Climate change- what meaningful things can we do?

[inthecastle]

So obviously we all know climate change is an issue, but this heatwave has really made it hit home of what we can expect in the future if nothing changes.
So, what real things can I/we do to make a real, meaningful difference to how much we are contributing to climate change?
Realistically is it all about going vegan and not driving a diesel/petrol car?

Surely reducing consumption of all resources. Although electric cars reduce emissions if they aren’t powered with energy from renewable sources that’s not great. The also still use resources batteries aren’t made from natural & renewable resources they still have an impact. It’s the same for everything, recycling is great but we need to focus on reducing consumption.

The things I can do......

• Eat less meat - especially beef


• Reduce fossil fuel use, fewer petrol miles, less electricity use, less gas - which means better insulation in winter, cycling more, flying less.


• Shopping local and seasonal. Cook from scratch. Reduce food waste


• Avoid anything containing palm oil.


• Generally consume less, buy stuff that lasts and I actually need. Don't go with every flight of fashion.


• Recycle everything I can

I keep my car for at least a decade. My last one did 11.5 years before it got unreliable. We only need to put our wheelie bin out once every 6 or 7 weeks. Less landfill means less methane.

I know we need the Chinese, Indians and Americans on-board to make significant reductions but how can we ask them to reduce consumption if we don't lead by example?

Considering how policies will affect our future, so voting for parties who prioritise it rather than just emitting...hot air at the run up to elections.
Who sits in control of a given country is largely responsible for how this progresses, unfortunately.

Self awareness also important: not judging those who have to pay a premium to make 'cleaner' choices yet can't afford the luxury. Caring about the state of our planet should not be a luxury.
The system is stacked against progress in so many ways. Making moves to diminish poverty would be one of the most incredible things we could do to effect change.

Avoid trends : carnivore diet, excluding food groups.

Campaign for more infrastructure to make our communities less car dependent. I think this issue is growing worse, not better. We need to prioritise vast improvements to public transport and other, less toxic forms of travel.

Sadly most of this can only be done at government level. Our day to day posturing at home is largely (sadly) trend driven and status peacocking.

I think voting for the right people and lobbying politicians is the main way to effect change.

Boycotting organisations who have bad practices.

Somehow creating a child who is a genius and can convert heat to ice with a special formula and a whisk.

Don’t vote Tory (which has the benefit of being great for loads of issues!)

Stop flying.

Drive less or switch to an EV if you can.

But the biggest one imo is divesting from fossil fuel investment: change your pension, your ISA, your bank accounts, to ethical banks and investments.

Drive less

fly less

eat less meat

stop buying what we don’t need

keep all the trees we have and reforestate/rewild

drop the heating by a a degree or two

have fewer children

insulate

Make political noise about it. Drive it up the political agenda so it's not bottom of the Tory candidates' list of priorities FFS 😡

Invest your money ethically

People need to stop thinking of driving cars as necessity when there are other options. We need to stop thinking of flying abroad for holidays as so normal. We need to change how we live. Unfortunately most people won't give up those things.

Following for ideas!

We rarely eat beef but do eat other meat. Trying to use the tumble dryer less.

We have a diesel car though but it's a necessity. We are trying to combine trips and walk for shorter journeys.

Don’t pave over spaces or go for air con plant trees to lower temps

Help other organisations plant trees

Don't have children.

Nothing.

The vast vast majority of pollution comes from companies. You can try lobbying politicians but until the big corps put the world over profit not a single thing will change.

All the celebs swanning around the world in private jets do more damage in one trip than an average family does in a year.

Eating less meat does nothing, because it's still be produced.

It's absolutely shit.

I've been thinking about this, especially consumerism. I'm spending the summer in Canada (grew up here) where things seem to be even more this way inclined than in the UK. A few weeks ago I found my way to an article on 'steady-state' economy. I've only read a bit about it so far but it made me feel hopeful. The central idea is that GDP does not have to continue to grow in order for a country to have a good standard of living. It seems very much based in environmental economics but I hadn't heard about it until a few weeks ago. Has anyone else read about this?

Move your money out of the banks that invest in fossil fuels.

On an individual level I think we probably all know most of them. Our biggest impacts are diet, travel, heating/power, over consumption of goods. Most people are only prepared to change these things to the extent that it doesn’t impact them too much.

I live semi rurally and our half hourly bus service was cut. We now have a 2 hourly bus service that runs between 8-6 Monday to Friday which is useless for most people. I don't drive by the way and rely on this bus to get to and from work. If they stopped it I'd be screwed and would either have to move or learn to drive. There's no cycle lanes on the country roads and the idiots speeding down in their cars are so dangerous I don't feel safe cycling. Telling people to get out of their cars is fine if you live in a city or town with good public transport links and cycle lanes but governments need to invest in cheap, reliable, regular public transport for all otherwise that's never going to happen.

Climate change is caused by the earth’s orbit and not by man

Nothing.

The vast vast majority of pollution comes from companies. You can try lobbying politicians but until the big corps put the world over profit not a single thing will change.

All the celebs swanning around the world in private jets do more damage in one trip than an average family does in a year.

I agree with this. The influence of one of us ordinary people is insigificant compared with certain individuals in governments, organisations or companies.

I think you have choice of doing something and feeling morally satisfied with your behaviour when it all goes to shit or carrying on as normal and feeling guilty when it all goes to shit.

Peer reviewed published paper verifying this, please

Indians have extremely low carbon foootprints. Far lower than the UK per capita. Most familes don't even have cars. Most eat meat once a week. In what universe should they be asked to reduce consumption?

Roughly 75% of emissions come from burning fossil fuels so this is the place to start.

Anyone can move to a renewable energy tariff, it's easy and shouldn't cost much more.

Get as much insulation in your house as possible.

When your gas boiler packs in get an air source heat pump.

If you have an extension, double the insulation from building regs and get heat recovery installed.

Drive less, drive a little slower, drive the least polluting practical vehicle that you can afford.

Offer to take on the role of sustainability champion at the place where you work. The same goes for any clubs or other organisations such as schools.

Attend local council meetings and maybe stand for election. A lot of public transport comes from local funding.

Take any free sustainability training you can get, GHG Protocol is a good start.

Watch your elite. They do everything that is opposite to saving the planet but they will tell the everyone what to do.

The biggest "bang for buck" measure for combating climate change is population control both in developing countries where the birth rate is higher (average children 5 to 6 in many African countries cf 1.3 to 1.9 in Europe) but also in developing countries where due to higher wealth each person emits more pollution and consumes more resources) (for example average CO2 emissions per person is 37 tonnes per year in Qatar compared to 0.09 tonnes in Somalia).

Humans reached 1 billion around 1800, a doubling time of about 300 years; 2 billion in 1927, a doubling time of 127 years; and 4 billion in 1974, a doubling time of 47 years. It currently stands at 7.8 billion.

The most effective way to do this is through providing education to girls in developing countries and access to birth control in both developing and developed countries.

@Lookjaz the Earth's orbit and wobble is responsible for seasons not climate change. The activity of the sun has a direct impact on climate change that is true but it's in inactive phase currently so the earth should be cooling, it isn't. It is getting warm due to emissions of greenhouse gases.

And before you post something about volcanoes, they emit very little if any greenhouse gases and generally have a cooling effect.