AIBU to feel hopeful that the British public could push the government to act on the climate emergency and avoid the point of no return?

[beeble347]

Donning my hard hat, but here goes. I'm an ordinary mum, since having my DS I've been very concerned about the stark statistics on the climate emergency and what it means for my family's safety. I have no background in science, but have done my best to educate myself on this topic and try to note down statistics exactly as reported.

I recently went to a screening of the People's Emergency Briefing, a 45 minute film featuring Chris Packham, Jennifer Saunders and Deborah Meaden, as well as ordinary members of the public. It showed talks by a number of professors (from Oxford University, UCL, Newcastle and so on) and experts in their field. It was hard-hitting but I actually felt hopeful at the end and motivated to lobby my MP and county councillors, some of whom attended the same screening and took part in the discussion afterwards. Some have already replied to me with encouraging emails about their support for the issue, action they have taken to reduce our local emissions.

Experts are warning that current trajectories in our use of fossil fuels risk warming the planet by 3-4 degrees C by the end of this century. Nobody wants to hear this, but the UK would become uninhabitable. The temperature and weather changes that would result in the UK would mean we couldn't grow food in our soil.

Even keeping planetary warming to 2 degrees C would require a yearly reduction in emissions of 13%. The world is expected to cross the threshold of 1.5C global warming in the next 3-5 years. The UK has reduced its actual emissions (including international aviation and shipping, and imports and exports) by about 20% since 1990, or an average of 0.6% each year.

I really feel it's the public's right to be informed about the urgency of the situation and how tangible and possible the solutions are, if only the government realises how much support there is for these changes. Thinking about the climate emergency felt so hopeless before, but I actually feel a sense of possibility now.

I know not everyone will agree with me or want to discuss this, but I wanted to share some facts on the topic. I also think so many, if not all, of the major issues concerning voters today are fundamental linked to the climate emergency. As someone said in this film, "the physics doesn't care about politics". I think we all have a lot more in common than we realise. I thought we had more time to delay taking action, but it really is a national emergency. But the research has already been done effectively, the solutions are right there and they're not beyond our reach.

Voters:
81.5% of the British public said they were deeply concerned about climate impacts in 2026.

National security (expert - Lt General Richard Nugee): this was one I found most shocking

• climate change meaning farmers can no longer earn a living, means they are more likely to be recruited by "non state actors" as the Lt Gen says happened in Afghanistan and Iraq with ISIS
• the melting Arctic ice is a new potential for conflict. Apparently Russia is declaring it an "internal sea" whereas the UK is not alone in treating the Arctic as international waters. So a risk of conflict over access, resources and shipping routes.
• then there's the obvious impact on migration as places in the global south are hit harder and earlier by extreme weather events

Housing:
Up to 1 in 4 properties in the UK will be at risk of flooding by 2050.
Houses are continuing to be built today that won't withstand the more extreme weather (including heat, think of the 40 degrees reached in summer of 2022) that we will continue to experience

Cost of living:
Continued nature depletion in the next decade could significantly impact GDP, a decline of up to 12%. The 2008 financial crisis caused a decline in UK GDP of 6.3%.

The fossil fuels system wastes about 2/3 of its potential energy when it's used. The example given was if you put £18 of petrol in your car, you get £6 worth of energy from it to actually move its wheels.

Food security:
With the closure of the Strait of Hormuz and the impact on international shipping and fertiliser prices, food prices are projected to increase by 50% by November. We need to be supporting British agriculture and making best use of the land we have available. Secondly, we have to support farmers in mitigating flooding and extreme heat and frosts.

Cost of Net Zero:

• £4 billion a year, paid back by 2041, represents 0.2% of GDP
• saves $12 trillion compared to staying on fossil fuels
• inflation would have been 7% lower if we had decarbonised the energy sector
• the total estimated cost of the UK transition to Net Zero is now 73% cheaper than thought (5 years ago)
• In the last decade, the cost of offshore wind energy production has dropped 50%. The cost of solar has dropped by 70%.

Points of Hope:

• electric vehicles were expected to have 20% of the market share by 2030. They have already reached that benchmark and are projected to have 40% market share by 2030.
• the UK has one fifth of the world's offshore wind capacity

This isn't everything but I wanted to start the conversation. I've joined a local branch of a national organisation pushing for action on the climate emergency. I've written to my MP and local county councillors, one of whom told me to set a weekly reminder and email my local representatives - she said parties at the moment don't know what they stand for and pressure from the public IS effective. I'm growing my own vegetables, joined my local nature group and hoping to start a seed swap.

Sorry for the length of this and if I've posted in the wrong place. I felt really hopeless and alone in the face of the climate emergency but I can see the momentum that's gathering and hope that this may reach someone who wasn't aware of some of the facts, who does want change and who gets some inspiration for how to make that change happen.

Also global action such as banning cfc's did help with the ozone layer.

Committed global action can work

You haven’t outsourced anything. You think the UK owns the manufacturing capacity overseas? You contract with suppliers. You direct nothing. You own nothing.

We're getting our goods manufactured in China, India, Pakistan etc.

Whether it's direct outsourcing or not, the effect is the same.

There is another thread where people are discussing the virtues of getting real Greek yogurt trucked all the way from Greece.

I agree with everything you have said OP - but I don't have faith in politicians, from any country, to do what actually needs to be done. I think they will keep kicking the can down the road until it's too late. I would dearly love to be proved wrong.

Can I point you all in the direction of a 2020 film called 'Kiss the Ground' which you can watch on Prime Video - "Kiss the Ground is a groundbreaking film that reveals a viable solution to the climate crisis. By regenerating the world’s soils, we can stabilize Earth’s climate, restore ecosystems, and create abundant food supplies. The film shows how soil can draw down atmospheric carbon, completing the climate puzzle." - I have watched this twice now and I honestly feel that everyone should watch it, it is hugely eye opening and incredibly important. Soil is a massive carbon sink that can sequester carbon from the atmosphere - this film shows how soil has been destroyed and how, but also how it can be repaired and what a massive difference it would make to CO2 emissions.

In addition - can I also fly the flag for pollinators! We absolutely cannot cannot cannot live without them, but we are destroying them and their habitat. Can I please put out a plea to all of you to actively avoid using chemicals of ANY kind in your gardens - pesticides, weed killers, fungicides, synthetic man-made fertilisers, because they ALL do massive harm. If you spray your rose with aphid killer you will also be killing loads of non-target species like bees - there are loads of other ways to get rid of pests, you don't need chemicals. If you put synthetic fertiliser in soil it kills and damages loads of creatures in the soil microbiome which are essential for healthy soil and plant growth. And chemical weed killers are hugely hazardous to human health. Glyphosate, for example (an ingredient in weedkillers like Roundup), is thought to cause cancers like non hodgkins lymphoma - please avoid spraying this stuff in your garden, it is genuinely terrrible stuff. Bad for humans and bad for the environment. There is always another way to resolve issues in your garden. We need to do all we can to actively protect pollinators - we will have terrible food security problems without them.

Nannyfannybanny · Today 09:22
We survived the ice age..

The population during the last ice age was tiny and people survived by migrating south. I don't see that working today! And they were after a Mammoth steak for dinner - they didn't do agriculture in those days.

I agree with what you say about the relatively small level of emissions we produce. My problem with taking some kind of action about climate change isn't that I'm not prepared to make personal sacrifices - I am, and I do. It's the depressing feeling that what I do, and what the UK does, is a drop in the ocean of the damage being done worldwide.

But I still think it's worth doing what we can, however ineffective it might sometimes seem.

And boo to the people who like to wear vest tops indoors all winter and crank up the heating to compensate (put a jumper on) or who sit outside on summer evenings with a patio heater heating up the world (put a jumper on).

It's not difficult and you'd actually save yourself a bit of money in bills!

CoffeeCanata, I became veggie over 50 years ago.DH pension lump sum was spent on solar panels and batteries. I've been recycling over the 50 years.i have a trench mac and camel jacket over 40 years old. We have 4 greenhouses, grow a lot of our own fruit and veg. Last holiday almost 17 years ago. We don't use pesticides.Plenty for the pollinators,we had blue tits nesting this spring. Definitely a jumper woman!