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.

I agree that events in the past decade have been significant but I still believe that real change will only come when it’s too late.

Food shortages that impact supply chains to the point of rationing, massive flooding, droughts, wild fires are things we’ve heard about but only when they actually happen on people’s doorsteps will the mentality switch.

I take the points on improvements which are welcomed, and birth rate

But I think resources generally will be stretched, amd how realistically can we move from fossil fuels in terms of timeframe?

Do people have an optimal birth rate and global population in mind? Just out of interest. We’ve gone up so much in the last 100 years, maybe a birth related decline isn’t too bad.

Ageing population issues aside which technology/ AI may help with

It may be true that over 65's take the most holidays abroad (although amongst the people I know it certainly is not true) but it is youngsters buying new clothes all the time and throwing away perfectly fine clothes.

Also look at any music festival and the absolutely disgusting mess left behind. Tents, sleeping bags, tables, chairs, barbeques all left behind and they are so lazy they can't even take their tents down. They also leave all their food and drink rubbish all over the ground.

Older people do not take more overseas holidays than younger people:

Statista - 'An October 2022 study analyzed the share of adults from the United Kingdom who took overseas holidays in the past 12 months. Over the period considered, surveyed Britons aged 25 to 34 years vacationed abroad the most, with 62 percent of respondents from this age group taking an overseas vacation. By contrast, 27 percent of respondents aged 55 to 64 traveled overseas for holiday purposes.'

ABTA - ' With 18-24-year-olds set to be the most prolific travellers in 2024, ABTA – The Travel Association has delved into their plans for the year ahead at its annual Travel Trends conference today (28 November 2023) where it revealed ‘Four Trends for ’24’.

Dubbed Generation T by ABTA due to their enthusiasm for travel, almost three-quarters (72%) of them are planning to travel overseas in the next 12 months, the highest of any age group according to ABTA’s research[i].'

Terrified and also feel entirely helpless and hopeless.

Humans will be ashes in the ground long before the planet begins to burn up. You've got climate anxiety thanks to little snot goblins like Greta Thunberg. Life is far too short and too shitty to dwell on rubbish like this.

I had climate anxiety waaaaaay before GT. David Attenborough has been talking about it since the 'snot bag' was about 3 years old, not to mention a whole host of leading scientists since the mid 1970's!

@Hiker50 I hope you find this helpful - and positive!

So Theme 2 Personal or Household Action

(I'll use the term CO2e as shorthand for CO2 equivalent emissions which includes methane, nitrous oxides and all the other greenhouse gases.)

A massive amount of CO2e come from generating heat and power, that's electricity and gas for light, cooking and heating. The single biggest thing you can do to reduce household emissions is switch to renewable tariffs - these are available for both electricity and for gas. If you do this your home will be pretty much net zero in an instant. https://ecotricity.co.uk/ are high profile but there are of course others.

To find out how much energy you use dig out or go online to get twelve months of bills - these should have the amount of energy you use and the price you are paying. Compare this against the renewable tariffs.

Next up make your home more energy efficient - increase insulation until you can't physically fit any more in! Even relatively new homes are pretty inadequate. When or if you replace curtain get them thermally lined. If you are in the fortunate position to be considering an extension or extensive renovation double or even triple the insulation from building regs. For anything property or DIY related https://www.greenbuildingforum.co.uk/newforum/ is a great resource.

When you appliances or tech give up the ghost look at the energy performance - good brands will publish independently audited environmental product declarations, both apple and google do this for their phones. When your tumble drier dies please consider an un-vented heat pump model - ours uses minimal energy and all the heat is retained in the home. (It is pretty slow mind, but at least ten years old.) If you change your kitchen go induction - you'll never regret it!

Transport - walk if you can, if not cycle, public transport etc, EVs, PHEVs, ULEZ - all have pros and cons and all have been extensively covered elsewhere.

I don't agree with this. I think our children will definitely be very much affected.

Don't forget Calendar in 1938 https://www.rmets.org/sites/default/files/qjcallender38.pdf

People also do this when wild camping - just leave all their debris behind including their tents! Just sitting there . Who do they expect to clean it up?

In the main it is older people litter picking, planting trees, clearing up mess.

@Hiker50 Now it get interesting and takes a bit more effort.

Theme 3 Community and Group Action

As a parent I'm sure your kids attend extra curricular activities, sports clubs, Scouts, etc. Hopefully they also attend school. You may well undertake activities your self.

There are over 10,000 village halls in the UK, there are over 5000 sports facilities, there are 17,000 primary schools, there are 22,000 playing fields, there are 27,000 parks and green spaces. Many will be council run and owned but there are also 165,000 voluntary organisations. Every single one of these will need to develop a plan to reach net zero by 2050.

I would urge anyone who benefits from these facilities to join in developing the plans for net zero. That might be a local committee to look after the village or sports hall. It might be looking at wildlife margins down the local rec. There are loads of grants out there but applications take time and effort. Maybe set up a friends of school/sports club/scouts/wildlife trust etc. Contact the local council to see if there are any scraps of land that can be set aside for wildlife - gets kids involved in community science.

Leave the big stuff to government, academia and big business. But there are 19.7 million families in the UK that can make 19.7 million small differences and they all add up. (Without having to glue yourself to the road!)

And you'll meet new people and have fun doing it!

I was thinking about this with where I work. And everyday I drive past some abandoned land full of crap. Thank you you’ve inspired me enormously.

THIS IS INCREDIBLY HELPFUL. I’m going to go back over it all and look properly.
Thank you so so much.

@Hiker50 If you have trouble converting units go to Google and type e.g.

Sorry that's US Therm

UK Therm to kWh

Daftasabroom, thank you for your sensible, factual, verifiable posts. Sure you wouldn't like a job on the Grauniad?

@mydogisthebest - Well you’ll be pleased to hear one of my children died so that’s one less for me to worry about and you to condemn me for.
I find people like you hugely unhelpful. Fine - you decided not to have children. Good for you.
But ultimately your survival is down to people like me who have had children. Those children who will make the things you need, grow the things you eat, treat you when you need medical care and look after you when you get old.
I look after two relatives who decided not to have children and were quite vocal about it. Now both housebound and reliant on me.

I consider anyone who took the time to comment on why I had children really unhelpful. Bully for you if you didn’t have kids! Hooray and weren’t you all so very clever.
I did have children - and I want to do what I can to make their future happy.

So many people have shared excellent advice. @Daftasabroom Thank you so much.

@VolvoFan I just know you go on holiday in Dubai.
Greta is and inspiration.

@sleepyscientist 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.

Let's just turn that around: The problem is people like us can't/won't give up things we enjoy (fast cars and nice holidays). What's the point in people in India and China giving up their livelihoods when it's likely to have very little effect?

I don't think everyone's mentality will ever switch. There are still people who don't believe that the hole in the ozone layer was a real issue. Despite people like that, we fixed that issue.

Ten years ago, we were looking at a planet that was going to be 5 to 8c hotter by 2100, with no talk hope for change. Ten years later, that projection is now down as far as 2.6C hotter. The first projection is a Mad Max nightmare. The second... it's still problematic, but it's real change.

Honestly, no. I much prefer the aesthetics of the English countryside while it hasn't yet been fully concreted over for bird-killing wind turbines and solar panels... in one of the wettest and most dreary countries in the world. This silly overpopulated and expensive island is a joke.

I don’t think these are the biggest problems. We’re looking at half of the planet becoming uninhabitable. Billions of refugees flooding north into Europe and USA. BILLIONS.

Unless our armed forces start gunning people down to protect us we’re literally going to have people camping in the fields and attacking us for food and shelter. It will be the end of civilisation.

Oh thanks @Bromelain kisses to you.
I think it’s important on mumsnet to try and help people when they are struggling. If there is a worst case scenario then to tell them and see if you can push them over the edge.

There is no point sugar coating it. Do you want to be told fairy stories?