Guest post: “Climate breakdown will affect us all.”

[MumsnetGuestPosts]

TLDR: The Mothers’ Climate March is on 12 May; Hyde Park corner to Parliament square. Come and join us.

I am not usually the sort of person who organises marches - I’ve never been an activist or a campaigner.

I really, really hate conflict. And asking people to do stuff.

But being a mother has changed me in some quite profound ways. If my kids are threatened, you can bet I’ll be there to protect them. If they need me to advocate for something, I’ll make myself do it; I’ll arrange meetings, write letters and have difficult conversations. In my time, I’ve thrown everything into getting them into good schools or trying to get my DS help for his SEN. And now I’m organising a march with a group of mums called Mothers Rise Up. This time it’s not just for my kids - it’s for everyone’s kids.

I’ve known our kids’ futures are threatened for some time now. For me, this knowledge has mostly manifested itself as an underlying sense of dread, humming in the background alongside a feeling of absolute powerlessness. A desire not to look. I’m talking about the C word.

Climate.

Climate breakdown, more specifically. You may not have heard of the IPCC report (it didn’t get loads of press)  -  it’s a collaborative report commissioned by the UN and worked on by hundreds of climate scientists. These scientists make predictions about how the climate will change and recommendations for what to do about it.

Historically they have always underestimated the speed and severity of climate change. Their most recent report is the first one I’ve read all of. I’d known about climate change - as much as we all know - and knew things were bad, but I hadn’t let myself realise quite how bad.

This report, I believe, is what has inspired the recent protests and documentaries such as the Youth Strike, Extinction Rebellion, and the recent David Attenborough documentary. The narration is in plain language, but it paints an alarming picture of what will happen to the world in our lifetimes if we do not all act quickly.

This is not about polar bears. Without rapid, systemic and far-reaching change there will be serious loss of human life. Climate breakdown will affect us all. Our food supplies, our homes and the other resources that we need to live are all under threat. Rising sea levels, ocean acidification, spreading deserts and natural disasters like forest fires, floods and typhoons will become more and more commonplace. This scenario is on track to happen in my old age, when my children are in their thirties and forties. Their kids, if they have them, will face threats and hardship unlike anything our generation has known.

This will not be solved by individuals diligently separating their recycling. Arresting climate change is possible, but it will require radical, systemic and rapid change.

Our children are already out there on the streets protesting, striking from school and demanding government action, but this mess is not theirs. We wholeheartedly support them, but they are too young to take this burden alone. It should be us who are out there demanding change and protecting them. This is something the current government needs to act on. It’s time for us to sort out this mess.

A group of us have come together to form Mothers Rise Up. On our own, we felt worried and powerless. As a collective, we are not powerless. We are organising. Our first step will be a march to demand government action: The Mothers’ Climate March is on International Mother’s Day, 12th May and will go from Hyde Park Corner to Parliament Square in London.

This guest post is your invitation to join in. To come to the march on Sunday 12th May, to email your MP, to make your change, to find a community that shares your concern over the future of our shared home. You can find us on Facebook or follow us on twitter @MothersRiseUp

Join us! Everyone is welcome. Like Mumsnet, we are powered by mums but we are not only for mums; anyone who cares about the future of our shared home will get a warm welcome. My DD is making cookies for the march so if you spot me and give me the Mumsnet wink I might persuade her to part with one.

This post is also your invitation to chat. I’ll be back in a few days to answer your questions. I also have a personal Mumsnet account @traynorbird where I generally lurk about giggling in AIBU and Classics. I’m happy to have a conversation there too.

First though, I have a question for you. Should there be a climate board on MN where we can form community around this issue? I think there should be.

Catherine will be returning to the guest post on 26/04/2019 to answer some of your questions

[bluejelly]

Personally I'd happily pay more tax if I knew my grandchildren (and other people's grandchildren) could have a cleaner, greener future.

Also, governments found huge amounts of money to bail out banks after the 07/08 crash. Surely they can find money to bail out the planet?

[KateXland]

Hey
I'm a mumsnet lurker and I've not commented for literally years.
But you got me with 'this is not about the polar bears*'.

I have taken many personal steps to reduce my impact on the planet. Vegan. No car. As little plastic as possible. Tried to influence school/work in green directions. Stood for election for Green Party. Signed many a petition. And yes joined XR.

But the defensiveness and criticism levelled at anyone/any group trying to take action frustrates me so much.
Eg 'well I saw someone on an Extinction Rebellion protest drinking from a plastic bottle, so if they aren't green then they can't tell me what to do/don't care about the planet/it's all bollocks.'

The potential solutions to this include:

• government banning/taxing/making polluter pay for plastic bottles
  
• incentivise companies that make glass bottled products
  
• providing refilling stations (starting to happen)
  
• encouraging cafes/pubs etc to refill for free
  

If the only choice when standing on bridge with no shade protesting is to take a drink from a plastic bottle or dehydrate, then you have to drink from plastic. So try to imagine a world where there are other solutions and make it happen.

This is what we need government to do. We can't carry on. Our lifestyles are not sustainable. Our children face a future of food insecurity, mass migration and conflict as a direct consequence of climate change.

Our generation are the first to realise the true scale of the problem and the last with the chance to do something about it.
(I didn't come up with that but it's late and I can't remember who did. Please tell me if you know!)


*obviously, I care about the polar bears too

[WarmthAndDepth]

Madeye, can I add switching to a plant based diet and avoiding flying to your list; the two single most impactful measures any individual can take to reduce their carbon footprint (bar not procreating).
Plink, the guest on Frankie Boyle's show was George Monbiot, who has written very powerfully on the subject of climate change. A quick Google should set you up with some educational bedtime reading. I think he upset many people by suggesting that we are all just tinkering around the periphery with switching to biodegradable cotton buds, but we mustn't lose sight of the bigger picture and indulge in the luxury of being offended or taking things personally; he's right.
GuestPoster, I think you are doing something great and worthwhile and I for one have been thinking of coming to the march since I first saw a post about it on FB a while ago. I also think the reason the Climate board doesn't have much traffic is that those of us inclined to use it recognise that we are 'preaching to the converted' there. But it is lovely to know that there is a sanctuary on MN where you won't be told you're depriving your kids or that your husband should leave you if you question the necessity of flying on holiday...

[KateXland]

I know petitions don't do much these days; but Friends of the Earth have this one and it's growing.

foe.uk/shxh4

act.friendsoftheearth.uk/petition/climate?utm_source=thank-you&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=climate-change&utm_content=2019-04_attenborough-petition-thank-you

(giving you two links because I'm a bit rubbish at posting them)

And... go on the march! We have to use all the ways we can to make our voices heard.

[nakedscientist]

Nigel et al, you can deny climate change, join the flat earth society and whatever else but it take an extra special level of stupidity,

We need to act now and argue the toss later, before we reach one of the ecological tipping points.

My God I wish they were wrong.

[73kittycat73]

Thank you for the link @KateXland . Have signed and see others are signing now too.

[7Days]

When canvassers come to your door make it clear to them.that this is a deciding issue for your household. I am quite the bore on the doorstep.

George Monbiot is one of those who advocate rewilding. Monty Don reckons gardeners can make a big difference - How much acreage is in little strips outside back doors? We actually can do a lot for biodiversity in the suburbs.

Wearetheark.org is a network for people who leave a patch of their garden - corner of a courtyard or a 10 acre mountain side - to go wild thereby creating a network of little havens

[hilbobaggins]

If you haven’t read the previous IPCC report maybe you should - and then check out the massive controversies that surrounded it. You sound well-intentioned and I know the headlines are all very catastrophic and apocalyptic but the IPCC is very bloody far from perfect. Last time around they predicted that the Himalayan glaciers would disappear by 2035 and everyone was hysterical about that -but oh whoopsie, they made a mistake with the numbers, sorry about that! - and were forced to apologise for getting the data wrong. And then there was that other rather embarrassing incident when emails were leaked from scientists at the University of East Anglia clearly exaggerating the claims of climate change. Do people just not remember this stuff? I’m amazed that anyone takes these reports at face value after the scandals of the last few years.

[oatmilk4breakfast]

I’ll be on the March - following Extinction Rebellion and want to do more but don’t feel ‘arrestable’ at the moment. But adult ally of youth strikes and have been on a couple with my son. People get fatalistic very quickly. In my view that’s a form of ‘whataboutery’ - of course the climate has changed before. Humans were never on it in such numbers though. What are those folk saying - get some perspective because we’re all dying anyway? Well, yes I know but that doesn’t feel like an excuse to sit back and do nothing. I don’t fly anymore. In a previous life I might have wanted to have three children. I have one. I don’t eat meat. Extinction Rebellion are calling on the Govt to actually do what they’ve said they would do. Plastics, pesticides, biodiversity loss - these feel to me like symptoms of a problem that is meaning the planet is rapidly heading towards runaway warming scenario. We should treat the symptoms but at the same time find ways to persuade governments and businesses to tackle the problems at source. The problem is that the worlds biggest emitters are Russia, Iran, UAE and the like (see Carbon Majors report). Tired now but placemarking and interested in discussion. Anyone think there are scientific solutions?

[Disquieted1]

Why is the current climate, rather than any of the thousands which have preceded it, the best for the planet? However one defines 'best'.

[7Days]

It's the rate of change- previous changes were gradual species and eco systems adapted. Stability is what we want.

[Smotheroffive]

I can't understand why we don't have all our roofs covered in solar panels and wind turbines? Govt help to do this for each will take the strain off the national grid completely.
Remove concrete drives in front of all houses (they kill vegetation, get regularly sprayed with weed killer, and cause road flooding as theres nowhere for rain to soak away), ban remvoing the earth's vegetation to be replaced with plastic grass! Like immediately, halt its mass production.

We throw out very little. We use half the bin collections. If we stopped buying packaged all bin collections could be halved.

Yet I worry still about the little we do throw out. We don't waste food, and the natural wasted like orange peel, or nut shells, coffee grinds, etc, goes in the compost.

When I drive by wheelie bins that are the largest and still stuffed full it horrifies me, the sheer vast quantity.

The 1% quoted for UK, I wondered whether this is proportional to the size difference between, say, the US and UK, obvious resultant increase in percentage terms.

Veganism is rising exponentially! Our milk and meat industry will be rapidly shrinking.

[amandacarnet]

We are currently going through a mass extinction of species that will lead to the human race dying out. This is not about saving the planet,it is about saving humans.
But I wonder why a mums march? I disagree with the fundamental idea here that mums-care more about this than others. Plenty of mums seem pretty locked in to consumerism-on behalf of their kids. And there are childless people who have spent their life working on these issues.

[oatmilk4breakfast]

It’s not one or nothing...school children are marching, extinction Rebellion are out in force, a group of mums (and dads) coming together is just the latest - no-one is sitting on high saying this is the best group to get matching - a group of mums have decided they want to do it. That’s why a mums march. It’s not the best, it just is. If people who identify as mothers want to do this, great. Other ‘groupings’ may follow which would be great. The point is just to take some sort of action I think.

[hilbobaggins]

This thread is a perfect illustration of why marches and strikes will never get anywhere. Nobody knows what they’re talking about, there’s absolutely no focus and absolutely everything - “climate breakdown” (whatever that is), “mass extinction of species”, rewilding, plastic bottles, general consumerism, polar bears, melting ice caps, fly-tipping, littering, veganism - is all lumped in together under the “climate change” umbrella. And it’s always someone else’s responsibility to fix.
Oh please, government and corporations, do something! We don’t quite know what, but sort it out won’t you?

[DateLoaf]

This thread is very weird. There is everything right about raising the profile of climate breakdown. All of the various issues involved need action. All of us need to play a part in this. Every little helps but we all need to start personally making a lot more changes.

[bluejelly]

I respectively disagree @Hilbobaggins. There are clearly a lot of problems in the world but a hell of a lot of them are to do with unsustainable consumption models that have been developed and encouraged by our economic systems.
The impact of this is multifarious. But make no mistake what we are doing to this planet is profound and frightening.
If anyone hasn't seen David Attenborough's Climate Change: The Facts I would recommend. It's very clear, and carefully told. It's on iPlayer now.

[ByGrabtharsHammarWhatASaving]

We've got a thread you might be interested in going on over here @Traynorbird (and anyone else) about the ways women and esp. mothers can make an impact on CC, but also on the ways that woman's rights might be harmed by an emergency response to CC. I think we really need to look at all proposed solutions through a feminist lens otherwise women are going to be left at the bottom of the pile yet again.

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/womens_rights/3566641-Feminism-and-Climate-Change

[Fridakahlofan]

Thank you for organising this march and thread.

[ChardonnaysPrettySister]

Not now, James.

The willingness to cut down trees on MN is really worrying.

It drops leaves? Dirty tree, let’s cut you down.

It makes shade? Bad tree, my children cannot possibly be expected to play in the shade. Cut it down.

A developer wants to build more luxury flats? Let’s cut them down.

Cycle highway planned, to cut pollution down, apparently, mature trees in the way? Let’s cut them down and replace with a few weedy saplings.

We want more palm oil infested chocolate? Burn then down.

Deforestation is a real danger to humanity. We encourage it.

We need to plant more trees, we need to take care of the ones we still have.

Rant over, but sometimes MN can be really scarily cut eager.

[KizzyWayfarer]

For anyone who thinks we should be doing it all ourselves and not demanding government act, here are a few ideas of what the government could do:
Stop the Heathrow 3rd runway and expansion at other airports. Heathrow R3 alone would add an additional 700 flights every day - we are supposed to be cutting emissions rapidly FFS. Actually think about managing demand through something like a frequent flyer levy.
A proper strategy to encourage community energy projects. At the moment the government’s policy is to block/strongly discourage any new onshore wind energy being built.
Scrap HS2 and new road schemes and invest the money in small-scale public transport and cycle infrastructure.
Invest in developing low-carbon processes in heavy industry - steel, cement etc.
Instruct local authorities to put climate impact as one of the most important considerations in planning and development.
Stop financing fossil fuel projects abroad.
Etc, etc.

[hilbobaggins]

As long as I can remember - 40 years at least - various different environmentally oriented groups have been saying that we need to make changes in our lifestyles in the west. It always comes laden with a whopping great dollop of guilt and shame. I’ve come to the conclusion that certain people - almost always people with enough money and comfort in their lives to be able to obsess about things like “climate change” seem to be really attracted to this deeply miserablist, anti-human, anti-industrialisation, anti- progress message. There is no praise or celebration of human ingenuity and the incredible creativity and drive that has improved all our lives in previously unimaginable ways over the last century. Instead it’s just constant gloom and doom, delivered with a kind of religious zeal, by people so pampered and protected that they wouldn’t last 3 weeks without our precious and remarkable use of fossil fuels.
I’m not saying that environmentalists done have anything important to say, but I AM suggesting that the gloom merchants and their climate religiosity, and their strikes and matches and antics that stop other people getting to work is not the way to go about selling the message.

[hilbobaggins]

@KizzyWayfarer

Stop financing fossil fuel projects abroad

This just about sums up the hypocrisy of the green movement. Yeah, fuck all those developing countries and their child mortality rates! Why should they benefit from the kind of cheap, accessible and efficient energy that’s so transformed our lives? They can all learn to sit around a crappy solar-powered lightbulb and go to sleep when the sun goes down! And if they can’t power their schools and hospitals, so what - just build a wind turbine!

Insanity.

[ChardonnaysPrettySister]

And if they can’t power their schools and hospitals, so what - just build a wind turbine!

Still better to have a hospital powered by a wind turbine than one that’s been flooded because of rising sea levels or blown by a hurricane.

[SilverySurfer]

When I drive by wheelie bins that are the largest and still stuffed full it horrifies me, the sheer vast quantity.

I love the irony of you tutting at people's waste bins while you drive past spewing out fumes and emissions.