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

@PurpleWisteria1 indeed. Doubt the older people will embrace Carousel.

The majority (77%) of the world's soy is fed to livestock for meat and dairy production.

The soya grown is mostly fed to the animals that people are eating.

Haven’t had time to read the whole thread. We can’t reverse things but we can slow the progress of climate change, there is hope as we have the tools and know how but we need action and funding from big businesses and Governments, which is sadly lacking, to make this happen.

Individuals can make a difference - our personal emissions make up a significant percentage of total emissions (sorry don’t have the stats to hand).

Greening your money is one of the most impactful actions you can take. Switching your current account/pension/investments to an ethical/sustainable provider is around 57 times more effective than switching to plant based diet, not flying and switching to a renewable energy supply combined! It doesn’t matter how much or little you have moving to a provider than doesn’t fund the fossil fuel sector will make a huge difference.

Lots of info on https://makemymoneymatter.co.uk/
and https://www.ethicalconsumer.org/

I have one, of course, that I dry stuff on that can’t go in the dryer. Towels would take days, especially as it’s not that warm here either. Then they get that horrible damp smell.

They weren't assuming anything. Just pointing out that not eating meat isn't the most important thing a person can do. Being vegan doesn't give someone the right to say they are the most environmentally friendly compared to anyone else. I know someone who is vegan. She doesn't drive. Has 3 children. But she does work for an airline and makes damn good use of her staff travel pass and has minimum 6 holidays/short breaks a year. But apparently she's still better than everyone else purely because she's vegan? No.

... but people wont, who exactly is going to stop their one holiday flight a year whilst they see the wealthier jetting around the world at a constant rate?

Me! I haven't flown since 2012. And I don't have children or pets, own a tumble drier, never run the washing machine for anything less than a full load, and I still feel guilty about doing 4k miles a year in my car (down from 8k). If we had half sensible bus services, I could probably get that down a lot more.

My house isn't suitable for a heat pump, but my boiler has the highest efficiency rating and that, combined with new windows and doors and cavity wall insulation, has reduced my gas consumption significantly (about 30%).

And I still feel fucking guilty about the gas I use.

I'm absolutely not being smug here, I'm just offering suggestions that work for me. It's rained here for bloody ages and I don't have a tumble drier, mainly because I don't have space for one. I'm getting my towels and sheets dry by hanging them over the shower rail, doors and the banisters. If you leave a couple of windows open a bit you get a through draught. It does dry them pretty quickly.

This. How can we stop all this cheap crap coming across from China / Taiwan? People don’t need 90% of it yet but it because its cheap.
I would love to hear anyone with any suggestions about that. Even if the UK was carbon neutral our efforts would be eradicated in one week by the likes of China. I’m just at a total loss as to how anything that makes an actual difference is going to realistically happen.

70 % of soy grown is to feed cattle and other animals; to produce meat.

I haven’t owned a tumble dryer for years and have a family of 5. Towels are washed once a week absolute max and are only washed on a dry day. In winter they are hung over radiators or inside airers near radiators with a window nearby open a crack.
If tumble driers we’re banned by law and someone came and removed yours tomorrow what would you do?

It was a huge stretch, most vegans are environmentally conscious. No one is saying she’s better, they’re saying their choices are more environmentally friendly on the planet. It’s a simple thing to do to help reduce emissions, cut your meat intake (particularly beef) and reduce meat consumption, or avoid altogether, anyone is capable of doing that. Animal agriculture is bad for the planet and not sustainable and it’s causes suffering.

Of course. It's a gamble, but one we're going to have to commit to, I fear.

Eating too much meat is really bad for you.

I'm neither assuming vegans do all those things (obviously) nor asserting that a vegan diet is not beneficial for the environment.

I'm saying that you can't focus on one specific behavioural change to the exclusion of everything else, and that the degree to which people do various things (fly / eat meat / own cars) has to be taken into consideration as well.

When I say "I fly," I mean I personally take a couple of short-haul return trips per year, on average, because I'd like to see some of the world in which I live. For shorter trips I tend to go by train. But "I fly" could equally mean you take multiple long-haul flights every month or even that you own a private jet.

And they will make inaccurate comments without even researching it first 😳

This.

Plus, even if we drastically changed our lifestyles it would make little difference. the big emissions culprits now are China and India - and TBH I don't blame them.

They want the same quality of life we have in the west, and why shouldn't they? Our govts have had decades to look into alternatives, including nuclear (looking particularly at you, Blair, you lying wanker) and have done nothing.

There are just too many people, but at the same time governments are fearing a population collapse because that would mean chaos, too.

Think as a species we are stuffed, and we deserve it. It's just sad that we are taking every other living thing down with us.

I think we’re stuffed as well. As a species we’ve peaked and we’re coming up to our ‘dinosaur meteorite’ moment.

Yes some vegans think they are so superior and better than everyone else and are so perfect for earth

The "parents" with 22 children and rising comes to mind

Mine smoked and lived to 94. Is smoking good for you?

Will it be a huge elderly population though?

We're seeing the post war "blip" go through (and leave broken systems behind it) but they were born in the lucky times - before the boom in processed food of the 1970s and had healthier (and less polluted) childhoods. So they're living longer.

The generations behind them may not have it so good. There have been on and off warnings about obesity leading to a generation that will not outlive their parents (not necessarily individually predecease a parent, but life expectancy start to fall)

And covid. Life expectancy has fallen in the last three years across the whole planet. Sick absences from work are reaching new highs - long covid is barely understood but on a population level, the increase in diabetes, strokes, heart attacks, other cardiovascular issues, earlier onset and greater severity of dementia is going to feed through to shorter life expectancies.

Not to mention what the next emerging disease will be (and on this overcrowded planet, there will be one). In recent years we've had SARS, MERS, SARS-2 - so my money is on MERS-2 (not least because other possibilities are terrifying)

We don’t have many dry days here, certainly not one per week. I thought hanging them over radiators was bad as it stops the heat circulating and is less energy efficient?

In answer to your last question, I’d probably fight them to the death! In all seriousness, I honestly don’t know; living somewhere damp and cold I really rely on mine. Even now, it’s meant to be summer; chucked it down for most of yesterday and wasn’t warm. Today it hasn’t rained (though there are some ominous looking clouds) but it isn’t particularly warm.

Attached photo shows expected weather here for the foreseeable. Can’t see any washing being dried outside 😫

😂 Where has anyone said they’re more superior and better than everyone else, their choices are better for the planet, that’s a fact.

It's just sad that we are taking every other living thing down with us.

This is my main motivation for caring. I spend a lot of time working with wildlife, and I don't have children and I don't really like humans as a species.

However the nihilistic "what will be will be" attitude completely ignores the fact that we share our home with other species, other families and other societies who have managed to not fuck things up the way that humans have. Why should they be taken down because of the lack of action from human governments?

But if someone has made a choice never to have kids their choice is also better for the planet. Even if they have a burger once a week! It's not an either or. Non vegans can make good choices for the planet as well. But by saying its the only or best choice people can make is rubbish.