What can I do that isn't on an individual level regarding climate change?

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I've done all I can on an individual level, I've joined a litter picking group and have a veg patch and made my small garden 'wild'...
But I feel I need to do more.
I have so much passion on the subject, always have even when it was called 'global warming' and ' the ozone layer ' and 'being a hippy' 😅

What else is there to do?
I don't mind spending time and money, I only work 25 hours a week so I have time to put into a project but I don't know what would be best to try and do?

I'm thinking maybe I could try to start a really zero waste business?
I always daydream about winning the lottery and buying loads of land and building a waste free city but I'm not going to win and what's the point in waiting?

I know this is a little bit of a ramble but I just want to be able to look my children and my grandchildren in the eye and assure them that I did all I could.
so does any one have any ideas? what can I do today or plan to do next week or next month that would make a change?
or just a bit of solidarity?

The scientific studies I refer to are published in science journals which are completely independent of the IPCC. Any published study is reviewed by at least three independent scientists and has to be scientifically robust and the conclusions drawn supported by the data. Data also has to be freely available and methods detailed enough that someone can replicate them.

The IPCC reports collate all the scientific literature and summarise it stating what we do know and assess how certain those findings are. They are written by a large group of expert scientists not politicians.

It's a public forum. If you post on it, you are implicatly inviting responses. I understand the difference between opinion and fact and, if you clear the froth from your eyes and read my post, I acknowledged that it was indeed an opinion (but that not all opinions are equal).

You seem to find it difficult to read and understand words.

My posts are not AI generated and nor do I think they have the appearance of it (not least because they've been quite bristly).

https://www.waterstones.com/book/how-bad-are-bananas/mike-berners-lee/9781788163811
I recommend this book, OP
I know you want to move beyond individual actions but this book gives you a good feel for what type of actions are useful and what aren't

also agree with what PP have said, look at how you money is invested - I can't give you a source but I've read that this is more powerful than lots of campaigning

Yes
come on let's get back on topic

DH moved his pension to the eco option, however its still the same provider.

Have never thought of where we invest our money. how do you know which bank to bank with?
We are a mix of lloyds, Halifax and santander.
I think our mortgage is santander so won't be changing that until out fix is up

I have a heat pump and this is wrong. They heat up perfectly fine in cold weather. Stop reading misinformation

there are ethical banks, like the co-op/smile
but we have a financial advisor and he did a really detailed analysis with us of what our ethical concerns are and basically moved all our savings to ethical providers, including my pension

Wonder why you felt the need to piss on OP's parade?

Maybe you don't agree but you don't need drag people down with you.

I think it's you that needs to do some "looking up..." 🙄

Sign up to a climate group, there are lots of nice family ones, and ones for women, you can campaign for change collectively.

Agree with putting your money in the right places

Encourage or host things like clothes swaps, seed swaps, food swaps, collective buying

I'm sorry to have to tell you that not going to the butcher at all (ie giving up meat) is going to have a far, far greater impact than reusing containers to put the meat in! Apparently the two biggest things we can do personally are giving up meat (especially beef) and flying.

Other than that: Join a group. Gives you support, and together you can raise consciousness/ protest/ spread the word. Write to your MP, constantly and incessantly.

Oh, and spend time countering the wave of deliberate misinformation that surges up any time somebody posts something about climate change on here. It's pretty sad to see people doing the oil companies' work for them 🤦‍♀️

That’s a load of rubbish. Please don’t believe these stakeholder capitalist liars who are profiting from people. Farm animals are not the problem and if you believe the propaganda then you’re brainwashed. Fake meats, lab grown shit and insects are not the way forward no matter how much funding for research is shoved at it. Also for the PP who quoted lots of “independent” scientific research and papers, you only have to ask where the funding and grants are coming from.

What's your interest in this debate kolin? Interested to know where you're coming from and why you think an overwhelming scientific consensus is "rubbish"?

https://news.berkeley.edu/2022/02/01/global-elimination-of-meat-production-could-save-the-planet/

Oh for goodness sake. What a load of rubbish. My DH has been a climate change scientist for nearly 30 years. There's really no doubt about man made climate change.

I have just joined this group to help campaign for better policies, that reduce climate related food insecurity https://www.mothermanifesto.com

Apparently the two biggest things we can do personally are giving up meat (especially beef) and flying.
@crackofdoom that's not quite true, giving up the car will save considerably more. The average British car will emit 3-4 tonnes per year (including embodied emissions).

Aviation is fairly small on a global scale but that's only because most of the world cannot afford to fly. In the UK it represents 12% of emissions. A return flight to New York emits four tonnes or so. Obviously most people don't travel long-haul regularly, the average Brit spends seven hours in the air per year which equates to two tonnes so car ownership is worse on average.

Energy use in residential buildings accounts for 10.9%, most of which is heating. Insulation and solar panels will make a big difference here.

Livestock-related emissions only accounts for around 6% of global emissions. The average British diet generates 3 tonnes per year all-in, so even going full vegan won't beat selling your car. It certainly won't offset a holiday in the Maldives.

Maybe whichever article I read was concentrating on the low hanging fruit. I just wish I could give up the car :(

High impact things you can do:

1. buy high-quality carbon credits. You can offset your entire year’s carbon footprint for about £70-200 (depending on assumptions). There’s no way you can get anywhere near that benefit from picking up litter or taking the bus (though they are good too). If you want systemic change, promote that to your work/friends. Commit to giving, say, 0.5% of your income to this and you’ll be doing more than 99.999999% of people to actually reduce carbon.

2. lobby for nuclear power. Normally I’d say lobbying for big things like this would not make much difference, but now’s a special time. Labour has floated the idea and will be gauging reaction.

3. Lobby the govt smartly on net zero. Ditto above, there’s a shift in public and political opinion on net zero. Now is a good time to promote policies you support.

You can offset your entire year’s carbon footprint for about £70-200
Greenwashing if ever I saw it.

I thought carbon offsetting had been shown ti basically be a scam?
Who are you paying money to and what are they doing with that money?

There is definitely 'bad' carbon-offsetting (i.e. where the scheme is partly or entirely fraudulent, or where the action would have happened anyway).

But there there are good schemes too, and the principle is undeniably sound.

e.g. paying for people in poor countries to replace traditional solid-fuel cookstoves with more efficient ones is very cost effective. e.g. 1000 tonnes of CO2-equivalent reduced for about $8000-12000. Or you could spend the same money replacing your old petrol car in the UK with a modern hybrid, saving 1-2 tonnes per year.

Obviously there are fraud/waste risks with the cookstoves (and with the car, vis VW), but only if you think about 98% or more of the cookstove money is wasted or fraudulent does replacing your UK car work out as the better choice. And there are reasonably decent certification schemes that try to keep it all honest.

ok, I can sort of see that but people use these schemes to offset the lifestyle they have don't they?
So, if you fly abroad you would pay in to offset that. Is that right?
So the priveliged person is still using huge amounts of resources and creating bhuge pollution but is paying to assuage their guilt?
ould it not be far better for them to not use all those resources in the first place and be secure in their knowledge they have actually made a small difference rather than give money to a company on another continent in the hope they will do as trhey say ( despite evidence of so many of them being a con?)
Apologies if I have the wrong end of the stick!

I also will never agreet that it is environmentally better to scrap a working car in favour of one straight off the productio line whether electric or not.

A bit akin to the Grand Design people who would spend £1 million on a super energy efficient home but knock down a perfectly serviceable home on the land to do so

How much do you estimate it at? (It's actually a lot cheaper if you use optimistic estimates or even central estimates).

Who pays him? And no it’s not without doubt otherwise it wouldn’t be talked about. Or do you only read things that confirm your bias?