Find out parents' thoughts on the Climate Emergency

[JustineBMumsnet]

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With a rise in extraordinary weather events around the world and activists like Greta Thunberg in the public eye, more people than ever before are engaging with and are worried about climate change. Following the launch of the “Portraits from the Precipice” campaign - which places art that inspires action on climate change on digital billboards across the country - we’d like to hear your thoughts on the Climate Emergency.

Here's what Octopus Energy – the green energy supplier behind Portraits from the Precipice – has to say: “With climate experts giving humanity 10 years to slow rising global temperatures, the time to take action for the planet is now. We all have a crucial role to play in combating the climate emergency.

Whether it be to switch to a renewable energy company, to buy an electric vehicle or even to just make small dietary changes or reduce the amount of plastic waste in your home… acknowledging the problem is just step one, we now need to act.”

Thinking of the Climate Emergency, what are your biggest concerns, if any, for yours and your children’s future? Are there any small things your family does to try and help? What would you recommend as being the most effective change people can make in helping the fight against Climate Change?

How aware are your children of the Climate Emergency? How do you talk to them about it? Do you think schools are doing enough to educate children on the Climate Emergency?

All who share their thoughts on the Climate Emergency on the thread below will be entered into a prize draw where one MNer will win a £300 voucher for the store of their choice (from a list and provided by Mumsnet). Octopus Energy will also donate £300 to a charity fighting climate change, of the winner’s choice.

Thanks and good luck!

MNHQ

Insight Terms and Conditions apply

My biggest fear is that it’s too little too late and more drastic measures need to be taken. The government needs to take more action.

We do our part, but could certainly do a hell of a lot more. If money was no object we could do a lot more to be more eco-friendly.

We car share, take public transport, eat mostly vegetarian meals, recycle, buy less, repair things, shop second hand, have virtually no food waste (anything inedible is composted), wrap up warm instead of using the heating etc.

Dss (8) is aware of the state of the ocean and knows to recycle but that’s about as much as he knows. From what he tells us of school, he’s not learning much about the environment, or if he is it isn’t sticking! He still begs for kinder eggs (with pointless plastic tat in) which I refuse to buy!

We’re trying for a child of our own (likely to have just the one due to the environment, finances and infertility), I feel very conflicted about this already as the earth is already overpopulated and I don’t want to increase the demand on resources. On the other hand dh is desperate to have a child together and I must admit, I would like one.

We do talk about being environmentally friendly in our house and try to do our bit. I mend and recycle as much as possible, use reusable bags and cups, walk and use public transport, etc. One of the hardest things is buying fruit and vegetables in the supermarket. Why is so much of it in plastic? My local supermarket only seems to sell broccoli in cellophane which I find very annoying.

I fear that individual action makes no difference and fear that governments and world powers who have the potential to make the difference will be indifferent and inactive - not acting and leaving future generations to deal with the fallout - our earth changed irreparably

I’m really concerned about it but I can’t focus all my attention on it as it just makes me feel hopeless. We have tried to reduce our consumption as much as we can, reducing air travel, eating less meat & recycling & buying less plastic. The children are aware but not hyper aware and anxious. We try to do our bit and encourage others to do the same in a very low key way as no one likes to be preached to.

The lack of action or even acknowledgement of the problem from the people who are actually in a position to do something about it is infuriating and terrifying in equal measure.

But there is a huge international scientific, technological and political effort going on, and has been for years, with discussions of the major ways in which greenhouse gas emissions could be redirected, reduced or mitigated. There are endless modelling efforts to assess where the biggest savings can be made and what this will mean for the various 'pathways' that our planet could see next. The work is going on.

I think encouraging our children to be scientifically literate and not too greedy is our best bet. Although 'awareness' is a good thing, what we need are solutions.

Oh, and educate girls worldwide.

Listening to climate scientists, following their twitter accounts and reading their articles, has been an eye opener.
Many of them are actively depressed and fighting despondency. The figures only point one way.

The small consolation is that developed nations (where the majority of mumsnet users live) in the northern hemisphere will suffer far less impact than poorer nations and those in arid regions.

Change wise, I fly less than before and take less pleasure in travel. I have become less consumerist. But the biggest changes anyone in the developed world can make is to have fewer children and to support women's education, family planning and climate change mitigation efforts around the world. There are some truly inspirational activists in Africa and South America.

The idea that our finite planet can support infinite growth, infinite GDP, is ludicrous. Something has to give, and it's turned out to be the environment.
But economic growth doesn't equal human happiness.

My husband and I are ttc and have genuinely said at one point are we crazy to try for kids and make them potentially grow in a world that’s basically dying! It’s a real worry what the future will hold, all because people don’t like change!
Don’t get me wrong we’re still Ttc in the hopes we can raise conscientious children who will do their part to heal the planet.
As a household we are doing what we can to a certain extent like recycling, getting an electric car and boiler and meat free days etc but I feel bad because until a few years ago I really didn’t appreciate the impact my life was having! I wouldn’t recycle everything because I didn’t think it really matters etc. Now it’s impossible to ignore! Who on earth can see what’s going on in this world and not believe in climate change?!!! That’s so real stubborn wool over your eyes Mr Trump!! I hope the emphasis gets stronger and stronger until none of us can ignore it!

Bicycles - get more people using them as default mode of transport. They take far less resources to produce than cars and don’t pollute when being used. I find I can do everything local (within 6miles) on my bike and it takes a similar length of time as I don’t get stuck in traffic.

I strongly believe in taxing bad environmental behaviour eg tax on single use plastic but offering alternatives alongside eg bring your own packaging lose supermarket goods so that people choose the better option to save money.

My worry is that the economy won’t cope with all the changes.

I try to recycle as much as I can and consume little by default. This year I’m trying not to buy anything new and look at clothes from eBay etc.

I keep use of cleaning products to minimum as I think hot soapy water is fine for most things! Bar shampoo and soap.

I think it’s important to pass the message to children because so much plastic tat is aimed at them. My parents taught me to save resources as they’ve been worried about this for years. So we always used old rags for cleaning cloths. I’ve just bought my first reusable cotton pads which is good. I know one MNer said she’s making her own which is fab.

I’m thinking that people have got used to cheap flights and that will be a problem. I don’t do international travel now but in the past, I had to do it fr work and I’m not sure businesses care much about cutting down either, which is a worry.

what are your biggest concerns, if any, for yours and your children’s future?
Honestly, just that she happy and healthy. Everything else isnt in my control

Are there any small things your family does to try and help?
basic recycling, we have water tanks but we dont put ourselves out or make life harder just to do it.

What would you recommend as being the most effective change people can make in helping the fight against Climate Change?
if i knew that, id be rich

How aware are your children of the Climate Emergency?
not overly, dd is 9, i dont see the need to worry her, let the media get into her head.

How do you talk to them about it? its not something we talk about at home. Plus news comes on and dd tunes out, she not interested. Even ive been watching less and less news

Do you think schools are doing enough to educate children on the Climate Emergency?
I dunno what dd school does, we dont hear or see much come home about it

My DD is too little to understand, but I hope to raise her to both know and care.

We have made / do some small changes:

• don't ask for / use plastic straws
• recycle what we can
• don't throw food away hardly ever
• eat less meat
• walk when possible / use car less
• turn off lights etc when not in use

They seem.little things but I'm.not sure what else we can do....

The Governments across the world need to step up - and listen to Greta & Sir David!

We rarely drive a car, we grow some of our own food, DH is vegan, and I don’t buy plastic stuff for children. That said, all our consumer choices are knocked out by the actions of governments and corporations. The best thing we can do is insist on leaders taking it all seriously and holding business and industry to account.

I worry about it a lot. We try to walk as much as possible, but still have two cars for work.

Reducing plastic is easier than reducing carbon emissions although they can go hand in hand. We have shampoo bars now and bar soap which cuts down our single plastic use.

Until there is a major societal mindshift regarding consumerism, it's impossible to see how anything will change. We need to boycott companies with unenvironmentally friendly policies. We need to stop buying plastic tat and processed food (that includes crap vegan substitutes which are just a new way for food companies to make money). We need to use social media to send a loud and clear message to companies such as Coca Cola, who said last week they'll continue to produce plastic bottles because "it's what the consumers want". Industries need to be incentivised to find solutions to these huge problems and when they do these solutions need to be subsidised heavily and the old polluting ways strongly penalised.

We talk about climate change at home and answer any questions my children have, we recycle as much as possible and avoid the use of single use plastic, where possible buying loose fruit and veg. We cut down on food waste as much as possible and walk rather than using the car as much as we can. We use reusable water bottles where ever we go and explain to our children, how this helps the environment and reduces the number of plastic bottles produced. Small changes that stick. gradually adapting.

I'm not sure how much they understand about climate emergency itself, but they are very aware that we need to reduce/reuse/recycle and saving energy by not leaving lights or plugs on, walking when possible and my eldest looks at how things are packaged. I'm not sure how much my youngest knows from his 2 older sisters, versus how much has come from school, but the older two have definitely covered it in school and then taken more interest in things I was already doing (recycling etc)

My eldest suggested they bought each other a gift from a charity shop for Christmas because it gives money to the charity and an item gets reused instead of more waste being produced, plus there is no packaging. Younger two were on board so I took them to a few charity shops regularly until they each found what they wanted, and all were happy on Christmas day with what they received from each other

Change wise, I fly less than before and take less pleasure in travel. I have become less consumerist..

We haven't flown for 14 years. We have ONE child. We compost. We eat meat maybe twice a week, rarely have steak.
I only bathe every 4 days (I have few people i would consider true friends so don't particularly care what people think!)
We tried to rely on one car and instead bought an electric bike only to find public transport that unreliable we were forced to buy another bloody car! We can't afford electric cars. We can't afford holidays involving air travel. We can't afford more children. We are not consumerist. So is this enough do you think? No, because everyone would have to sign up to it and nobody likes giving up what they already have.

This was the para i wanted to refer to, half of which was missing from my post above..

Change wise, I fly less than before and take less pleasure in travel. I have become less consumerist. But the biggest changes anyone in the developed world can make is to have fewer children and to support women's education, family planning and climate change mitigation efforts around the world. There are some truly inspirational activists in Africa and South America.

We use public transport as much as possible, have our own water bottles and travel mugs, never buy carrier bags, I a vegetarian , we haven't been on a plane in nearly 4 years, turn off lights when we aren't in a room and don't run water whilst brushing our teeth.

None of this feels like it's enough though as the state of the planet is something that concerns all of us.

@TweetleBeetlesBattle.. Brilliant post

I can’t really add anything to what’s already been said here. We’ve made lots of small changes to try and cut down on what we consume and conserve waste. But I despair when I have fb pals loudly declaring that they’re now vegan and that everyone should be vegan for the sake of the planet and in the same breath also loudly declaring that they’ve flown 87 times this year already (2019) and are aiming to crack the 100 flights by the end of the year ffs.

I will also say this though - how ironic that you’re encouraging people to take part in a climate change survey by awarding £300 to spend in a store. Never let concern for our environment get in the way of rampant consumerism eh? 🙄

Its scary very scary. DC1 is at school and they do a lot of recycling, waste awareness and discuss climate change. I involve the DC in recycling and Im trying to teach them to be less wasteful.
Living in a rural area with x3 DC with poor public transport I know I use the car way too much. However I try to avoid unnecessary trips and me and dp wfh or car share as often as possible. Im on mat leave atm so we are on a tight budget, I made a few changes to save money and lots of these have the added bonus of being environmentally friendly. We also hardly ever fly.
Although I am happy to make all these small changes we need large scale intervention from government and big companies.

Thinking of the Climate Emergency, what are your biggest concerns, if any, for yours and your children’s future?
I fear economic and political extremes, limited choices, a worse quality of life for them than I have had, and I also fear they will blame me for being complacent.

Are there any small things your family does to try and help?
We've reduced meat in our diet, we only have one car, my commute is cycle/train, we use a part-renewable energy supplier, try to limit heating and water use, recycle as much as possible, avoid buying lots of clothes particularly fast fashion type items, I knit and sew and buy from charity shops. My husband has committed to cycling to work at least once a week and our next car will be electric or hybrid.

What would you recommend as being the most effective change people can make in helping the fight against Climate Change?
Get out of their cars and cut down on or stop eating meat

How aware are your children of the Climate Emergency? How do you talk to them about it?
They are aware of traffic pollution, recycling etc and I try to promote more sustainable life choices. When I collect my son from school we talk about how bad cars are for the environment, for instance.

Do you think schools are doing enough to educate children on the Climate Emergency?
No, my son's school have never covered it that I'm aware of in the 3 years he's been going to school