This isn't our heat wave, but the next one could be

[orangeleavesinautumn]

Or if we mess up the jet stream, arctic winters.

We have really messed up horrifically, haven't we.

I am scared its too late to put right

I feel the same.

Or course its too late. We're fucked and we only have ourselves to blame.

Yes

Drastic action is needed or things could get much worse though

Even hotter longer heatwaves

Many coastal cities under water

We need to stop emissions now

So change your diet to avoid meat and diary

Hide the car keys

Message your MP and every orgnistion you buy from to demand action

You're not wrong in general, but specifically about the jet stream - it's primarily driven by the coriolis force and prevailing winds. So it would pretty much take the earth to stop spinning to make the jet stream actually fail.

There's no hope that the uk will get colder. It'll only get hotter. I hate the heat and have a genuine fear response when I read about an upcoming heatwave. I used to say nothing would make me leave London but this June I had genuine wobbles - imagining moving somewhere in Northern Scotland to cool down...!

I was really scared last year, ended up going to hospital with heatstroke, I didn’t even go outside!

On the way to hospital the roads were melting, the whole thing was surreal.

It's too late, but let's face it you have mumsnetters who can't use a towel more than once, having heating on at 25 degrees in winter, and drive their range rovers 1/4 mile to the shops.

That’s interesting. I had thought it was for to melting ice

If that’s not the case, then I’ll revise thinking

I think what you've said is too big for most people to take on board but I completely agree with you. I feel scared a lot of the time, there aren't enough world leaders who are able or willing to say something dramatic needs to happen. They're all arguing amongst themselves and then there's Putin.
The effects of climate change are speeding up and we're not going to escape.

The sad truth is we as individuals can't make any difference by not using cars or changing our diets. It's fine beyond that. Even if millions in the UK changed their habits it wouldn't have an impact. We need global territories (China) and industries to make huge changes - going vegan won't make a joy of difference even if we all do it.

Yup. It's too late because governments and big business won't do what needs to be done now because it's a vote loser (g) and affects profits (BB).

When the planet is so fucked that neither of those things matter any more there will be nothing we can do but suffer.

And maybe die out as a species eventually.

Which would be good news for the planet because it would slowly recover without us here fucking it up.

Exactly. People literally refuse to change their habits. No one thinks their own little habits amount to much, so it's not worth changing them: other people do bad things too, after all! This is true at the micro and macro level.
Sooo... no one does anything.

This is such a good point. People need to wake up now, it’s very worrying. I barely use my car (hate driving but my work is much easier to get to by car and I still occasionally use public transport - only go in 2 days a week).
Unfortunately most emissions are from massively polluting countries like China and are they going to stop soon?
I don’t really like Extinction Rebellion’s approach but am coming round to being more sympathetic to them now.

Tbf it’s not just big business it’s consumer demand

Look at any holiday thread, there’s one atm and the Temu threads

Businesses only get big because we use whatever they provide so much

It is too late to put it right and has been for a number of years. Damage limitation as much as possible would be good but it’s never going to happen because so many people don’t want to give up their lifestyles and won’t until it’s so blindingly obvious (no water coming out the taps) that they have to.

As individuals you do make an impact because there are a lot of individuals and politicians and business care about lots of individuals

And individuals affect the actions of people around you - if you walk other people get used to seeing walking as normal , talk about why you are eating less meat ( as a society we eat much less meat than we did 40 years ago ) , ask them how they offset the emissions of their holiday flight

You can't abdicate responsibility , we will lose if everyone adopts a defeatist attitude

I will not be avoiding meat thank you!

Or dairy.

China has been mentioned a couple of times as a super polluter, but how are they doing this? By being the world's factory. All your tech, all that stuff you buy on Amazon, all the cheap stuff in the world... yep, made in China; and people the world over are buying it.
We can't be smug that we contribute less CO2 just because our manufacturing industries are shit... we contribute by buying and shipping in whole swathes of unnecessary shit from far flung places like China.

CompletekyConfused · Today 08:23
The sad truth is we as individuals can't make any difference by not using cars or changing our diets. It's fine beyond that. Even if millions in the UK changed their habits it wouldn't have an impact. We need global territories (China) and industries to make huge changes - going vegan won't make a joy of difference even if we all do it.

That’s a myth that allows us to keep doing the things we like doing. We can make a difference. Absolutely. If everyone cut their carbon footprint that’s a lot of carbon. It’s about degrees. The less carbon, the less damage. If we consume less and differently that impacts what businesses do. If we communicate our fears and talk to our MPs we absolutely can make a difference. At the moment our politicians don’t care and they think we don’t care. Tell them you care!! Tell them you are angry about their inaction. That’s a quick easy email - if enough people did that then they’d start chasing those votes.

I don't believe we are eating less meat than 40 years ago. I will do anything else to help but I will not change my diet.

I can vaguely remember the hysteria in the early 1970s that a new ice age was looming.

I recall the concerns about acid rain and hole on the ozone layer in the 1980s they seem to have gone away.
As has been said the pollution from India and China, the drive for developing countries to aspire to wealth is the threat. If the UK disappeared overnight there would be a 2% change, that's all.
Subsidised postage from certain counties, global shipping, cheap clothing paid for by lives, Amazon etc - afluenza - that is the problem.

@Mummy08m It was 29 degrees in Inverness a week ago. We were there and have never known it so hot.

PrudenceDictates · Today 08:32
China has been mentioned a couple of times as a super polluter, but how are they doing this? By being the world's factory. All your tech, all that stuff you buy on Amazon, all the cheap stuff in the world... yep, made in China; and people the world over are buying it.
We can't be smug that we contribute less CO2 just because our manufacturing industries are shit... we contribute by buying and shipping in whole swathes of unnecessary shit from far flung places like China.

Yes!!! So much unnecessary shit!! So much!

I’m in Stockholm atm on holiday. Very surprised to find that even in a country that is supposed to be leading the way, there is a park laid with plastic grass (I kid you not) right in the centre of the city.

Definitely too late. People on here talking about using tumble driers all the time, competitive bedding and towel washing, multiple showers or you’re seen as ‘grim’. Just seeing all the kids driven to school in 4x4s, most kids these days have no idea of walking places because their parents drive everywhere.

Then you have Rishi using helicopters constantly and private jets and yachts.