To think fcuk all is being done to combat climate change

[getdown2021]

Most people don't seem to care and I rarely hear of it anymore despite being told months ago of the dire warnings. Aibu to think no action is being taken either by governments or by the average person?

I do care. But I don't have a car, don't eat and have never eaten meat, buy very little and wfh as does DH. I feel like there is not much more I can do. And I think corporates should be doing more.

Electric cars don't help it just moves the source of the pollution
No doubt politicians have a few shares in companies making them same as with the wind farms we are forced to pay for and subsidise

Who wants all electric when we've just seen what has happened to fuel prices

I try to be conscious of my carbon footprint but ...

Have you flown over the North Sea recently? If you had, you would know that it is being carpeted with thousands of enormous wind turbines. Britain is building the world’s largest offshore wind farm at Dogger Bank.

doggerbank.com/

Why on why didn't the dinosaurs do something about climate change?

They could still be here and the land mass and they would still be able to walk from England to Africa.

But no, not them. They carried on driving and using coal and now they're gone.

Serves them right!

Loads is being done. But it all takes time.

All the climate change protests demanding change "now" and that "scientists should be fixing it" are unrealistic. Who do you think these scientists are? They're just normal people and can't magic up solutions that don't exist for technologies that are not viable

[quote PlanetNormal]Have you flown over the North Sea recently? If you had, you would know that it is being carpeted with thousands of enormous wind turbines. Britain is building the world’s largest offshore wind farm at Dogger Bank.

doggerbank.com/[/quote]
This. Things are being done by the major corporations but it takes time. It takes years. Whole infrastructure needs to be changed and to do that takes a lot of time. Change is not immediate.

[quote PlanetNormal]Have you flown over the North Sea recently? If you had, you would know that it is being carpeted with thousands of enormous wind turbines. Britain is building the world’s largest offshore wind farm at Dogger Bank.

doggerbank.com/[/quote]
Thank you for posting that link. I had no idea!

We're not on this planet for a long time - less than many of us might expect, given the lowering of life expectancy

life expectancy has gone up all over the world and continues to climb

OP, is your question directed towards China and the US, together producing nearly 1/3 of carbon emissions. If not, then it should be. UK population using bamboo toothbrushes will not change anything.

I'm more concerned by Russia, cost of living crisis & the ageing population issue.

@Aniita

Loads is being done. But it all takes time.

All the climate change protests demanding change "now" and that "scientists should be fixing it" are unrealistic. Who do you think these scientists are? They're just normal people and can't magic up solutions that don't exist for technologies that are not viable

Good point. Climate change protesters are useless virtue signallers who drive diesel cars and can’t be bothered to insulate their own homes. Real people with real talents and ideas are getting on with the job rather than telling everyone else how virtuous they are.

@Impier

Total carbon and per capita carbon emissions for this country have been falling for decades because people quietly make changes in their home and work lives, and will continue to do so.

I agree. Just look at the industrial towns of the mid 20th Century. Mills and factories pumping out a fog of coal fumes/smoke. Likewise thousands of steam locomotives carrying goods and people around the country, again, pumping out coal fumes/smoke. Then moving into the latter part of 20th Century and we replaced coal power with "dirty" diesel. We've made massive strides in the last 20/30 years towards replacing diesel with electric, and even improving car/truck engines running on petrol/diesel to be a lot more energy efficient and cleaner. We HAVE made improvements over the decades. Trouble is, we have population growth, so more people means more pollution. Not to mention so many other countries who've not done anywhere near as much as we have. Of course, there's a lot more we can do, but it has to be across the globe and has to be done slowly and carefully to avoid the "unforeseen consequences" being too harmful, i.e. like we have now with higher fuel costs, partly due to being cleaner - if costs go up too much, that alone will cause more harm/damage to the current population than climate change.

I think the reality is that it is very hard to effect meaningful change as an individual.

I think a lot of people are taking actions that feel significant to them but don't actually help, like starting threads on mn to have a go at others.

The reality is that unless there is large scale change then nothing I can do as an individual will make a difference. I don't feel guilty for the things I do really - I buy plastic toys for the dc, we buy food out of season, I drive to work. I think the feelings I have - to want to give my dc a good life and the same opportunities as their peers - are pretty normal, human feelings. I also won't deny that I could do more.

I can't foresee a situation where people will agree to their families having a significantly poorer quality of life, really. And I can't blame them.

@MorningStarling

The pandemic made people realise that a virus could take over the world at any moment. One that might be a lot worse than Covid, one that can't be vaccinated against.

The Russian invasion of Ukraine has made people realise just how fragile our lives are. If Putin decides to press the nuclear button, and his military obey his commands, billions of us could be killed in a matter of minutes. Life as any of us know it could end.

People have a finite capacity for worry. In recent years they've filled this with concern about the climate, equal rights and so on. But in the last couple of years this capacity has been filled with much more important matters.

There's no point worrying about what the world will be like in fifty or a hundred years. Most of us will be dead by then. If you're concerned, don't have children and then you won't have to worry about a future with climate change.

We're not on this planet for a long time - less than many of us might expect, given the lowering of life expectancy and risk of nuclear destruction at any moment - so we may as well just enjoy what time we've got left, as individuals and as a species.

Put another way, to me it seems more sensible that people in a hundred years will be cursing us for not stopping climate change than it does for us to fret about a future that might not even happen.

Such a strange view. Most of us can understand more than one area of concern. And most of us would like to leave a hospitable planet for future generations. We're not all selfish idiots.

YABU
Many actions have been and are being taken. The problem is whether it will be enough and in time.

life expectancy has gone up all over the world and continues to climb

not in the UK

@amylou8

I'm afraid climate change doesn't even appear on my worry radar. We're on the brink of WW3 with a maniac who has the world's largest nuclear arsenal, a tank of diesel costs more than my car is worth, and the world has gone nuts over a virus. I don't really have capacity for a annoying Swedish teenager and some nutters blocking the M25.

I don't have the words for this viewpoint. Had you never heard of climate change before Greta Thunberg?

not in the UK

yes it has.

It takes big businesses and governments around the world to make changes that are impactful.
None of us really wanted to buy plastic straws but we did as that was what was available. Now we don’t have plastic straws, we’re happily using paper ones, if any at all.

YANBU. People either don’t give a toss or half heartedly care. Whether or not that matters is another question. I’m rapidly coming to the conclusion that the planet would be better without the human race on it.

Is that he same Greta Thunberg who sailed across the Atlantic on a yacht made of carbon fibre=a material with a footprint 14 times higher than steel.

Is that the Greta Thunberg whose publicity sail meant that the five people bringing the boat back had to first fly over to the states?

Is that the Greta Thunberg, from an immensely privileged background who banged on about her life being ruined when black babies have their lives ruined from day one because of white privilege like hers?

Is that the Greta Thunberg who takes it upon herself to put her uneducated and hysterical opinions up against world scientists?

What a load of old shite!

While I am not saying that we should all stop doing our bit, I think individual action is irrelevant, given companies are changing so very slowly. 100 fossil fuel companies are responsible for 71% of global emissions. www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/2017/jul/10/100-fossil-fuel-companies-investors-responsible-71-global-emissions-cdp-study-climate-change.
These threads always end in blaming poor women in India or African countries for having too many children. The fact is that the carbon footprint of a 100 African children would be less than Elon Musk's.

The best individuals can do is ignore the climate doom mongers an

@hungryandhormonal

Even Cop26 was a complete farce. Flying people in from all over the world in private jets, massive vehicle convoys to transport the VIPs and their entourages. All the press about them having acquired electric cars for the top guests to use...only for the actual truth of it to be that the location they were staying (Gleneagles) had limited electric charging points so they had to being in diesel generators to charge the electric cars!!

Cop26 could have been a zoom meeting.

Apparently the red arrows gave them a special display at the end! I find that hilarious (In a depressing sort of way)!