What are you NOT giving up for climate change?

[TheBeesKnee]

As in, something you know would be beneficial and you actively refuse to do it.

I refuse to take 4 minute showers. My showers last 15-20 minutes, 30 if I've had a really bad day. A nice hot shower relaxes me and I can't abide the thought of feeling stressed in there trying to wash before the clock runs out.

To balance this out so that you don't all think I'm a terrible person, I was vegan for 10 years 🙈

Just wondering what others are clinging on to?

You understand that what’s happening is real right? The science isn’t made up. Does it make everyone feel better to pretend it’s not real and make little deals about what they’ll hang on to? If your kids are babies now it’s very unlikely there’ll even be coffee available to consumers when they’re adults. They’ll be lucky to have access to a functioning food system. My brother is a climate scientist and he is an absolute wreck knowing what’s going to hit us. It’s terrifying to see him like that, but he’s just going by the evidence. I just can’t get my head around whether people on here really understand what’s going to happen in our lifetimes, or if it’s too scary to really accept it and it feels comforting to have threads like this instead.

If it's going to happen, then what would be the point in going back to the stone ages if we're all going to suffer and die anyway?
That's like being diagnosed with a terminal illness and spending the last of your able bodied days laid in bed.

Also why are you using the internet if you more that worried? Presumable you live in a self built hut in the woods by now with how bad it is.

Honestly. We are growing veggies, planting fruit trees, have solar panels and an old house. Our state is cutting off gas to new homes. I keep and reuse our things, we all have refillable water bottles for example, and buy second hand. I’ve just bought Dh and I new bath towels, the old ones are 15 years old. We walk where we can, I train to work (Dh has to drive). I try and avoid highly packaged foods, so eg I refuse to get a coffee pod machine, I don’t buy single serve sultana boxes, single serve yoghurts. Muesli bars are only for eating on the go/ outside the house, they are too highly packaged for just snacking at home. We get veggie boxes delivered- no packaging. Our recycling shelf includes bread tags jar, batteries, textiles, e waste. I am in a local group that shares hard rubbish both ours and those put out on the street to maximise reuse. The mental load of trying to reuse, buy sensibly and recycle not to mention garden- barely any of my last seed planting came up- when you both work full time with 3 young children is quite high. We are trying. I think it is a good exercise for me to acknowledge where I could try harder (I guess having 3 dc is in that column) I know what you mean, but is it productive to just have a go like that? Will it change anything?

Personally I'm not giving up anything. I grew up extremely poor, never had a holiday, no car, no new clothes or electronics.
So am I willing to stop enjoying my life when I'm just little old me living in a village in the uk, no.
There is nothing that I personally can do to stop the polar ice caps melting, I'm not superwomen. Besides one thing my life experiences have taught me is that in 1 hour I could be dead. And I've had a hideous life for the most part, so I'm not going to worry about things that are out of my control.

Why give up foreign holidays? Flight free travel with trains, ferries, yachts… are completely possible to all sorts of destinations!

My guinea pigs.

eating meat.

I don't drive, or fly. Public transport only. I don't take baths. My biggest climate sin, as it were, is single use plastic. I've been trying to cut down. One thing for me has been giving up those takeaway plastic drinks cup that hold my frappucino.

You know places outside of Europe exist right?

I couldn’t go abroad without flying.

My diesel suv

This aswell

I’m vegan 5 days a week and vegetarian for 2. I don’t fly, I recycle and cook from scratch as much as possible to avoid too much plastic waste. I have an electric car but I use public transport and walk as much as I can. In the next feel years I’m moving to solar and heat pumps. My house is well insulated but I will improve that.

There are parts of the world now which are a lot further along with dealing with climate change and who are suffering horribly. Where women, children and the vulnerable are fighting to simply exist.

I don’t believe it’s too late and I loathe the idea that “I’m alright Jack” to hell with everyone else and to hell with the future.
No one is perfect but everyone can do something and everyone can put pressure on leaders and industries to do their part.

If you can’t afford to change your car or if you can’t use public transport then just do what you can.

But glorifying your efforts to contribute to climate collapse and the destruction of the future seems pathetic.
I think the people who moan about not having plastic straws are some of the most pathetic! Get a grip!

I wish you all had a little more empathy and could for one second imagine the life of someone in the Horn of Africa fighting to exist. Or someone in Pakistan who lost everything in the flooding. You’ll probably say that people have always been poor but if you look at the statistics then climate change is making them a whole lot poorer.

But at least they don’t have to deal with the trauma of plastic straws.

Agree.

I'm glad i don't have kids to suffer what is coming. Yet ironically i live far more environmentally conscious than most childed people.

Sad.

Anything to be honest. I don't even think about it. If I want to do it, I do it.

Nothing.

@MomentOnTheLips can I ask why you have a pick-up truck? I am totally baffled by their existence. They’re so dangerous for pedestrians (especially children) and expensive to buy and drive, have appalling emissions and don’t seem particularly attractive practical (like a van would work better for most uses) that I don’t understand them at all. But they seem to be growing in popularity so I’m wondering what I’m missing?

Driving. I can't imagine trying to lug my family's food shopping home on a bus.

I don't worry about it, because my frustration lies with higher authorities. Government does little, climate change conference in Scotland? last year apparently achieved practically nothing.

Did you see the BBC programme on Heat pumps, 2 days ago, and nuclear power stations being built. Was all quite saddening that they are no obvious solutions to these issues.

Having children.

I work in sustainability and I am a massive greenie. I take it all very seriously.

But I wanted children so I had them.

Nothing. I'm child free by choice so I'm already doing more than the majority of people.

Posting again to add- as individuals the best difference we can make is to lobby governments to impose laws that protect the environment, and put economic pressure on companies to reduce their impact.

The impact we make in our homes is negligible compared to farming practices, freight, manufacturing etc.

Write to the companies you buy from and tell them you'll be purchasing from companies that lower their footprint, have science based NetZero targets and invest in sustainability R&D.

Then have your 20 minute shower with a clean conscience.

Disposable nappies, I just can't with the others.
My car - it's economical to drive and doesn't drink fuel but I will drive my car whenever and wherever I need.
Flying - haven't for a couple of years now but I will be getting back into it. Holidays and travelling are important to me.

Cleaning wipes. They are indispensable.

Do you not have to pay for water usage in UK?

Meat. There simply aren’t enough vegan/vegetarian meals that my family all like.

Living rurally. Even though I probably have a high carbon footprint from getting around, I don’t think I could ever be happy living in a town/city.

I do care about eco issues though and don’t fly more than once every 4 or 5 years. I also try to be responsible with what I buy for my home; most of the items in my house are second hand or 15+ years old. We recycle a lot and I’m teaching my children to be aware of what they can do to help.

I guess buying bananas for my kids. I think there's no way it can be good to be paying £1 for a big bunch of fruit that has traveled halfway across the world, there must be a fairly big human and environmental cost in it. I can't imagine it's sustainable long term.
If I had money for holidays I guess I'd keep one a year, maybe, it's hard to say not being in that kind of position because it sounds quite nice to able to go travelling so if I was rich I probably wouldn't give up a holiday a year but maybe I'd try and make it as low environmental impact as possible.

A 20-minute shower wastes a shocking amount of water, not to mention the emissions for heating and treating it. The UK is less likely than some parts of the world to find itself short of water, I guess, but showering like that does seem to me to be the very definition of unsustainable.

The thing is that at some point it won't be a choice to 'give up' these things or not. They won't be possible, or accessible because rationed (when we are sharing resources with millions of climate refugees from elsewhere) or prohibitively expensive. It's all very well saying big companies should be doing their share (and I quite agree) but governments will be legislating for individuals as well.

As a culture, we are very used to having what we want, when we want it. That'll change - we're overdrawing on resources and at some point the bank is going to freeze our account. The idea of 'won't give up this' or 'won't give up that' as if things like meat or flying are some kind of compensation for the inconveniences of life just isn't sustainable.

As an aside - 'childed people'?