To ask how many of these you will do to stop global warming?

[LadyinRead]

Apparently if all indivisuals do these six things, we'll be 25% of the way to stopping global warming.
Are we doomed, then? I do most of these but (3) is impossible as appliances aren't built to last that long, and (4) would probably mean never seeing my parents again.

1. Eat a largely plant-based diet, with healthy portions and no waste

2. Buy no more than three new items of clothing per year. (Unlimited second-hand clothing allowed.)

1. Keep electrical products for at least seven years

1. Take no more than one short haul flight every three years and one long haul flight every eight years

1. Get rid of personal motor vehicles

6. Make at least one life shift to nudge the system, like moving to a green energy, insulating your home or changing pension supplier

www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/mar/07/six-key-lifestyle-changes-can-help-avert-the-climate-crisis-study-finds?fbclid=IwAR2llmcsBWVwzzdF0kzuW2tVPAnUbrMUn2hatbfIsrUQ1Awi1EI5XSe1lF0

I’d imagine the majority of people responding and patting themselves on the back have children. That’s about 60 tonnes of CO2 annually right there before per child.

Unless you fly about 600,000km a year, stopping flying but having children isn’t going to make a difference.

Number one would be better if it said ‘ eat more locally produced, seasonal food.
I think flights should be rationed tbh and I can’t envisage many willingly giving them up until they are made to. Especially when we have to watch celebrities and the rich flying around the world on their private planes and telling us to give up meat to save the planet. I’m not sure we’ll properly even ‘try to save the world’ until all the resources are gone.

We are getting extra insulation and solar panels. I keep electrical items until they break generally so that's not an issue. Besides that though I'm not sure I'll achieve any of the others on that list unless I'm forced to. A car is a non-negotiable where we live, rural, zero public transport etc. and I'm too selfish to do the rest.

None of those.

I already do all apart from 5 as I live in Cheshire and there is sweet FA in the way of public transport.

1. Eat a largely plant-based diet - I'd easily do this if I lived alone, but family would not comply.

1. Buy no more than three new items of clothing per year. (Unlimited second-hand clothing allowed.) - I don't buy much compared with a lot of people. I could fairly easily do this, I guess.

1. Keep electrical products for at least seven years - I definitely do this with everything except phone.

1. Take no more than one short haul flight every three years and one long haul flight every eight years - I already fly less than this. I'm 50 and have oy ever been on one return longhaul flight.

1. Get rid of personal motor vehicles - nope. I'd have to quit my job to achieve that.

1. Make at least one life shift to nudge the system, like moving to a green energy, insulating your home or changing pension supplier - done this one.

We are never going to give up car ownership - our society is built round it now.

1. Yes (working on portion size 😬)

1. Yep fine. Long as not including underwear..

1. I often do.

1. Probably not. A lot of it’s work..

1. Already done. Do use hire cars tho.

1. Yes.

Already do 1,2,3,4 and 6. But would really struggle with no car.

Whatever we do will never be enough according to some. There’s no end goal, at its extreme, it is fuel for some people to feel morally righteous, and indulge in outrage. I’ll be environmentally conscious in all things I do, but I will not live like a hermit, I will be living my life.

Can rarely get electrical appliances to last 6 years owing to built in obsolescence.
I'm happy eating plenty of plant based foods, rarely go in a car and don't own one, and have flown for holidays 3 times short haul in the last 25 years. I buy mainly second hand everything.
The last one though is harder if you're not well off and are a tenant or don't have a pension.

basically, you can achieve the moral high ground by just consuming less of everything. You don't need to go vegan or veggie, just eat less. Buy less of everything, keep everything for as long as possible, fix more stuff. It is still better for the planet if you keep an old car running than buying a supposedly more "efficient" or electric new one. Travel less. You also save money. Added bonus.

1. Eat a largely plant-based diet, with healthy portions and no waste plant based no, healthy potions I try to do already, no waste is pretty much impossible

1. Buy no more than three new items of clothing per year. (Unlimited second-hand clothing allowed.) fine for me. Not fine for my kids. Much of our clothing is second hand but kids clothes don't always last through 3 or 4 children

1. Keep electrical products for at least seven years already do this. My phone is ancient!

1. Take no more than one short haul flight every three years and one long haul flight every eight years fine with me, I don't have a passport RN

1. Get rid of personal motor vehicles if the public transport services improve drastically, yes

1. Make at least one life shift to nudge the system, like moving to a green energy, insulating your home or changing pension supplier yes I would do this

1. plant based diet: nope. Not happening. Not appetising and it would play hell with my IBS. I cooked efficiently with low waste when I was single but just not viable for a family with children of variable appetite.

2. Clothing. I'm not into fast fashion and tend to wear clothes to death, but not limiting myself to 3 items a year.

3. Electical appliances. I'm more than happy to keep items as long as they're functional and don't strive to be at the cutting edge. I'm not responsible for built in obselescence.

4. Flights. We tend to holiday abroad every other year and have holidays/ short trips in the UK. We also travel by car/ferry to see DH's family. We don't jet off to conferences to patronise people about the size of their carbon footprint or try living across different continents.

5. Personal vehicles. If we ditch the car, that's the end of UK camping holidays and more flights including to see family.
   It's also not practical to live at the whims of the winding #48 bus route and have to go everywhere via the town centre.
   If it's within a mile I'll usually walk it (unless transporting gear is an issue) I'm willing to cycle a few miles if I'm on my own and don't need more than a rucksack. Road layouts to cycle out of my neighbourhood safely are rather limited.

6. Home improvements. We've had solar panels for years. Good insualtion.Try to heat the house off the conservatory. Wear warm layers. Use a heated throw.

I'm tired of simplistic environmental guilt tripping by people without a bloody clue about normal provincial lives who tend to be better than the guilt trippers anyway.

If it would require 100% of people in the world to do this, and would only reduce global warming by 25% its just never going to happen.

Do most of these. Rarely buy new clothes but I do for my DCs (along with second hand stuff)
No plans to ditch the car but we have an electric that we intend to run for a very long time

I won't do 1. And I can't do 5 due to disability

Number three I do already the rest are unlikely

1. Eat a largely plant-based diet, with healthy portions and no waste- most of the way there, am a vegetarian and trying to limit eggs and dairy but we’re working on our food waste

1. Buy no more than three new items of clothing per year. (Unlimited second-hand clothing allowed.)- pretty much there

1. Keep electrical products for at least seven years- yep

1. Take no more than one short haul flight every three years and one long haul flight every eight years- yep

1. Get rid of personal motor vehicles - just not feasible at the moment until public transport improves where we are

1. Make at least one life shift to nudge the system, like moving to a green energy, insulating your home or changing pension supplier- On a green energy supplier

@FatOaf

Already do 2, 3, 4 and 6.

You missed out a detail of 5. I buy second-hand cars and keep them for as long as possible.

Depending on how long, the extra tailpipe emissions produced by an older car will outweigh those embodied in a new one.

Sorry, but people need to wean themselves off of motoring everywhere, whatever they're driving (no, you wouldn't be saving the planet by going electric, it's better but a long way from enough).

Where are all the second hand clothes going to come from, if people only get three new per year?

I do everything except 5 as we need a car where we live but it's secondhand and will only be replaced when it's dead. I've had it six years already.

It’s from the guardian. That’s enough to make me want to do the exact opposite. The guardian is the equivalent of a moaning brat that only comes up with problems, never a solution.
These negative thinkers who like to think of themselves as activist will always tell you how to make your life difficult. While the real doers are deploying their brains to figure out how to make your life even more comfortable but with better tech that reduces carbon emissions.

1. I've made a tiny move towards this but I doubt I will achieve significant success.
2. Excluding underwear - have met this target for years.
3. I keep most appliances longer than 7 years. The average will definitely be over 7 years.
4. Last long-haul flight was 1999 (for work) and last short-haul was 2006. I don't expect to ever fly again.
5. I have never owned a motor vehicle.
6. As an example, my household electricity usage over the last 10 years has reduced by 34% and gas usage by 46% due to better insulation, more efficient devices and a concentration on not being wasteful.

In very general terms, irrespective of how you spend your money, cutting your spending will cut your carbon footprint, and still the biggest reduction in future carbon footprints would be achieved by having fewer children.

1. My portions are healthy, and I hardly ever throw food out (skins/peels/cores and other inedible bits go in the compost). But no, I'm not moving away from an omnivorous diet.

1. I've got plenty in my wardrobe that I've had since I was sixteen. It still fits, I still wear it. I repair where possible (or more accurately I ask my mum to do it on her machine ). I hardly ever buy new clothes. What I can't do a lot about though is my work uniform. The quality we're issued with isn't great so it doesn't last so well.

1. My personal phone is more than four years old now and showing little sign of expiring (I can certainly recommend Sony phones for longevity). My previous laptop lasted five years before smoke started coming out of it. White goods seem to last ages so they're no issue.

1. Last short-haul flight was circa 2014/2015, I see no reason to take another one ever again as it's perfectly possible to travel all across Europe by train. I've only done one transatlantic trip in my entire life.

1. I rely entirely upon a bicycle and public transport to get about.

1. Octopus offer a 100% renewable tariff. As and when I can afford it I'll be insulating the house, though as it was built in 1835 there's a limit to what I can do without causing damage to the fabric of the building. I'll get solar, again when funds permit.