To resent the cognitive dissonance that exists around climate change

[JacquesHarlow]

Let’s be real - will anything get better when folk’s priorities are usually about themselves?

Let me explain my rather emotional opening point.

There’s been lots of news this week unsurprisingly about how we had the hottest year on record last year. The last 10 years have been the hottest on record. Wildfires, floods, you name it - the earth is changing.

Yet here in the temperate, largely rainy UK, many people I see around me are very happy to have their head in the sand, while also bizarrely choosing just one or two lines of attack on the climate crisis to shame others.

One of the parents i know has an electric car. It’s nice, I’m happy for them. They also take at least five flight a year. They have three children.

Yet if you hear them talk about diesel cars… it’s as if the owners are personally killing everyone around them.

Now don’t get me wrong. Emissions locally are important, the air our kids breathe is important. that might be a focus.

However you see it in the choice of car journeys over trains, of large SUVs over a normal family car like a Golf.

The latter particularly grates. We have a huge climate crisis. Yet Joanna or Nicola has to have a Discovery Sport for her three kids because she needs to sit high up, it’s easier to load them in, and she worries about crash worthiness.

The history books will show that rather than looking up and out for each other, we’re actually turning more inwards. Our own personal economy will always triumph over needing to protect others. If I’m able to pay £400 a month PCP on a Dispcvery Sport, then “I’ll protect my family over anything”, even though the entire thought process is irrational.

We need to take fewer flights and more rail journeys. working from home should mean more walking to school as the commute has gone. instead we’re seeing more car journeys. More flights. More large purchases; throwaway electronics; fast fashion.

AIBU to think there’s a lot of cognitive dissonance and head in the sand about climate change in the UK, and spending power (and the choices it unlocks) is king?

Tbh @jasjas3008 i agree with you there. I used to cycle a lot and have had lots of close passes from cars - it takes a lot of confidence to road cycle. I stopped a while ago for various reasons but one was the daughter of a friend, only 16, was seriously injured (broken pelvis) on a road I know well, and it shook me up. I just cycle on holiday now on separated cycle paths. It’s shameful the way drivers are allowed to behave. (I drive, and I always give cyclists a wide berth, because I’ve been one).

So sorry to hear about your DD’s friend.

No way I’m giving up meat. Humans need it. We don’t need carbs

I don't need it and neither does my family. Veggie since birth and pretty healthy.
Its up to you what you want to do.

But no, all humans dont need it.

And this is assuming they don't need to take lots of tools/equipment with them

Cargo bikes

So it's too dangerous to do without a car, because of all the cars? How do we break this chicken-and-egg situation? Sounds like a good reason to build more protected cycle lanes, roll out more 20 zones, and ban cars from town centres entirely. Otherwise we just have an arms race where people get bigger and bigger SUVs in order to come off least worst in collisions caused by those oversized SUVs. Might cause the odd tantrum but tough.

Licencing isn't rigourous enough either, it should be as tough as the testing and medicals I get on the railways.

And yes, I'd throw the book at those who drive dangerously like the lorry driver you mentioned. A colleague knows someone who was deliberately run down by a car - driver caught on camera yelling "I'm going to fucking kill you" before fleeing the scene. Clear proof of intent to kill, so should have been charged with attempted murder. CPS (Criminal Protection Service or Couldn't Prosecute Satan) knocked it down to driving without due care and attention. Traffic violence should be treated as any other violence with a lethal weapon.

https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/local-news/plumber-cardiff-ditches-van-arrives-22140131
Like this chap?

The whole thing seems to be a giant propaganda outlet to siphon money from taxpayers and give to lobbyists.

In any case, nothing that people in this country do makes an ounce of difference to the climate.

Well, you ve just agreed with what i ve said BUT as far as i can, there are no moves to address driving standards, nothing on changing sentencing etc.

20mph zones and pedestrianisations are all very well BUT the cyclist still has to get there and what about everywhere else???

Protected cycle lanes just get used by walkers etc who then shout at cyclists for going too fast....... plus the country has no money... though there seems to be always enough to waste.

Another issue is the road surface, driving in Devon yesterday to attend a XC running race... some sections of road would have a cyclist over the bars or smash up your wheels & roads are getting worse, not better.

The car, in the eyes of the justice system, the govt and the public is King, until that changes, nothing will.

Instead we get nonsense about Heat Pumps and EPCs of C... i thought the last lot were useless, this lot are just as useless.

Perhaps AI will save us ?

I agree with you @DdraigGoch and rather than cycling mostly walk or take the local train. I’m lucky that my day to day life is arranged geographically close together so I can do that easily; most of my cycling was a commute I don’t do anymore (retired) and for leisure (walk and run instead). But I d take your point that we have to take cars off the road one way or another.

And the kitchen filters? Just seen a load of units and washing machine being carried on a bike Maybe in Vietnam

Says he's doing it for 2 months and he lives in a city. Maybe e not so easy if places 20 miles apart in rural areas.

Sustainability markets - people buying stuff they don’t need but that ok it’s sustainable and as a society we are addicted to shopping. The reduction side of things isn’t too popular is it? Try to stop buying token gifts at Christmas- no one keen on that either, even when they accept they need nothing they just want something to open!

First, let's have the celebrities and politicians stop using their private jets and helicopters. They are the ones with money, power and influence; if they care about this, they need to lead by example. It's ironic that some of them use private jets to attend their climate change "conferences".

We also need to have a discussion about the media constantly frightening the pants off the public to sell newspapers; and the government doing likewise to make the public compliant. Because of all this, it is now so hard to tell what is truth and what is lies.

Then, we can talk about sacrifices made by ordinary people in the name of "climate change". Some of us remember when the scary buzzword of the day was "global warming", or even further back "the greenhouse effect" and "the hole in the ozone layer".

Yes, but in the meantime all of our individual actions add up. And we can be satisfied in the knowledge that we are doing what we can.

So the purpose is to feel smug? Rather than actual results. That’s called virtue signalling.

Because our collective actions make 0 difference. That’s right 0. Nothing we do in this country makes an ounce of impact on the climate.

That's factually incorrect

All carbon savings matter

Very little less means a little less warming

It might not feel like much - but it does matter - your actions might only save one life or home , but that something

It means absolutely nothing. It’s not about feeling and touching. Or any other emotional reactions. The facts are the facts. The US and China emit over a third of global emissions. UK less than 1%. It makes 0 difference what we do. It’s an absolute waste to of time for anyone in this country to jump on this bandwagon.

From my experience people want to reduce their carbon footprint but why is it so hard to do so? I want to use the trains as I live close to a station, but with cancellations, the vast expense of tickets and a really shit Sunday service I can't. I want to use local services I can walk to - but any outpatient appointments I have are not at my local hospital - they are 20 miles across county. I don't have the money or infrastructure to purchase an electric car - I live in a victorian terrace.

I always have major eye roll at threads like this with the underlying sentiment of “if only everyone was just as clever as me they would all understand”…..we do understand but most people don’t care.

I do what I can, walk as much as possible, buy on Vinted as much as possible, don’t overuse heating etc but I have kids, I have a dog, I’m going on two holidays abroad this year, my family eat meat, we go a bit mad on the presents at Christmas, we have a lot of electronics and we have two cars (one is electric). There have been lots of reasons on this thread as to why people don’t or won’t make the massive changes needed, it’s not because their understanding of the matter is somehow inferior to yours.

No, the purpose is to live your life knowing you're living up to your own morals and doing what you can, and not just think "well I can't solve the whole problem so I won't bother". I'd rather look back at my life knowing I lived it honourably as far as I could. The same as me buying a homeless person a drink isn't going to solve homelessness but it reflects on me that I'm doing what I can to make life a little easier for someone. You can be a good person and acknowledge that without being smug.

So you’re doing it to make yourself feel good, not because it makes sense.

This pretty much sums up irrational climate hysteria

Doesn't really matter if I am doing it to feel good, it still makes a difference.

But it doesn’t. UK is less than 1% of global emissions. Nothing you do makes any difference. It’s a case of numbers and facts. It makes 0 difference.

Oh well. I'm going to carry on as I am anyway though.

Well AI does indeed recommend many of the ideas listed on this thread to reduce our carbon footprint