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 wonder what that'll mean for the Commonwealth?

And whether it'll become our most influential alliance

Extremely unlikely. Those countries will soon be largely uninhabitable and their populations will also then decline rather sharply.

To be honest, a bit of both. He is fearful for the future yet at the same time believes human beings are very resilient and able to adapt to a changing environment. He certainly doesn't think "What's the point in trying to change?". He believes we should do everything we can to minimise the effects of climate change.

locally grown and in season - will be the only option when capitalism collapses.

Europes population is set to fall over the next 50 years, even allowing for a slight fall in birth rates.

So considering we are going to see significant increases in migration, mainly younger people, why do you think this might be?

Indeed: we may be about to hit the "great filter".

thatll be my Google rabbit hole for this afternoon, cheers

@Sweetashunni

waitbutwhy.com/2014/05/fermi-paradox.html

Indeed. There have been 5 or 6 mass extinction events if memory serves me correctly, in Earth's history to date?

Exactly.
We are not civilised enough to safely harness the tools we develop.

We inadvertantly engineer our own destruction.

Where to start? I think we need to go back in time, the whole world, no international travel for anyone, no sports were people go all around the globe, Olympics, world cups, no international football or any sport matches, stop Formula One, Tennis etc,
stop foreign holidays, stop pop artists touring, stop music festivals and hundreds of thousands of people descending to one area, stop politicians meeting up around the world, talk by Zoom etc, ban tumble dryers and AC units worldwide,
let the population fail dramatically,
basically let’s go back in time but with better medicine

Just to put it into context how much carbon various countries have contributed to climate change since the industrial revolution.

China and India are not the biggest contributors.

And of course we can make a difference.

Us changing our mindset and changing our lifestyles, changing who we vote for, and who we buy from can create huge change.

We don’t get to abdicate responsibility like some politicians who switch seamlessly from “it’s nothing to worry about” to “it’s too late to do anything now”

Get angry with the people whose fossil fuel companies and private jets got us here and stop being angry with Insulate Britain and Just Stop Oil for trying to save us.

The London wild fires that burned down houses and turned things black, not just brown, should have been enough to focus minds. Seems not.

It was awful here in our urban area, further north and smaller, never mind London. I am so glad it's been rainy and cloudy so far this July after last year.

@onefinemess why are you afraid of change? At its simplest level that is all that is required. How anyone can still be a climate sceptic is beyond me.

This is a good one. Although yes, buying less, driving less, eating less animal products is all part of it and we definitely all need to do better, it seems one of the biggest ways individuals in the UK can have an actual impact is by moving MONEY away from fossil fuel companies. They - their profits, their propaganda, their attacks on alternatives, their influence on politicians - are why we are where we are.

There was a climate scientist on Nicky Campbell this morning saying how, although the UK may produce only 2% of emissions (before calculating what we're responsible for creating via Chinese factories), 25-30% of the world's money travels through the UK. Your bank, your pension - that's where the average UK citizen can have the greatest impact.

Europes population is set to fall over the next 50 years, even allowing for a slight fall in birth rates.

So considering we are going to see significant increases in migration, mainly younger people, why do you think this might be?

You are still not understanding.

Global population is entering a spiral of exponential decline. There will be an increasing shortage of younger people, worldwide.

At the same time there will be huge and chaotic movements of displaced people due to climate change (8/10 of the largest cities in the world are in coastal positions vulnerable to flooding, many countries will become uninhabitable due to weather or unable to support their population's food/ water needs, a number of island nations will disappear entirely, etc).

The impact of one will not mitigate the other.

Well fewer people consuming fewer resources and emitting less co2 would be the start. So maybe people should stop being selfish by having large families then moaning omg we fucked the climate.

Those countries like China and India will make the biggest difference compared to our measly 2%

Then again people start moaning the minute there aren't eggs in the supermarket for one week so 🤷 🙄

Per capita? The climate couldn't give a damn where people currently happen to draw arbitrary national borders to calculate this. 🤣 Totally irrelevant. All the matters is the total output right now.

I was at the beach the other day looking at the sea and thinking how little we appreciate and understand nature.

Surely all the things that people are saying will make no difference are things we should be doing anyway regardless of climate change. I think the problem is that humans, particularly in the industrialised nations, do not have enough respect for nature and we are seeing the consequences of this now.

Of course climate change will happen regardless. Most of the UK was covered in thick ice only 12,000 years ago. But that does not mean that for our time on earth we should live as we like. Even if we had not progressed since the stone age there would be climate change but we have helped that along by our consumption and abuse of the earth. We are now living with the consequences.

I think everyone needs to do what they can but a certain amount of climate change will always be outside our control.

As others have said we need to mitigate the effects of climate change but I really don't think we can stop it altogether. In any event nuclear war or a pandemic of a disease with a higher mortality rate than Covid are more likely to happen in the not too distant future.

Life on earth has always been brutal and it is only from the 20th and 21st centuries that we in the west have lived in relative comfort. A very large portion of the world's population have never had that luxury.

I think what I am trying to say is that we are kidding ourselves if we think we can stop climate change but that doesn't mean that we should just shrug our shoulders and carry on regardless.

THIS

People in the West who don't want to give up their lifestyles always bang on about China, India and other developing nations, but most of their emissions are from producing things for the West. Not to mention the fact that emissions per person in those countries are still far far lower than ours in UK, Europe and US. It needs a joint global approach but as many high-profile Republicans still believe climate change is make-believe, I think we are stuffed.

I am scared.

Yes although most of that money bypasses most of us, sadly. Pressure on high earners and businesses is what will have big impact.

How many cars and trucks on our roads are made in China? Aircraft?

People in the West who don't want to give up their lifestyles always bang on about China, India and other developing nations, but most of their emissions are from producing things for the West

They also appear to be unaware that China's energy is now 40% renewables and rising fast.

What is the UK Government doing about energy security, food security and water security for its citizens?

When China use the same amount of concrete in three years that the USA used in the entire 20th Century, it isn't to make stuff to send to the west, it's to build their new cities, islands, roads, and their planned 300 new airports. And to frantically build their coal power stations to provide electricity for their mushrooming electric car market.

I don’t know any young people who are having children.

And I don’t blame them.

Plenty on here are, aren't there lots of pregnancy threads, probably just the people you know. My DS won't have children but that doesn't mean others don't and I wouldn't say people aren't having children just because he isn't. They have the children then the damn hounds that seem to go with them

One tiny tiny example from this morning: the grapes in M&S were from Egypt and the Pink Ladies from...S Africa!