To think that everyone has to do their bit and reduce fuel consumption

[Noras]

Due to the situation in the Gulf it seems clear to me that there is an issue with fuel.

To me it seems obvious that we all have to try to slightly reduce our fuel consumption even by just a bit eg not having the heating on or turning the temperature down by a degree or so, or reducing the time that the temperature is on. Also, maybe thinking more before making a journey in the car or just driving slower to reduce fuel consumption.

Even if we all reduced our fuel consumption by 10% more that would make a huge difference I think.

So am I unreasonable to think like that?

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cx2lvq4el5vo

When this sort of shit stops I'll think about it. In the meantime I'm not going to live a sackcloth and ashes existence. I already had to give up plastic straws for drinking through literal sheets of paper ffs and for what? McDonalds recently replaced coffee lids too for cardboard/fibre lids and quickly returned to the plastic lids as the fibre lids were leading to so many complaints. Why not soldier on with them if it's so good for the environment? It was most likely starting to affect their bottom line. It's all bloody ridiculous.
Where I live there's a big deal made about seperating the recycling from the main rubbish bin. All great until it was noticed that the same trucks are collecting both and we don't have any facilities to process the recycling in most of the country. (Ireland)

For 40 years, Jane has operated an "if it really mattered" view on life.

When you apply this filter to life it's amazing how it changes.

The climate catastrophe does rather fail this test.

Do you know what your carbon footprint is ? Does anyone ? How about your local NHS trust ?

I rest my case.

It's a volume issue - 5 people washing to get dry in a sparsley heated house it was going musty even with de-humifier.

But when the house was cold the volume of washing wasn't drying even with de-humfier running so had to finishin driers or wash again. Offically the average number of rain days here is 180 .

If there less washing to dry - more days you can dry outdoor - or an actual drying a room area or a ceiling you can put a drying rack in (have false on so can't) or wood burner/wood coal fire you can stand washing in front of (don't have any fire places) then yes - I image you can dry without increasing electricity costs.

Our house and our needs meant we found it was more cost efficent to put the heating and enjoy a warmer house dry washing with de-humifier going and find out it wasn't costing us more.

I think the de-humifier work better in warm homes as well - also when I say there was no heating on I do mean no heating not it was down to a set temp.

You’re not wrong except for the everyone part. Your message should be for the well off and rich who are heating swimming pools, and flying in jets. The average person shivering in their 2 bed and riding a bus isn’t going to make a difference.

I dont mind sharing the pavement with cyclists if the roads are too dangerous

I would like to have an electric car and solar panels but both are still too expensive for most households to just switch. I hope there are some incentives.

No I am not going to change anything

I have solar panels

I have care responsibilities so cannot turn the heat down

I absolutely agree with you, but again I think the solution there is for the government and local councils to be stronger and braver. There will always be individuals who act against the public interest and so our structures need to protect the rest of us from the impact of them, just because they're louder or more well funded. My point was more about the people who might want to try to do something but that's going to negatively affect them (be cold, be poorer, be late, be more time poor) when the answer is for the state to make improvements. It's not the responsibility of individuals who are already struggling to fix an upcoming fuel crisis. But I hear you on cycling. Where I live should be a cycling haven, with different close villages and towns interconnected and kids regularly cycling to school. My youngest would love to cycle to school. But the road infrastructure is a death trap and because we're just off the motorway we get lots of speeders who haven't noticed they're now in a village. On a rainy day walkers will be splashed by drivers flying through puddles. The school parking is very unsafe and people regularly park in a way that is honestly antisocial. The church just down the road makes their car park available but people would rather park on the footpath or block roads outside the school. I think that's maybe a different type of response than reducing fuel usage, but I see where you're coming from in terms of some people just never think of others and what would the impact be if they could be more considerate!

Thr Government still wants their tax on the fuel

Probably they do. Can't fix the stupidity of those who don't want to hear.
Still true however that infrastructure investment will have a lot more impact than individual gestures

Complete non sequitur. Although you'll presumably press a few buttons with that one.

https://www.theregister.com/2026/03/11/asia_work_from_home_iran_response/

An adult giving up plastic straws is hardly life changing.

Nobody said it was. But it’s an unnecessary and ridiculous pain in the arse.

As a result I just bulk buy in plastic straws now and take them out with me.

As a result I just bulk buy in plastic straws now and take them out with me

When kids had braces we got metal and bamboo re-usabale collapsible straws to carry round - they come in keyring holders with cleaning straws. They found it easier than carting round plastic straws TBH - clip it on a bag and it's there rinse out when home or shove in normal washing up years later still going strong.

I find it amusing and ironic that people expect the British in the UK to make things much harder for themselves, yet don’t ask the rest of the world to make the same sacrifices. Tell the Chinese they should do more for the environment and they’ll laugh and call you delusional. Efforts must be global, or they simply won’t work.

China is growing and developing rapidly every day without much regard for environmental responsibility, while the UK is becoming poorer and less developed as it focuses on protecting the environment.

I don’t like anything reusable. It’s so much easier to just get out a plastic straw and chuck it once it’s done.

Plus it’s a point of principal too 🤷‍♀️ I am NOT on the eco train.

China may still be the biggest polluter, but it’s definitely working on it
www.bbc.co.uk/news/resources/idt-8d2b6944-4f7a-45b4-96fd-2d92499ff97d

China is growing and developing rapidly every day without much regard for environmental responsibility,

China is the world’s largest driver of renewable energy, accounting for over half of global capacity additions in 2024 with 360 GW of new wind and solar. They still use fossil fuels as well.

The U.S. produces significantly more CO2 per person than China. In 2024, US emissions were roughly 17.3 tonnes per person, while China's were roughly 7.5- 8.6 tonnes per person. However, China is the largest total emitter as they have more people and also do a large proportion of the world's manufacturing.

Fair enough.

I do remember reading the paper straws with plastic lining were harder to rec-cyle then the obvious plastic straws - but we've found re-usable ones easier for us so it's not really a problem for us.

I find it amusing and ironic that many people seem to be against the concept of the UK being self-sufficient in energy, and would rather we continued importing fossil fuels.

We could have been 100% self sufficient in the 1980s.

We didn't want to, so that was that. It's why I moved to the IT end of STEM as it was clear nuclear was going nowhere. (Ironically much like the digs in Sellafield 😀)

People can fuck right off with their whinging now.

Why do adults need straws

I have fatigue. On all manner of things.

All the years I have been an adult, there seem to be constant lectures about various things. I'm fatigued with the lectures. I'm not listening at all any more and I might actively modify my behaviour to spite all those who give these lectures or try to give these nudges.

I'm going to do what I do and you don't have to like it and I'm going to be refusing to take any lectures or nudges about it.