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

If you feel you can't or know you won't do anything at least throw your vote to someone who will....that's the most impactful thing most can do and it's quite straight forward IMO.

People vote for the issues that are important to them though. I wouldn't 'throw' my vote to a party whose general politics are completely out of line with mine. If climate change was one of their things alongside the issues that matter to me. Great. But climate change wouldn't be the reason I would be voting for them.

Although I do my bit I tend to feel it's just too late, I think COP26 is just theatre with no real intention of changing much. I sometimes even think the planet might be better off without humans on it.

@Ghoulette

Tabby. I care very much about it and wish those 100 companies that contribute 70% of all pollution would do something about it.

Most of those 100 companies being oil giants, the least we can do is stop funding them by filling our cars.

EggAndHasBeans

Although I do my bit I tend to feel it's just too late, I think COP26 is just theatre with no real intention of changing much. I sometimes even think the planet might be better off without humans on it.

The planet would be better off without us for sure but I feel it would be daft to just allow us to die off when we are so evolved already. What else can humankind achieve?

There is no such thing as ‘too late’. It’s about degrees. Literally. The hotter things get, the worse things will get - more uninhabitable land, less food, more instability etc. Therefore it makes sense to the most we can, as soon as we can, to limit the warming as much as we can.

I think we need to trust the worlds scientists here who have been trying to tell us about this for decades.

Yes. I'm already making changes - only driving long or very necessary journeys, using public transport more, giving up meat and less dairy, buying second hand as much as possible but I have no idea if it's making any difference and feel I need more direction and the structures around me need to change, eg, I try and cycle more but cycle lanes are non existent here.

I care passionately about it. But I've long since given up expecting the powers that be to do anything and I just make sure I live my life by my own moral code, which in short involves as little consumption as possible across the board.
The world is now run by corporate interests so even if govts weren't in hock to them, not sure they could really do anything.
The planet will of course survive quite happily long after we've killed ourselves off.

My view is that I'll be long dead by the time climate change causes serious problems so why bother worrying about it. Worrying about the future doesn't help. Sure if people want to change their behaviour that's fine, but leave me alone and stop telling me how to think.

So much energy gets wasted by protestors. If they spent the same amount of time and resources as they do shouting "blah blah blah" on furthering their scientific education then perhaps someone will come up with a workable and practical solution to the crisis that won't infringe on our everyday lives.

Shouting, blocking roads and generally being a cunt doesn't do anything that convince people that actually, climate change doesn't sound as bad as living in a fascist state where you're only allowed to think in the "acceptable" way and people will change your mind by force if you don't.

Anyway, why do we humans think we are so special? No other species on the planet gives a shit about climate change, they just use whatever resources they need to survive. Sometimes their activity causes damage to the world around them - beavers and badgers spring to mind - but they just adapt or die.

Humans shouldn't try to behave unnaturally, it is a sure-fire way for things to go wrong. We need to adapt to climate change rather than fight it - by not living in the areas that will be most affected (e.g. by rising sea levels) or by combating the problems it might cause (better sea defences, efficient and cheap air-conditioning). The number one thing we need to do is to address the over-population of the world, we need to get rid of at least five billion people and we need to do it fast. It would be much better to have two billion people living well than seven billion struggling.

No. It's all very one-sided anyway. The rich and powerful can continue to do whatever they like but the plebs are expected to have radical changes forced upon them in the name of climate change. It's all a massive money making scheme to make the rich richer and impose more controls on ordinary folk.

The day Bill Gates and the Royals give up everything they own, start eating insects and walk everywhere is the day I will take it all seriously. Practice what you preach.

@Barbarababa

There is a lot of climate anxiety among young people in the UK.

Well perhaps they should look at themselves:-

Buying cheap disposable clothing from Primark.
Replacing their phones every 2 years.
Trainers (as per latest controversies).
Cheap bling and tat.
Drink and drugs.

Not to mention their complete disregard for their environment - just look at the aftermath of a Friday night in any city or any festival, with all the plastic abandoned, broken glass, litter everywhere, etc.

Fucking hell. If this thread is representive we are literally doomed.

Nearly half say they dont care. 😱🤯😱🤯😱

@HarrietsChariot

My view is that I'll be long dead by the time climate change causes serious problems so why bother worrying about it. Worrying about the future doesn't help. Sure if people want to change their behaviour that's fine, but leave me alone and stop telling me how to think.

So much energy gets wasted by protestors. If they spent the same amount of time and resources as they do shouting "blah blah blah" on furthering their scientific education then perhaps someone will come up with a workable and practical solution to the crisis that won't infringe on our everyday lives.

Shouting, blocking roads and generally being a cunt doesn't do anything that convince people that actually, climate change doesn't sound as bad as living in a fascist state where you're only allowed to think in the "acceptable" way and people will change your mind by force if you don't.

Anyway, why do we humans think we are so special? No other species on the planet gives a shit about climate change, they just use whatever resources they need to survive. Sometimes their activity causes damage to the world around them - beavers and badgers spring to mind - but they just adapt or die.

Humans shouldn't try to behave unnaturally, it is a sure-fire way for things to go wrong. We need to adapt to climate change rather than fight it - by not living in the areas that will be most affected (e.g. by rising sea levels) or by combating the problems it might cause (better sea defences, efficient and cheap air-conditioning). The number one thing we need to do is to address the over-population of the world, we need to get rid of at least five billion people and we need to do it fast. It would be much better to have two billion people living well than seven billion struggling.

We could have let covid have it's way - by your logic.

@GADDay

Fucking hell. If this thread is representive we are literally doomed.

Nearly half say they dont care. 😱🤯😱🤯😱

On a parenting website, to boot. I know not everyone here has kids (I'm one of them), but I struggle to motivate myself to give a toss when people who have kids that will be directly affected by this, don't.

(I do care, by the way, and I do what I can. But I do wonder why I care more than parents do?!)

Rather than waiting for China to change, let’s stop buying shit that’s made there

Are you going to make a start on that yourself and lead by example?

There's a good chance the phone or laptop on which you wrote that post was made in China. You will almost certainly have many items made in China in the room in which you typed it. It is pretty much impossible not to buy 'shit' made in China but by all means give it a go.

Yes people with kids should in theory have more of a stake in the future. But most of the ardent environmentalists I know don't have kids.

@IcedPurple

Rather than waiting for China to change, let’s stop buying shit that’s made there

Are you going to make a start on that yourself and lead by example?

There's a good chance the phone or laptop on which you wrote that post was made in China. You will almost certainly have many items made in China in the room in which you typed it. It is pretty much impossible not to buy 'shit' made in China but by all means give it a go.

Yes, indeed, most things are made in China and often you don't have a choice. But that doesn't stop people choosing other options when they DO have a choice. We can't turn the tide immediately, but if the big firms see that their customers are more interested in country of manufacture, then, drip by drip, things WILL change. After all, it's only a few decades ago that virtually nothing we bought in the UK was made in China. If we start with gradual change, it's possible that in another few decades, a lot of things will be made in the UK (or at least closer).

@HarrietsChariot Bloody hell we need to get rid of five billion people fast! Would you volunteer to be one of them?

I was expecting that arguments in favour of eugenics would pop up. I very much doubt that it will be British people.

But that doesn't stop people choosing other options when they DO have a choice.

No it doesn't.

But realistically, the number of people who will go to the trouble of checking the origin of every item that they buy, and then choose something else which may be more expensive and not quite what they want simply because it was not made in China, is tiny.

If we start with gradual change, it's possible that in another few decades, a lot of things will be made in the UK (or at least closer).

The only way that will happen is if wages in GB or elsewhere in Europe fall to the point that they are comparable with those in Asia. Whatever they might tell pollsters, the vast majority of people will put ethics and concerns over climate chnage aside when it comes to getting something cheaper.

I do what I can, but am always interested in ways to be "greener". I've switched as many disposable items as possible to ones that can either be reused, or recycled. I've found that soap and shampoo/conditioner bars last longer than shower gel and their bottled counterparts, so it's saved some money too, which is a nice bonus. We've so been buying as much as we can, especially food, from local shops/businesses.

@MareofBeasttown no they mean black and brown people in poor countries should die so they can have a better life.

[quote julieca]@HarrietsChariot Bloody hell we need to get rid of five billion people fast! Would you volunteer to be one of them?[/quote]
I realise I'm probably an exception but if there was a painless way to do this, then absolutely - sign me up. The way society is set up brings me little joy, I'm fed up of the grind, and I don't think I'd be missed beyond a couple of people. The idea of having to do this for another 40 years is just...

If the protestors were protesting in China or even outside the Chinese embassy, or India, or Saudia Arabia I would take them seriously. But no. They expect the west to sort it out, the white people to fix it. Is that not racist?

@IsleofRum

If the protestors were protesting in China or even outside the Chinese embassy, or India, or Saudia Arabia I would take them seriously. But no. They expect the west to sort it out, the white people to fix it. Is that not racist?

I give up. The ethno-fascism on this thread is just beyond....

Did you forget to mention the USA in that list of yours? The biggest global polluter of all time.

I have to laugh really loud at "white people expected to fix the problem". Do a bit of reading on climate change. You are embarassing yourself.

And of course I meant eco-fascism. Not ethno-fascism.