To feel really worried about climate change in this heatwave

[Fulbe]

This heatwave has been caused by climate change but there seems to be hardly any discussion about this at all. It seems that people are focused so much on getting air con or massive paddling/ swimming pools without thinking how that might be actually contributing to the problem. People outside the school gates idling their engines to keep their air con turned on whilst creating more pollution.

I think I remember reading somewhere that we've released 6 million years' worth of CO2 in the past 150 years. Something needs to stop but consumption and car use seem to be increasing.

Am I the only one to be concerned about this and that we're just slipping into a future of more dangerous heatwaves?

@Fulbe Climate change has got so much WORSE not better by human activity.

Why keep having children, if they’re going to suffer catastrophic effects from global warming?

I bet the companies that produce all this plastic film make more money than the farmers growing the food. I bet they are very rich in fact but we never hear about them.

The production of all this plastic packaging must produce a huge amount of chemical pollution. We never get told about the production process - we (the consumer and the local councils) just get all the responsibility shifted onto us to recycle it. The weight of responsibility is all wrong. The producer of this stuff should be responsible by law.

But children are only going to make things worse if they continue to be as bad and big a consumer as the people living currently are.

Imagine instead if all those new little hands were planting and maintaining trees instead? We could shelter the world from heat in a matter of years if everyone planted and cared for the greenery we need.

A utopian idea I know, but it's my next big project. Anyone fancy joining me?

there is a huge decline in soil quality after 40 years of not rotating cattle or sheep on it. There is less actual soil and less nutrients in the soil.

The soil degredation is largely because of ploughing / tilling, particularly on slopes, and there are numerous studies into this. Ploughing disrupts the ecosystem and causes leaching of nutrients through run off and it causes further erosion of the topsoil by the weather. Drought inevitably worsens this. I’ve read estimates that there’s as little as 40 years of topsoil left, but in any event, the nutrient value of crops declines, added to which crops have an increased need for water when fields have been ploughed.

Some farms are no longer ploughing at all and numerous countries in the African continent do not plough. They’re also good at water conservation systems.

Most farmers have been min till for a number of years now.

Mixed farmer here. Manure is essential!

Another poster on a different thread mentioned Solarpunk. It’s worth reading about.

Thank you so much for this heads up.

Never heard of solar punk but my first google of it led me to this desert seeder that a St Martins graduate is designing.

(this is exactly the kind of amazing new tech we desperately need!!!)

https://www.yankodesign.com/2026/03/20/a-wind-powered-tumbleweed-that-heals-the-desert-as-it-rolls/

I would have thought the most likely outcomes are population control through either war for the remaining resources or disease.

Decades ago, I remember being on a climate action protest with my father when I was a small child. He was talking to other parents who had their young children with them, as they were passing by. The general consensus was that climate change was a myth. I remember one man with a child younger than I was, my Dad said “are you not concerned about your child’s future?” And the man said no, if the climate is buggered, then that’s their problem.

I feel like that has been the general consensus of the public and the decision makers for a generation. From when they were first warned about it. Take what they can whilst they can, because the damage caused will not be their issue. My FIL is in his 80’s, he’s still adamant climate change is nonsense and we should continue utilising fossil fuels over renewable energy. The generations that could have stopped this, didn’t. We’re over the tipping point now. My young children are going to reach adulthood in a very hostile world. Economically, politically and environmentally.

We're not destroying the planet, we are changing it's ecology and habitats.
Humans will adapt and survive for a good while yet.
Unfortunately we tend to be reactive not proactive, but I think we'll come up with something
The distant future might not be the one that you would like, but I am still looking forward to mine

Enjoy your defeatism and your acceptance of the horrific suffering of millions. Some of us won't go down without trying.

Another one who would like to know this. Always suffered being too warm and no sympathy so beginning to run out of reciprocal sympathy for these cops all the time people, who society seems to accept. After all it’s the huge amount of heat introduced into the atmosphere that’s caused the warming trend and led to the need for air conditioning!

I thought it used more energy to heat than to cool

Speak for yourself

We are destroying our ability to survive rather than destroying the planet. The Earth will endure, but human activity is radically and destructively altering the environment, making the planet increasingly hostile to human civilization and the ecosystems we depend upon.

I could absolutely go with that. It would make a change from artificially pristine lawns that contribute nothing to the absorption of greenhouse gases, and would compensate for all the greenery being ripped up and replaced by hot concrete and tarmac in new housing and other developments.

Do you buy material goods? Do you use fossil fuel to heat your home?

It is exactly this blindness to reality and selfishness that has got us where we are.

There will be fair few more waves of life after us in various forms before the sun collapses!

And some ploughing is necessary for weed control. Otherwise you would have to spray more pesticides. Less ploughing is recommended yes, but some is needed.

you cannot just take take take from the soil. Rotating in livestock establishes grass meadows, the roots of the grass grounds the soil and prevents erosion, as does the trampling from hooves.

the manure and the actual grass adds to the bulk of the soil. Which is what we need. Adding. Like in a garden you have to add manure/compost.

I am not going to get into a debate about this but no, it’s not necessary to plough to suppress weeds. There’s plenty of literature on this.

Certainly you don’t just take from the soil. There are many ways to avoid doing that without using animals. I appreciate if that’s the way you do things, that’s what you believe is the only way.

The number of zero till farms is small in the UK, I grant you. I’m not saying you’re mistaken and I’m not going to try to persuade you because you do what you do. There are other ways.

Sorry, I haven't read the full thread, but if you'd like to take action to make our government keep going with plans to slow down global warming, rather than bowing to the demands of massive companies like Shell who are making massive profits at the expense of our planet, then why not write to your MP, and ask them what they are doing about it? If you've never done it before, you can find your MP's contact details here. Alternatively, you could join Green Peace, or start your own petition on one of the sites like 38 degrees.

The problem is that all too many of us sit and moan about the problems we're facing, but when it comes down to it, we're too lazy to step up and do something. If instead, we ALL took action and emailed our MP, asking them what they're doing about climate change, we could make a difference, but how many of us here on MN will actually bother??

I've done it, will you??

Are farmers offered once gives to.plant crops which are likely to do better in a warmer climate? I don't just mean in the UK, I mean in other countries?

Are governments encouraging people to consider new or different foods which would be less impactful?

Who here all heats their home with a gas boiler?

I'd happily work on an organic farm weeding and composting for the minumum wage.

Sadly no farmer seems to employ labourers for this purpose anymore.

I'd feel really satisfied that I was helping the environment and I could survive on minimum wage if I had the feel good factor of a meaningful job.

Anyone in East Sussex/Kent want me? Organic growers only!