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?

I don't think that's possible, industrial technology led to the explosion in population, before then nature imposed hard limits on how many the land could support, we can't sustain a huge population without the technologies that destroy the ecosystem. If you have something persuasive to the contrary, but our lifestyles will have to return to something so basic and uncomfortable there is simply no chance of that happening. It's really far far deeper than "choices".

I do agree in many ways, and your post illustrates the OPs point

But come on, who buys much of the stuff from China? Do you know what they are doing with renewables ? Far ahead of the game, to get yet another economic advantage

Electric vehicles are an environmental disaster. It’s better for the environment to keep running an old car for longer than buying an electric car.

So YABU because you’re not fully equating everything.

However, yes I’m fed up of the “I drive a Tesla” so I’m saving the environment then going on 4 foreign holidays a year crew.

I care and do my bit but certain things are unaffordable. Eg rail travel/it’s cheaper to take the car. Refillable rice/shampoo etc/Cheaper to buy at the supermarket as I can buy value ranges.

Things I’m happy to do; Recycle/Use Vinted/Reuse gift bags

Won’t be giving up my plane travel (twice this year)

We’re changing the car from electric to hybrid.

This book argues otherwise, its an interesting read.
https://www.nottheendoftheworld.co.uk/

Lauded by Bill Gates...

"actually many have reasonable public transport already"

This really isn't true. I live 6 miles from my place of work. To get there by public transport would take 1.5 hours. By car it's 20 minutes. Plus I can do school drop off on the way.

There's no way I could be without a car.

Electric vehicles are an environmental disaster. It’s better for the environment to keep running an old car for longer than buying an electric car.

It's not as black & white as that. It depends on how much you use it. Sure, old Doris who only uses her car to go to bingo every other Tuesday and therefore racks up little mileage should keep her old car. If you're racking up hundreds of miles a week however then you should replace with a newer, more efficient model.

But preferably the local buses should run late enough for old Doris to catch one to the bingo, while long journeys should be ideal for the train.

Have you ever tried a bar of shampoo? They last absolutely ages, so you save money in the long run.

Nothing we can do as a person or as a family will ever overtake the harm that the biggest companies do to our environment.

We can do our best, but we will never make even a dent in what is happening. Upsetting, but true.

The plural of anecdote is not data. The quoted passage said "many", not "all". Six miles would be 30 minutes by bike so only 10 minutes more than by car, and it's perfectly possible to incorporate the school drop-off into that. You'd save a fortune.

The biggest polluters are the likes of Exxon, BP and Shell. If no one was buying their petrol then they would go out of business and their pollution would therefore stop. When you use fossil fuels you are funding them (and also funding Russia's invasion of Ukraine, wars are a massive source of pollution). Vote with your wallet and reduce consumption by as much as possible.

Most of their buyers are massive companies, not someone filling their tank

But not for ever of course, so we need to start somewhere?

I know it isn’t ethical to eat meat or drink dairy, but I felt very unwell and had deficiencies when I went vegan, and supplements do say they aren’t intended to replace a balanced diet

But they’d also need to be very fit to cycle 12 miles in total a day , before and after a work day

Worrying about the UK's attitude towards global warming is understandable but look at the size of our country - what we should really be worrying about is getting countries like USA and China to take it seriously.

It breaks my heart to see all the closed down rail lines we used to have, linking towns up and down the country.. all gone, many turned into cycle/walking tracks and/or peoples back gardens.

Impossible and hugely costly to bring back into service in the vast majority of cases.

Buses, even with traffic congestion are slow, junctions, traffic lights etc.

What provincial towns have "reasonable" public transport? certainly nothing decent/cheap/reliable in the S/W and now even more expensive.

What can we do?

Stop building houses where there are no jobs for starters, 10s of 1000s of houses built down here, no jobs, so long commutes/traffic congestion, two new towns build - no jobs, so now the plan is to build a new bigger road!!!

People seem to hate cyclists & its getting worse, even in France, cyclists have protested about the lack of protections offered.... in the UK killing a cyclist is almost seen as an occupational hazard for a car driver, with incredibly lenient sentences handed out.

You can't have cycle lanes going in parallel to every road, so how about using a "stick" to change peoples attitudes? the carrot being a fitter population and less cars on the roads.... never happen though, too weak politicians and a stupid population.

All they do is put prices up as demand would reduce, same with household energy consumption, look what has happened? unit prices stay high, higher standing charges introduced... all done by the regulator.

Oil etc is used in a lot more than petrol/diesel and its the RoW buying Russian gas & oil, shipped all over the world and we in the West allow these "Ghost" ships to ply their trade, despite the huge environmental risks, they know where they are... so why aren't they stopping this? they sail through narrow european waters for heavens sake!! they are operating illegally after all.

Those in power aren't interested one bit in climate change, its just a means to make money out of us all.

We need to start somewhere, but it’s not electric vehicle’s. The mining required for the batteries is an environmental disaster. Hydrogen looks like the way forward - JCB have pioneered this, and if they got more serious funding we could have this on road vehicles in the next 5 years.

I agree that hydrogen will be another option to follow, can't recall the details but have listened to few Podcasts on it

But also articles like this ( tried to pick politically neutral one!)

www.rac.co.uk/drive/electric-cars/choosing/are-electric-cars-really-better-for-the-environment/

Not really. It's not that far at all, and electric assistance is an option for those who live in Sheffield.

The mining for electric vehicle components isn’t great, but have you seen the devastation and pollution caused by endless fossil fuel wells, rigs, pipelines and tankers? Thinking that rare minerals are somehow “worse” is a false equivalence. Also, many of the components in a battery can be recycled, unlike fossil fuels, which are used once and once only.
I agree mass car owenership is not the answer and we need cheap (free) public transport especially in rural areas. But, given the choice at the point of buying a new car, electric is the lesser of two evils.

I do think it's corporations that need to change things, but im going to do everything I can to know I'm trying to save the small part of the planet that I have control over. Eg, buying organic, having a wildlife friendly garden, combining trips to use my car less, not buying off shein or temu, etc. If I just said "I won't make a difference so there's no point trying" then that's going against my own morals. Plus, if everyone did their small part, things would change.

Cycling is too dangerous in the UK, my DD used to race at a very good level and 3 of the girls she raced with, one is dead, 2 others seriously injured and can no longer ride... these happened whilst riding on the road, well lit up, bright clothing, the one who died was simply run over by a lorry, got a very lenient sentence, despite being banned and having poor eye sight.

He got 3 years for killing a woman in her 20s.... its a licence to kill & most motorists who kill, don't get a custodial sentence.

So glad my DD runs now.

I would never recommend anyone takes up cycling.

There needs to be wholesale changes to car driver training and the justice system

Fiddling with the highway code, which the vast majority of current drivers haven't clue about - see riding 2 abreast & the hate that causes - won't change a thing.