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

This topic is one I really struggle with. It's so hard to be environmentally friendly in a consumerist society. I would accept worldwide Draconian measures to completely put a stop to climate change, but everyone needs to be on board. There's no point me stopping going on our one holiday a year and stopping buying new clothes if big corporations are producing tons of waste and pollution and if Bill next door is going on 5 abroad business trips a month.
I don't believe in buying loads of new gifts at Christmas but when your kid's friends receive loads you feel guilty if you don't. The pressure to buy gifts for others is extreme. I saw a thread recently about buying second hand for childrens presents and many said they wouldn't do that for someone else's child. how do you get round that attitude?
At Halloween everyone dresses up, kids want outfits, I don't have time to make my own. There needs to be a HUGE push in this country and others to make EVERYONE more environmentally friendly but it's not an easy thing to do at all.
You can't stop someone using their car if the public transport is shit for example.

Yes, I care very much - I work in it. I do things that I hope make a difference (no meat or fish and very limited dairy, I don't drive, I don't have kids, I fly longhaul extremely rarely). That said, I'm also becoming increasingly nihilistic about all of it because it feels as though people aren't prepared to make the changes necessary for their own children, so a part of me is like, why am I bothering? I'll continue to do it, but we can't just keep expanding as a species and expecting the world to cope. If everyone who had kids was pioneering the changes we need (both on an individual and a company level) then I might feel more optimistic about it.

Nope! I do things that don't have a big impact, e.g. I recycle, I'm eating less meat at home, I don't really buy many new clothes as I hate shopping, I get the tram when I go into the office. But I think life is for living, not miserably sitting in a cold house eating lentils, so I'll still fly aboard for holidays a few times a year, heat my house, eat nice steak when I go out, eat avocados, keep my horses and cat, have a horsebox and petrol car. I'll be dead before climate change has any meaningful impact on the UK middle class and I don't have kids so I may as well enjoy my life!

@PlanDeRaccordement

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.

The soybean industry is responsible for a lot of deforestation amongst other things so unfortunately it is not a sustainable alternative! www.worldwildlife.org/industries/soy

Agree that draconian measures would be the only way to really make a difference. Eg, ban marketing. We're constantly bombarded with adverts to make us think life would be better if we buy this new thing, buy the latest phone every year, etc. But stopping the culture of buying new stuff would them have other implications on jobs, economy, etc.
Ban marketing but also legislate against built-in obsolescence. We basically need a whole new economic system that’s built around repair rather than production.

No, I've given up.

Won't buy a car, won't have kids, won't travel by air, 50% of my meals are vegan. But so long as we have a democracy, people will just keep on voting for whoever promises to make the least possible genuine change until the resource wars and social collapse force us into fascism. Then people will either be victims or complicit until the end. Pointless. Live hard, live wild, let it all burn.

Also, any government proposing the kind of mandatory measures that are actually needed to avoid a catastrophe would never get voted in. So...

To an extent, I see some of it as basic evolution. The planet is changing as it has done for billions of years.

I do what I can, in that I turn the lights off when not in use, I've used the same bags for life for my weekly shop that I've used for about ten years, I work from home (so no commute) and walk my only child to school, I recycle as much as possible (although councils need to do more to make sure that everything is actually being recycled)

We rarely go on holiday abroad - the last time was Disneyland Paris via the train - I've been on one flight in 7 years, so the argument of we need to stop taking unnecessary flights is basically a mute point for us.

But so much of it is pure privilege to say that the only thing they are worried about is climate change. So many of the changes that need to be done are completely out of reach to so many people - electric cars, solar panels, heat pumps, insulation etc. Even last week, I took a trip sightseeing to London over half term. I wanted to get the train, but the price was so ridiculous, it was cheaper to drive down and stay in a premier inn and have two days in the city than pay for peak return tickets for me and my 6yo

If you're relying on food banks and you don't know if you have a spare 50p to put into the meter for heating then yes, that is much more of a pressing concern.

And as long as big countries like China, Russia, Australia continue to be inefficient, no real change will take place.

No. The planet changes. Species die out. It’s been happening for literally billions of years.

The difference is previous changes were due to natural events. This is driven by the actions of people having a permanent impact on the world we live in.

I care about pollution.
I care about how we're affecting biodiversity both locally and globally. I care about our ever expanding habitat grabs.

I care about waste and recycling though most of it is grandstanding when you look below the surface.

I care massively about the precarious energy supply situation in this country.

I care that Bozo seems to be making policy decisions in his bedroom and as yet is getting a free pass on it.

I've been toying with massively reducing meat consumption for some time but the never ending bleating by those preaching about changing 'to save the planet' and such like has actually made me considerably more resistant to such a change.

I care that a number of inappropriate technologies have been pushed in the UK that have enabled very rich people to get richer and helped people like me on the way to become rich at Joe Public's expense.

I'm rich enough that I'd be one of the last people hit by the idiotic taxation on energy that will be coming our way if we carry on foolishly following the current 'green' mantra, many of you will be in for an awful shock when the bills start landing on your door regardless of whatever 'green' follies you've undertaken yourselves.

I care about the inaccurate catastrophising of climate 'change' and how it's being lapped up with a quasi religious fervour by the ignorant and scared. The effects it's having on people. worry me. It's now almost impossible to have a rational discussion with most people. I'm curious as to how some of these people will reconcile their perceptions today with the realities of 20 years time.

I'm aware someone will pipe up in a minute along the lines of "hundreds of millions will be dead in 20 years" ( they will of course, but not in the way the spouters mean).

The end is not nigh.

I have been vegan and zero waste for a few years.
The last couple of months I’ve given up. I’m making my life harder and more expensive to try and do my bit when big businesses just don’t care. It seems utterly pointless.

I don't eat meat. I eat lentils instead because I am Asian
I don't have a car
I have only 2 children
I don't eat processed or imported food
The last time I bought an item of clothing was in March and not because I am broke.

Not sure what more I can do. Trying to cut down on Amazon delivery but without a car it is hard.

We basically need a whole new economic system that’s built around repair rather than production.

This.

I should also add that the last two elections I have actually voted for the green party but because I live in a Tory stronghold, it's more of a 'protest' vote so I have the right to bitch and moan about the shittyness of this government.

Loads of people in this country live a climate-friendly lifestyle already.

The poor.

What do you mean by major or significant changes? I am not following you. I
-Recycle and compost everything
-Cook from scratch so no convenience meals or packages of say prechopped vegetables
-Grow fresh herbs because the CO2 footprint for glass jars of dried herbs is ridiculous.
-Buy eco-friendly everything from cleaning products to toiletries
-Never buy beauty products and never go to beauty/nail salons
-Do not own a car or drive, but use public transport or ride shares
-Never buy new clothes or furniture (though I do buy new underwear) and even then only buy natural fabrics no microplastic producing fleeces or polyester fabrics or fake leather/fur.
-Rarely fly. Average once every 5yrs last time was my fathers funeral and the time before was my brothers wedding.
-Pioneered green value engineering during my professional life which has improved my industry
-Use green energy to heat and power my home
-Practice water conservation..ie no “power shower”, turn off water while brushing teeth, have a rain barrel to water my herb garden, etc
-All my investments are in green and socially conscious funds
-Eat locally sourced food as much as possible. Meat is 3oz portion, once a week and never red meat.
-Don’t have much “stuff” as am quite minimalist. Most of what I own, is either inherited or bought second hand.
-Use my tech until it dies, my phone is 8yrs old and still ticking. Then I recycle at recycling depot
-Use only A+ rated energy efficient appliances
-Never use pesticides in my garden or weed killer on my gravel drive, so it is bee/wildlife friendly and have modified gate and native plants to also be wildlife friendly.

All these I consider to be minor changes as I still live a fully modern, privileged lifestyle.

I am happy to make changes - but everyone else (at least here in the UK) must do so too (otherwise it would feel futile and I would be resentful), so those major changes would have to be legislated for so that everyone is in the same boat

I do care, but I'm not going to stop driving my children to school while all the world's billionaires are racing to see who can fire the worlds biggest penis extension into space.

I absolutely care but think we need to look at technological solutions first of all as it will be really difficult to get enough people to change. Also, if you look at a lot of the delegates at COP26 their carbon footprints are huge (Prince Charles, Leo de Caprio, Boris Johnson etc..) and the number of private jets arriving in Scotland was astronomical which makes the whole thing look very hypocritical. In a western liberal democracy, it needs to be more difficult to make bad environmental decisions e.g tax short haul flights so that people think twice about travelling for a weekend, tax the business that use plastic cups/take away items etc.. Overall we , as humans, are destroying the planet and if we do not change then really it would be a good thing if we die out and the earth can recover.

@Plantstrees
Yes, there are issues with soybean industry but using plant based compostable resin is still far more earth friendly than using plastic based resin made from petroleum.

I already changed my lifestyle and carbon footprint years ago so yes I care deeply about it and have been for a long time. Also it gets tiring to hear idiots dismiss it.

Radical changes for me would giving up my job, I work on aeroplanes.

I always say look at what people DO not what they SAY ... People clearly don't give much of a shit otherwise we wouldn't be on COP number 26 or whatever it is.

Apart from the billionaires, I have no time for the Queen lecturing me on climate change.

I am 45 and have seen in my lifetime some quite significant changes in climate patterns and events. It sometimes seems that 'once in a hundred year' events are happening every year now. Of course I care, and because I care I do everything that I can.

I'm a life-long dairy non-consumer and we've drastically cut our meat consumption; my last attempt at quantifying it is that we eat about 100g - under a quarter of a pound - of beef each every month. We need two cars, but try to concentrate the bulk of our motoring in the smaller, lighter one which emits 90g of CO2/km (for reference a Nissan Leaf's battery production accounts for about 85g/km before you've charged it up and driven anywhere, or disposed of the battery). We warm the house to a temperature we can tolerate, but which is still below where we'd rather have it. We wash at 30 degrees, and only use the (heat pump) tumble dryer when we absolutely have to. I haven't bought a new item of clothing in over five years. We fly to visit my elderly father less often than I would like.

I'm conscious that there's more that we could do. I'm not going to replace the washing machine with one that can wash at 20 degrees until the current one expires beyond hope. I'm not going to replace the larger, heavier car until it too expires (which, at 16 years old, I hope is still a couple of years away) because I'd rather put off the carbon involved in manufacturing new staff until I have to.

And while I bask in the warmth of the sunshine coming out of Greta Thunberg's arse, I'd be lying if I said that I particularly enjoyed doing it, or that these weren't all driven primarily by cost saving rather than the environmental impact itself.

That's why it bugs me that here in Manchester it's cheaper to drive almost anywhere than it is to take our hideously expensive buses, or that the last time I went to Edinburgh it cost twice as much to take the train as it did to fly. Or that the traffic controls in Ashton-under-Lyne deliberately bring cars to a complete halt four times (road junction, tram crossing, cycle crossing, pedestrian crossing) in under 100 metres even at 3am when there is not another soul around. So you lose momentum and sit there stationary, spewing exhaust out, before burning more fuel than necessary to move to the next light. All unnecessarily.

Andy Burnham is aware of these perverse incentives, but appears powerless to actually do anything about it.

I'd love to be in the position of automatically choosing the greenest option without thinking about it, but we're barely covering our bills as it is. Any greening of our lives that makes us poorer or colder is going to be difficult to justify unless there is literally no other choice or our financial circumstances change enormously.