So scared for my children.

[Hiker50]

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/ng-interactive/2024/may/08/hopeless-and-broken-why-the-worlds-top-climate-scientists-are-in-despair
I feel terrified for them. I just hope we can start to make some changes in the next few years.
I don’t talk to them about it but I just do end my time thinking about what I can do to try and help them in the coming years.

It is scary. On an individual level all you can do is vote wisely, be as environmentally aware as you can at home and encourage this with your children and avoid driving/flying etc where possible. Beyond that there is little you can do other than hope everyone else wakes up to it!

I had to go to the US last year for work. I had been fretting about the carbon footprint of the flight etc. I got off the flight to see so much waste, excess of everything, it was shocking. The uk are pretty progressive on this issue as far as I can see, but everything we do as an individual is undone in about ten seconds in the states. Gas guzzling monster trucks, plastic disposable everything, massive, sheer wastage of food that means intense farming on scales we couldn't possibly imagine.

At some point there will be money to be made in savings the planet but until that time comes then nothing will happen. I think the key thing to remember is that our DC will be fine, it's our grandchildren and great grandchildren who will suffer. I hope my DC choose to stay child free.

People won’t stop. Just look at the likes of B&M churning out cheap Chinese crap that ends up in landfill. They aren’t going to close their business are they? Times that by thousands, possibly millions of businesses who sell a load of shit, plus the businesses who make the shit. What’s the government going to do - tell all of these businesses they have to shut down? And people aren’t going to stop consuming this junk either. They want stuff and if it’s available they’ll buy it no matter how much it damages the planet.

Fact is, there are too many people. It’s simply not possible to accommodate them all in a sustainable way. I work in a manufacturing business - sustainable goods cost more and people simply won’t pay it, or can’t pay it.

We are going to hell in a hand basket. But I’ll be dead in half a century so 🤷‍♀️

Oh for goodness sake , they are climate scientists.Spreading doom and gloom is what puts food on the table and a roof over their head.

There needs to be a global wake up and reset. We managed it with Covid. The problem is people won’t want their freedoms or pleasure restricted - it’s a hard ask to go backwards in terms of lifestyle.

Not sure where you’ve got that from @ageratum1 ?

You have only got to look at the news or out the window to see the effects of the climate crisis.

If you live in the northern hemisphere your children will be fine, although the world will be vastly more fucked. Grandchildren will inherit a ruined earth. And it’s too late to stop that.

Don’t fly.
Vote well
hold politicians to account
dont slag off or even better support XR or JSO - they are expressing what we should all be feeling you might not like the method
Stop buying new clothes
teach your children to care for the earth - this is hard as they are modelled rampant consumerism all the time.

While it is terrifying, life/the future has always been terrifying. I think climate change is definitely going to change the world in all kinds of bad ways, from animal extinctions to civil unrest. However, children growing up in the UK are some of the most fortunate in the world. Even if the gulf stream switches off plunging us into Canadian style winters the UK has the wealth and resilience to adapt. We should do what we can personally to reduce our carbon emissions, make wise choices (don't buy a house on a flood plain or low lying coastal area), campaign/vote on the issue. But we should also enjoy our beautiful world for what it is now. Get out in nature, listen to the birds singing and watch nature doing its thing.

I'd be more worried about WW3 to be honest, which will arrive within the next 10 years most likely.

It's a huge factor in why I chose to have no children. Things are going to change hugely in my lifetime. Humans are a cancer on the planet.

Not much you can do.
I think our children see us consuming all the goods we have... so they want the same!
Once they are old enough to relise that they/ we should consume less, the are probably raising the next generation of consumers, their jobs will be depending on consumerism and their lifestyle will not allow them to cut down on consuming goods easily.

I had a similar conversation about energy consumption and wind turbines spoiling the landscape ect. on top of mountain ridges. Problem is, we all want and consume this energy ... we think we need it for work and play.

The problem is places like India and china cant/wont stop. Whats the point in giving up things we enjoy (fast cars and nice holidays for one) when it's likely to have very little effect.

Banning beef sales would be a really good place to start or some kind of ration card for meat. Whatever is asked of the public needs to be practical and realistic.

Also stop calling it global warming no one in the UK is going to oppose an increase in temperature!

I read the article and also felt dread for the future. I've always been environmentally conscious but I'm almost wondering what the point is when the world's leaders won't change. However, there is good work being done and I think the answers are out there, at some point it will get so bad that the leaders will have to address the issue. I also feel that humans are programmed for survival and will survive and thrive. One of the most distressing things for me is that the poorest in the world will be most affected, as they have the least autonomy. E.g. if there is mass migration the well off will be able to relocate and build new lives, but the poor will be displaced.

I'd be more worried about war getting us first

Have you changed your behaviour op? That’s all each of us can do really

I am in my 50's. Like most of my friends despite being comfortable we don't buy stuff unless we need it, we recycle, we plan to minimise food waste, try to eat well etc.

What i see with young people is rampant consumerism. Wanting the latest phone, buying cheap mass produced clothing, wanting to travel the world.

Climate change is a massive issue but it's the young that need to look at themselves and their behaviour. This has changed massively in my lifetime, esp since about 2010 I'd say. There used to be more education on this than ever, it's covered at school etc - so why aren't young people taking it seriously?

It's The Guardian! 😂

Scaremongering at its finest.

Tbf it’s not just young people wanting this

Older age groups may do it more due to funds idk

Much more sensible to worry about a global pandemic with a high mortality rate, + antibiotic resistance, really terrifying and will probably solve the climate change problem. It baffles me why people don’t see it as a priority.

Too many people is the problem. Not a reusable cup.

We've completely changed the trajectory of climate change over the past 10 years. Things are looking far, far better. There will still be problems, and we can do a lot better, but it's no longer looking like being the human-extinction event that we were previously facing.

@Meadowtrees I worry about that as well.

I don’t fly, I drive an EV - sparingly, I am vegan. I’m currently wearing a dress I bought 15 years ago.

Thank you for the interesting responses. I really hope we start to adapt soon. I know the progression of solar has been astounding this year, especially in China.
I love my kids but if I was thinking about having kids now I probably wouldn’t. I think life is going to get much much harder.

Every generation thinks that life is going to get harder. The depression. Rise of Nazism. Cold war. Nuclear weapons. Ozone layer.

No it isn't - that is a myth. Its the lifestyle of a small number of people that is the problem, not the total number of people

I think the best thing we can do is vote Green at the next election

Exactly. If we all ate less meat, used trains instead of cars and planes, and purchased a bit less clutter, we'd all be a bit better off.