Let’s appreciate our mild and natural disaster free island?

[Voi]

Given what is happening in Europe and all around the world due to the climate crisis I think we do not appreciate our gentle and moderate isle nearly as much as we should. It’s a bit of a garden of Eden.

I’m going to make an effort to take bags and gloves to pick up rubbish when I walk dog.

I am going to be very annoying and ask if you are outside please do something positive. The world is too fragile

I’m far from an eco warrior but just so grateful to not live in fear of wildfires, earthquakes, hurricanes etc.

The news has got me sad, just feeling lucky I suppose. Glad my kids and dogs are safe.

I completely agree, OP. We are incredibly lucky.

(This is one of the reasons I get annoyed by people refusing to care for the environment- IN PARTICULAR MY ANNOYING BUILDER LECTURING ME ABOUT HE ONLY EVER DRINKS BOTTLED EVIAN NOT TAP WATER- we are so lucky to live somewhere we clean drinking water and we are unlikely to be the worst affected by our own wastefulness. Meanwhile people in the developing world use much less, have a far more precarious existence and take all the shit.)

Agreed, but flood risk is increasing gradually (I work in this field).

I agree - we are very lucky to live in this temperate isle..
I also pick up litter and generally try to look after things.

I have to add though that I think the most impactful thing we can do is to vote. We are the most nature depleted land in the world (small island, large population, and a lot of intensive, monocrop farming); our rivers and seas are also in a terrible state. Read the manifestos and vote for nature that way (Labour for me but make up your own mind).

The next most impactful things are to reduce fossil fuel use (switch to renewable energy, drive less, etc) and eat less meat (you don’t have to be vegetarian but reducing consumption leaves more room to grow arable crops or restore nature).

All little things but they add up and can help in the long long term to protect us from the increasing volatility and unpredictably in the weather and climate that we see everywhere. We are not immune to storms, fires and floods and should strive to keep them to a minimum by fighting climate change.

I voted YABU because it won't be mild and disaster-free for long

Flooding has increased in regularity near us over the last few years . We are lucky and not on the flood plain .

It is all relative though and we are much better off than many .

Climate change can not be ignored though and I do think I see a change over the last 50 years just from my own memory not looking at any charts

Edit: wrong thread

yes, didn’t mention flooding as it seems to be an increasing issue.

I don't mean to be blunt but have you been living under a rock? This country is at massive risk of flooding, coastal erosion and wildfires as the climate disaster comes ever closer to our front door.

It is now a matter of whether people remain lucky where they live. Sounds hyperbolic, but it's really not. You need to read up on how this thing is going to affect us and its coming down the line fast.

People have their heads in the sand about this, they really do. The South East is going to run out of water before 2030, the East Coast is fast going to be under water, there were wildfires pretty much everywhere during the heatwave of 2022. The days of us being a 'temperate isle' are over.

I have been thinking that in some ways we are lucky to be here because many parts of the southern hemisphere seem like they're just going to become unlivablely hot and dry in the next 100 years. Even southern Europe is getting so hot that summer holidays are difficult - I'm certainly never staying anywhere there without a pool in July/August after the first 5 days we spent on the South of France last year.

That said, we're still vulnerable to flooding but it's overall less catastrophic in outlook than many places.

I'm all for climate action but I don't believe this. Plus our island is naturally mild - that's what we should be thankful for. We're ruining it ourselves.

I mean obviously I can see we are also being affected - extreme heatwaves, flooding etc but nowhere near as bad as what is happening elsewhere.

That is all. Just grateful we very rarely have natural events which kill people. And just wanting to remind people we should be grateful for that and try and do our bit.

I haven’t studied the natural world since A Level Geography (did get A though not to brag).