To think most people are concerned about climate change... but

[hopewithoutpanic]

Don't know what they can personally do to make an impact?

We can see the fires, floods and impact climate change is having in both near and far places.

It has to be a concern, right? This is something that could make our planet dramatically different within our and our children's lifetimes.

Would I be correct in thinking the issue is that is individuals just don't know what (aside from recycling / trying to reduce meat etc) they can do to make a real difference?

This planet has finite resources and, I think, unless people are willing to live shorter, less comfortable lives, we're doomed to exhaust it eventually

We aren’t doomed to this fate, Paul Erlich and other neo-Malthusiasts were saying that literally hundreds of millions were going to starve to death by the 80s and it obviously never happened.

It is madness
But easier for governments to blame and penalise the little people (forcing lightbub changes, etc)
Makes me so angry!

hear, hear

And at least be honest, it's not abut saving the planet - it can look after itself as has been proven way before man evolved.

It's about preserving humans, and I'm not sure we deserve it...

I suspect most people know and they just don’t want to 🤷‍♀️ I think we are all consumerist by nature and what the average western person would really like is to buy their way to lower carbon emissions.

To be honest I think it has more to do with the sun than us. Change is going to happen no matter what we do, these things are cyclical. I'm more worried about things like microplastics and chopping down the rainforest. These are the things we can change.

Nature will win, eventually. The planet will recover and, hopefully, will have rid itself of the biggest plague it's seen - humankind

Wow, why do you hate humanity so?

Earth has been a volcano-encrusted planet and an ice-encrusted planet, and everything in between.

Don’t forget we are still in an Ice Age.

So they were wrong about that one thing. It doesn't mean that the bigger picture that we will eventually, at no specified time, exhaust earth's resources if we don't accept shorter, simpler, less comfortable lives.

I think it's inevitable so don't give any energy to worrying about climate change.

Exactly and precisely why I refuse to feel guilty about my one long haul flight a year.

I’m in shipping and I can tell you we are all fucked. There is no way we can sustain our way of life and reduce diesel use. And shipping is the bad diesel.

Yes, they are trying. But shipping is pretty poorly regulated.

Why are China doing what they do ?

Because we ducking buy the stuff they make because it's cheap and we want it

Rarely need mostly just want

No, I actually think the majority of the adult population either don’t think it exists or dont think it affects them so dont care.

We need to quit the shipping and live locally for starters. Most people aren't willing to give up the convenience shipping items around the world gives them though.

Unfortunately the cheap stuff makes life more affordable for many families.

And until China and India etc.. come on board what difference is the little old UK going to make?

Not much I do is going to make a big difference. China isn't even on board. The recent cop26 didn't achieve any of their goals.

Telling that a pp council told them to throw their recycling out with next weeks rubbish.

I am not concerned about climate change. I think pollution is a factor. There have been alarmists for decades and not one of their predictions have come to pass. The planet has cooled and heated for centuries and will continue to do so without us paying more in taxes.

I would like for there to be more recycling points available in shops.

There was only one shop in my town that had a recycling bin for clean soft plastic wrappers. The bin has now gone and has been replaced by an aisle full of Easter eggs.

Everyone I know cares and worries about it. However, I'm aware that nothing I do personally (and I do try) will have any real impact. Many have said it needs to be the government. I'm afraid that even the greenest possible U.K. government would have no impact either - except in the unlike scenario that government science funding came up with some marvellous solution. Climate change is a world, not national issue. The big players - China, Russia, the USA, will do what their politicians want and we can do nothing about it.
The planet will be fine; humans won't.

not my quote
the person who invented the phone, used to write letters, the person who invented the lightbulb used to wrote by candlelight... So the people who will be inventing ways to fix this mess will be using plastic daily, driving cars etc.

We can only use the tools we have to hand.

I have spent my whole adult life working to change my life to be plastic free and eco friendly. I buy more plastic now than I did 5 years ago because prices have gone up and I can't afford the butcher or green grocer anymore.

I do have an allotment though, so most of the fruit and veg is home grown throughout summer. I'm learning (painfully slowly) to store and preserve food.
I'm still eating apples and pumpkins picked In October.
Forraging is a big one too. I found wild garlic and wild mint. Very safe to eat stinging nettles and dandelions, Easy to identify. blackberries and cherries also. But I didn't know we had cherry trees lining the street until I started to learn about foraging, despite recognising cherry blossom and being somewhat in the know I still didn't connect the dots that cherries come next. Edible. I made some into jam and its so beautiful.
I don't drive at all, bike or bus or train, ise less water, grey water Yet I've still got so far to go.
I want chickens eventually but I needed to buy a house and have a garden to even consider it. Now that took 10 years saving. now I have to save for everything else house related I can't afford chickens anymore!

the easiest place to start is second hand but I still bought new toys for Xmas because of societal pressures that I don't agree with! but I still follow! it's hard.

Wow what a thread.

There was a paper written back in 2020 on The Discourse of Climate Delay,

‘Discourses of climate delay’ pervade current debates on climate action. These discourses accept the existence of climate change, but justify inaction or inadequate efforts. In contemporary discussions on what actions should be taken, by whom and how fast, proponents of climate delay would argue for minimal action or action taken by others. They focus attention on the negative social effects of climate policies and raise doubt that mitigation is possible.

Basically the paper outlines the naive excuses and wrong thinking that is quite possibly the biggest danger to not taking positive steps towards a more sustainable future for us and future generations. If we were playing discourse bingo we'd have full house by the end of page.

There is a huge amount all of us can do at an individual or household level, at a local level, and at an organisational level - businesses, schools and hospitals, sports clubs and other not for profits.

@containsnuts your first reply to the OP even mentions volcanoes, these have very little impact on climate change as emit little or no greenhouse gases (GHG), they actually have a short term cooling effect due to the ash particulates they put into the atmosphere but these are washed out pretty quickly.

Anything the uk does about "climate change " will have a minute impact, good excuse to raise taxes though.

until the big countries do more it's a waste of time

Eventually the sun will burn out anyway.

No they're all interlinked. Production of plastic contributes to climate change.

For me it just feels like we are trying hard in the UK and other countries eat their evening meal with throw away plastic cutlery every night. Then other countries still sell every single peice of fresh fruit in its own individual plastic bag.