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?

Aggressive reduction mandates fuck me right off. All that will happen is more energy intensive stuff gets offshored to those countries where fossil fuels are still heavily used and therefore energy is cheaper. Then we buy them back with all the accompanying emotion from importation. Jobs lost, overall global emissions increase, economic activity declines and the poorest people will always be the ones most negatively impacted.

EMISSIONS from importation (not “emotional”)

Why does someone have to come on here and be nasty...i actually read daily, these 2 books are written by experts in the field. One Christopher booker, the second by a climate expert working at The Farriday Institute debunking a lot of the "facts" we have been informed of. I've had a look round, I have about 100 books, and I cannot find it.

WE can't influence China if our own house isn't in order

It's depressing to try to be climate-conscious when our governments are not.

But hey, loads of jobs are due to be made extinct by energy intensive AI vastly reducing the market for the labour of people (which will result in more and more societal problems - look at the areas that have lost their primary employer and apply that to much of the country). So what do we do? Live entirely in our 15 minute neighbourhoods, eating solely vegan food while our minimum basic income allowance ensures a degree of monetary circulation and attempts to keep a lid on the level of social unrest, all the while a few rich technocrats control almost all means of wealth creation. Sounds like fun.

Exactly!
And with that kind of society in place, the debate around travel will be neither here nor there as only the super rich will remain geographically mobile.

Except tips will actually do the recycling it's not just a case of taking it there to put it in landfill sites. (Not that recycling is the answer though)

”talk to china” - they’re high emissions cos they’re making all our stuff!

I agree with you OP. I am the most conscious of all my friends and family. So many of my friends expect 5 trips abroad a year which they do on the cheap - weekends away etc. none would say they’re rich. One is starting the extreme day trip trend- how far away can you get on a flight for a day trip - what’s the fecking point if you’re flying all day 🤦🏼‍♀️🤦🏼‍♀️. One flies every other weekend to watch sporting events

I saw a lady who lost her LA home to the fires on TV - she said we’ve got to stop this silly worrying about fossil fuels and tackle the climate crisis properly🤦🏼‍♀️🤦🏼‍♀️. She can’t wait for Trump to sort it

Its frustrating and depressing.

Obviously we should be taking personal responsibility and the top 3 changes we're supposed to make for the environment are:

1. Stop having children or have as few as possible

1. Don't fly or fly as little as possible

1. Reduce reuse recycle (buy new infrequently and don't throw out food)

Another bad thing is all the data storage which is energy intensive. How many of us have thousands of emails and photos that we don’t need. How many pictures of meals are out there???!!! We’re all so frivolous and unconscious of the impact, young people more than anyone

I agree with this. I think meaningful change will only happen if government policy forces it to (like with plastic bags). There's so much crap that really doesn't need to exist.

Personally, if I was a dictator, I'd totally ban wet wipes and disposable swimming nappies, cigarettes and vapes, ration clothing and types of fish and meat, ban internal UK flights, heavily subsidence public transport so it's cheaper than the car, and come up with some kind of ration for air travel!

I don't think the stop having children idea is good. And we don't really want to impose a ban on the number of children allowed like China did.

That was not successful.

I guess getting the world to be more politically stable would be very helpful in that energy is not wasted in fighting and producing weapons and clearing up after war damage.

But what's the solution to no more wars?
Fear of nuclear bombs?

We are consumers, and we are conditioned to consuming as - another poster put it - the system we exist in is set up to enable us to continue consuming. Until this fundamentally changes, an individual cannot really make much of a difference, although you can do your bit to help in whatever way you think is best. China and the US need to lead the way as well - the collective carbon footprints of these countries far far outweighs ours, and we won't address the need for change until they make their moves. Because.........well what's the point? We could try and make changes here but for a real difference to be made we really do need collective action from these two countries and the way things are going, I actually think they're heading in the opposite direction - more output, more capitalism and more consumption.

It's not a good look

YABU to suggest people use trains more OP. Would love to, but they’re far too expensive for most families to travel that way.

The other issue is that any government that imposes the unpleasant sacrifices on people - less holidays, less kids, smaller cars, less meat, less stuff - will get voted out.

Less dogs even - a large dog is a similar impact
to a Range Rover and then there’s all the extra stuff that seems to be essential nowadays for your pet

People just don’t want to do any sacrifices themselves.

I work in environmental science, nothing we do as individuals will make a difference when corporations are still trading in the way that they do and producing the crap that they do. You only have to walk in B&M, or similar stores to see the amount of unnecessary tat that will be in landfill within 5 years. The UK not using plastic water bottles and single use plastic is great but when there are whole states in America many times the size of the UK that only use bottled water as their tap water is so poor and contaminated it makes very little difference globally. Although plastic bottles are readily recyclable and actually some of their replacements are not.

My all means make the choices that suit you and help you feel better, and benefits your local area but long term it is a country and multinational corporation problem.

B&M sells stuff - tat - because people buy it

Stop buying it and they won't make it to sell

So yes every action helps

Just imagine if everyone took the attitude that nothing really mattered and we couldn't change anything - then look and see how the UK is changing slowly - too slowly . So some is slower rate of growth of bad things but it's still a positive change over what could have been

You were unreasonable in your title cognitive dissonance. That was enough to annoy me .

Also anything to do with climate change, it’s just one groups way of making money.
Like the ozone layer and the millennium bug, and carbon offsetting. All based around select groups of peoples’ wealth creation

With private jets taking them to the summits to discuss how the average Joe should reduce their carbon footprint.

I agree with this. The people who worked in “dirty” skilled energy intensive jobs which are no longer here rarely benefit from increases in new “green” jobs. For all the talk, the reality is the vast majority of those jobs go to different people in different places.

Yes to everything you said. I feel like I'm living in a twilight zone at times when surrounded by people actively purchasing bigger cars, more plastic shite and almost purposefully pursuing a less sustainable lifestyle. BUT I can understand how people feel helpless. The reality is that anything the typical family does has zero impact when China, US etc are pouring out emissions on the scale they are. Big business and billionaires are to blame, not us mere mortals.

This

Our Government is too busy taxing those evil private schools who dare to educate our children than taxing consumerism.

No, it's not. Yes, the uk has very little manufacturing now and China manufactures tons but who is consuming what China is manufacturing? We have basically lowered our carbon footprint by outsourcing it to China, which looks great on our own record but makes no difference to the world..