Does this weather change your attitude to climate change?

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It seems like everyone is taking about the weather but no one is thinking about their own personal responsibility to climate change as a result, AIBU to think we are all abdicating responsibility while we can see the dramatic effects all around us? I feel sometimes like in the only one concerned

For those of us who care please please read “How bad are bananas”. It’s fascinating and an entertaining read and it really will make you understand more about the changes you can make that will make a difference.

As evidenced by this thread, too many people are just selfish knobs and most people really will only make changes that don’t affect their own lives or makes them look good to the consumerist masses on instagram. Easy to say you’ve reduced your plastic use to save the turtles because that makes you look kind and caring towards cute turtles. But that isn’t anywhere near the top of our list of problems (sadly). Heaven forbid you forgo your instagrammable trip to Australia though or eat an apple rather than an avacado, or pick some flowers from the garden rather than buy non native flowers flown into our country daily from around the world!

Does it change my attitude? Yes, makes me even more angry at all the rich cunts in the world causing it.
I work with wildlife so I have always cared about the environment, however as I watch all the rich people consuming consuming consuming, going on multiple holidays, renting out super yachts etc I realise the futility of washing my fucking yoghurt pots.
I am relatively poor by MN standards, and those of us with little disposable income are not the problem.
As pp says don't look down says it all. My parenting ethos has always been lead by example, and it's worked very well. Let's see our leaders lead.
Will never happen though, the wealthy (including many mumsnetters) will never give up their toys/pursuit of pleasure.

I hate reading threads like this. It makes me despair. I know it’s only a minority of vocal nut jobs who genuinely think climate change is fake but they’re so influential on the selfish people who want an excuse to justify their inaction.

We are not perfect. I’ve had an overseas holiday this year (since DH will not get on board with no flying at all) but we have cut back significantly and made big changes in many aspects of our lives. This is however made easier because we are relatively financially secure.

It’s because people know that individuals can’t have any impact by changing their own behaviour. It can only come with massive changes to industry and society.

Im not a wasteful person by nature anyway and I do consider the environmental impact of my decisions and behaviour.

But I don’t want to limit mine or my children’s life experiences by, for example, not flying.

it’s terrifying but I don’t think we’ve got any chance of reversing it now-our best hope is to use technology to mitigate the impacts.

It is depressing that people don't take it seriously but ultimately if Dave up the road denies climate change it really has 0 impact. If he flies to Spain once a year, doesn't recycle his crisp packets etc. The only discernable impact Denying Dave has is his vote.

We doing try here in our house to off set it but don't places like Russia and China and iran snd north Korea etc all need to get on board? What's effect of all these toxic bombs and fighter planes being flown

Talking about essentials flights has anyone been on flight mode radar and service how many military flights are up on air 😱

China has over a thousand coal power stations and is building more, coal is booming there. We have three and wring our hands over those.

Honestly it might feel like there is something individuals can do or that it's really important everyone does as much as they can - but really it comes down to governments and the impact that individuals have is like pissing in the wind.

The best thing we can do for the world is reduce the number of people in it, it's the answer to all environmental issues. But not convenient to a lot of people who would rather bleat on about taking less flights while driving around in their huge cars with their 3 children.

China supplies the west. Stop making excuses about why you don’t need to bother.

Licenced pollution from Environment agency businesses and nuclear medicine from hospitals.
Glastonbury Festival urinating on ground found various drugs in water courses.
Regular sewage at sea and companies carry on as usual.

The comment 65 million years we will be dinosaurs? And what came from before the big bang? We are limited by speed of light in our answers.

Absolutely convinced pie in the sky government initiatives will fail as when taken in context the resources required are astronomical, in fact WPD (National Grid told Parliament that distribution network upgrades for heat pump and EV needed massive funding)

Work I have a vehicle provided and is tax deductible diesel so who cares.
Private vehicles we own are all 13 years to 20 years and no huge monthly payments and no intention of getting into that in current world situation.

Whilst our family agree with not tipping oil down down drains etc, having been to local landfill and seen recycling tipped into it by council-it's a tax funded scam.

The at scale all party World Economic Forum narrative is terrifying and hopefully will fail with non compliance and apathy.

Anyone heard of buying power? It DOES have an impact.

Why not buy the peanut butter without palm oil or the ecover washing liquid instead of Bold?
Why not buy buy loose apples instead of those in plastic or boycott products with loads of packaging ?
Mostly because people can't be arsed dressing it uo as" it won't make a difference."

We live in a capitalist society. Product brands thrive or die depending on who buys them.

Up*

Exactly. There are billions of us. If we all change the way we think about things and the choices we make it will make a difference. Big business relies on our complacency

I thought the issue with the population wasn’t because of people having children, isn’t that in decline in fact? I thought the issue was people living far too long? So what’s the answer to that?

as another poster pointed out it’s hard to get on board when those who are dictating to us continue driving about in their gas guzzlers, flying in their private jets and continue selling off green space for housing when the rest of us are just trying to get by day to day, i literally need a car for my job (healthcare) and the amount of waste there is diabolical

No it does not change my opinion, and there's nothing I alone can do about it.
It's just the weather.

It's surprising that the militant protest groups are not outside UK airports trying to disrupt Wayne and Waynette jetting off to Shagalaga for the umpteenth time, instead of jolly japes at top-hole sporting events.

Daphnis156 · Today 08:21
No it does not change my opinion, and there's nothing I alone can do about it.
It's just the weather.

You are wrong on both counts there.

1. Decades of global climate science using multiple models, shows beyond doubt, climate change is happening at a faster rate than would be natural, due to human activity. This is already happening and on a faster trajectory than predicted. As predicted, it has already led to more extreme weather events, wildfires, floods, crop failures, deaths and diseases, mass migration. What’s to come is more of this and it will get worse. Conflict and war over resources is next. The UK will not be protected.
2. You can make a difference and here is how;

https://www.imperial.ac.uk/stories/climate-action/amp-index.html

Everyone needs to focus on doing their bit. Literally everyone. Your best bit might be small but it adds up. It really does. Please don’t believe those who are trying to dissuade. They have an agenda.

@Readthebooks , I get where you're coming from. We have little extra money, we don't own a car and much of our clothing etc is second hand simply because you have to cut your cloth to fit.

Yes we eat meat, but with more than one fussy eater (one with ASD) to cater to I am not going to attempt to overhaul our general diet as well! Not when our moral and intellectual betters are doing as they please for profit and pleasure.

I don't own a factory pumping out pollution and copying its worker's rights from the Victorian era, I don't decide what the minimum welfare standards are in farms and slaughterhouses, I don't decide that the cheapest or only option for a particular fruit/veg should be sealed in plastic - I just try to get by.

@MotherOfDragonflies People like you make me laugh and there are quite a few of you on this thread. Lecturing everyone else then, "Oh, but I still fly abroad on holiday as my partner wants to." 😂 If you believe everything you are spouting you should not be flying at all. Or ever replacing your clothing with new. Or ever renewing your phone. I bet your family have a car as well. It seems you don't think it's quite the dire emergency everyone makes out or you would be saying no to your partner.
I'm not concerned about people like you, the middle class eco warriors. I am concerned about poor working class people who are being told the tiny pleasures they currently have - a hot bath, a warm room, a little car to get to work - have to be got rid of to stave off impending disaster.
Meanwhile, everyone else has an excuse why they just have to carry on flying/driving/consuming because they are more important.
A classic example is Coldplay with their "eco-friendly (virtue-signalling) stage" which they drag around the world with them. Why not just not tour? After all it's the end of days. We've all been told that. Yet Coldplay are still touring. You are still flying. So why should anyone else care? 🙂

It's not like the Green Party prioritise climate change though. At their conferences the planet hardly gets a look in.

No, because I understand the difference between climate and weather.

When we had that really bad cold snap in December I didn't suddenly decide that climate change was a load of crap.

Laugh away. We have reduced our flying significantly but there are two adults in this family and I only control the views of one of them. We carbon offset and we make choices about destination to minimise our impact. I would happily stay in this country for all of our holidays. DH wouldn’t

We have solar panels and electric cars. My car use is down more than 50 percent anyway. The solar also provides us with hot water. From March to late October our cars hardly cost anything in fuel since we generate it. Our energy is on a green tariff. We have massively reduced our meat consumption and don’t eat red meat at all. We buy locally and grow as much food as we can. We have chickens for eggs and bees for honey. We have planted an orchard. We have woodland which we maintain and restock regularly and we use our own wood for heating to supplement the solar. We don’t buy furniture etc new, we are careful in our choices for clothing (don’t buy much anyway) and I recycle everything possible. We do use the internet a lot but are careful to delete anything we don’t need to reduce server impact. We try to eat seasonally and locally, we have significant rainwater harvesting capacity and we don’t use mains drains at all. We don’t use bleach and about 80 percent of the cleaning products etc we use are eco choices (and water extracted where possible to reduce transportation impact). We have brise soleil fitted rather than using fans etc in hot weather, we compost, we have zero food waste (chickens and hot bin composting) etc.

of course there is a lot more we could do but perfection is the enemy of good and those who post like you have are really missing the point quite spectacularly and also deliberately.

@MotherOfDragonflies 😂😂😂😂 Thanks for making my point for me! Still fly, still drive, still buy new clothes, still eat meat but you have planted an orchard and can tell Tarquin and Jemima all about your "brise soleil". It will make you look ever so good. Eco-credentials dontcha know.
People like you have no idea what is happening in the lives of working class people who are being told they can't drive their work van into town without paying a fee, elderly pensioners who are being told to turn their thermostat down and sit freezing in a jumper and so on.
And carbon offsetting is a load of garbage - rich people buying their way out of compliance.
Posts like this simply reinforce to me what I already know though and will hopefully enlighten others so thanks for that.

I am a working class person thanks. Brought up on a council estate. Mum was a cleaner, dad worked in a factory. Get over yourself.

Actually, according to NASA we are in the early stages of a cooling cycle...

Finally, Earth is currently in an interglacial period (a period of milder climate between Ice Ages). If there were no human influences on climate, scientists say Earth’s current orbital positions within the Milankovitch cycles predict our planet should be cooling, not warming, continuing a long-term cooling trend that began 6,000 years ago.

climate.nasa.gov/explore/ask-nasa-climate/2949/why-milankovitch-orbital-cycles-cant-explain-earths-current-warming/