless flights.

Well I am poor so I can't really answer as I'm not living the life I want. But since I can't ever afford new clothes, travel, buying shit for the sake of it, having the heating on, wasting food etc.. I feel I'm doing my part already simply by virtue of having no money to spend on anything other than essentials. Almost everything I own is second hand.
It's people with money to throw around that are the problem, just look at all the emissions caused by private jets, fleets of suv's etc at COP26 which I saw with my own eyes when the police motorcyclists accompanying bidens fleet nearly took me on the road .

I'm afraid electric cars, organic locally produced food, fancy new heating systems etc are all unaffordable to me and many others. I think I'll leave the rich to sort this shit out, I'm too busy worrying how the fuck I'm going to afford food next week.

I think international conferences (not governmental but private sector stuff) should be knocked on the head where possible, and replaced with video links. DH used to have to fly to LA for meetings every 6-8 weeks about 7 years ago and it got a bit ridiculous.

The cost thing is absolutely right. We bought a mild hybrid last month as I mentioned and it was around £12k nearly new. We looked at proper hybrids and fully electric - minimum cost would have been £23k.

I do care but before making major changes need to be convinced that the changes are as good as they seem. In ye olde dayes Nuclear power was going to provide vast quantities of cheap electricity, then we found the downside. I suspect we've yet to find the downside of many of the new technologies waiting to bite us on he bum.

sone does 3D printing which requires resin in 1L bottles, alcohol, and loads of plastic waste and I fret.

My friend runs a 3D resin printing business and he uses environmentally friendly plant based resin made from soybean oil. It has no BPA, no benzene, no VOCs, and is fully compostable. It is called ANYCUBIC Plant-based 3D Printing Resin.

There’s no “plastic” in his products.

No. The planet changes. Species die out. It’s been happening for literally billions of years. I don’t see the end of humanity as being some great tragedy. And on a personal level, bluntly, I’ve chosen to be child free and I don’t feel like I owe anything to “future generations” / the children of people who haven’t.

Yes. I drive a hybrid, which cuts my petrol consumption by 1/3. I live near the town centre so I can walk to the shops so that helps a lot. I only have one child and no pets. I am not a fanatical recycler but would be if it were made easier - and that is something that is in the gift of the government. For example, make local councils increase tip opening times and provide a lot more bins for different things. And also say anyone can use any tip rather than the current protectionist nonsense where you can only use the tips in your own county even if the ones over the border are nearer.