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

climate change needs to bet tackled now before its too late and our future generation will suffer

My biggest concern is China, India & America who do not seem to have the message

WRT to China, they are making huge strides in renewable energy - the problem is the demands the West puts on the Chinese, wanting to buy crap as cheaply as possible from their factories. If we didn't want super cheap stuff China wouldn't be polluting.

We didn't use to fill our homes with tat and buy new clothes all the time, we didn't use to go on holiday abroad three times a year. But just like others on here, we're (nearly) all too selfish to give up what we have, so I think we're stuffed.

Thinking of the Climate Emergency, what are your biggest concerns, if any, for yours and your children’s future?

That we're voiceless.
We're too small.
Greed's strong arm will win the day.
We don't matter.
Our planet doesn't matter.
Profit is God, with a capital G.

The inevitable "fuck you #climatechangemovementofthemoment" backlash by people will happen. They will turn away from wanting to change when they see that they can't. We're not allowed to follow through with the changes we want for a greener planet. Our hands are tied. We are prisoners of bad economics and the industries that thrive off of bad economics and feed our insatiable desire for convenience and comfort. We don't want to be uncomfortable. Climate change is uncomfortable.

For those who have proactively taken on the issue of climate change, they will be worn down, fatigued by the social media fodder and global bullies. The response to climate change, the actual response, is as phony as canned laughter.
Soldiers die in vain. This will be the case for activists. They will die in vain. Their voices will be gagged by the Friedmanics running this earth into the ground.
And our war now, today, is the war against the industries perpetuating climate change. And those industries are propped up by a global system of economics that allows no room for any sort of fundamental change. Some countries try. They really do. But this is all or nothing. You're all in or it doesn't work. Some countries using more green technology than others will not fix the global crisis that is climate change. Every single country on this planet MUST sing from the same song sheet. Davos is not even a dent in the universe.

A movement with all hysteria and little action is fatiguing. All we hear is, "We're doomed! Act now!" and then this happens:

So, Drax power station up in Selby, Yorkshire is planning to build new combined cycle gas turbine generating units within its power station. What resource will it be using to generate greener energy? Chopped forests. Yay! But wait, read on... from The Ecologist:
"The (Drax) power station giant claims that burning (wood) pellets instead of coal reduces carbon emissions by more than 80 percent.
However, Dispatches conducted a simple experiment at a laboratory at the University of Nottingham to compare the carbon dioxide emitted when burning wood pellets, similar to those used by Drax, instead of coal.
Dozens of scientists:
It found that to burn an amount of wood pellets that would generate the same amount of electricity as coal it would actually produce roughly eight percent more carbon.
Biomass is viewed as ‘carbon neutral’ under European rules. This means Drax is not obliged to officially report the carbon emissions coming out of its chimney stack. Dispatches calculated that if Drax were to report on the full extent of its emissions it would show that last year they amounted to 11.7 million tonnes of CO2.
Drax claims that the replanting of trees means all the C02 will be reabsorbed. But scientists argue that it will take decades for forests to regrow and subsidising biomass from wood pellets is fuelling an industry that’s making climate change worse in the short term."

I'm pretty green. No plastic bottles. Glass when possible, if necessary.
I ride a bike everywhere and haven't driven a car in 15 years. I fly once a decade. I'm not perfect. I don't eat Quorn, but I try my hardest to give thanks to this earth accommodating my family and me during our stay here. I buy what is necessary. I do my bit. But I feel powerless and angry, like it's all on me. I am not enough. When I look up at the jets flying over my house- jet after jet after jet (I live underneath the Heathrow flight path), I think 'Fuck them. Fuck them for putting this on people like me. Fuck people for not trying harder. Fuck the ridiculously wealthy who live in their ivory towers. Fuck my neighbours for driving ridiculous Land Rovers but proudly serving up Quorn as if they care. Fuck all the industries that put profit before people. Fuck the average person who pretends to try. Fuck everyone who ever knew "this concept is a bad idea which, in years to come, will have dire consequences for humankind, but in the short-term, it's a means to an end and a quick profit."
Fuck shareholders and their greedy need to be kept bonny and bright, above all.

As for the little sheeple: Don't march for climate change, post pics of placards and jokers all over FB, then sit with your engine idling outside the school gates.
Stop 'experiencing' life. You don't fucking need to see the Great Wall of China or hot air balloon over the Serengeti. Google Image it and go take a stroll in your local woods.
"I need my annual sunny holiday." No, you don't. You need to get a grip, use the sauna at your local pool, or else move somewhere sunny or deal with where you live now.
"But I need to see my family in Australia twice a year."
Move back to Australia then. If there's no civil war or plague happening, move on back. Make a conscientious choice to live responsibly.
Ditch the car. Cycle. Bus. Walk. Train.

Someone once said to me, when I was 24 and selfish, "It's not all about you."
I have lived by those words ever since. And although I have sort of given up hope on humankind with regards to climate change, I haven't given up on my own efforts to be conscientious. I want to leave this life with a clear conscience. I love my planet. I am of it. I love it not as my own but because it actually is my own while I am here, spending time on it.

Everyday on the news you can see the effects of climate change, it's so annoying that some countries are in denial and that and that it's down to financial reasons

I find the whole climate emergency a little silly, its just a tag line that is misused by people who have vested interests or a western centric view of the issues affecting the planet and human society. Climate change doesn’t worry me, its environmental change that causes mass extinctions. Climate change has a large role to play in environmental change, but to focus on that while ignoring other factors is like rearranging the deckchairs on the Titanic. While councils and politicians declare a climate emergency, the degradation of the environment continues unabated and to make things worse so does climate change.

I feel like we could do more and I think that we also need to hold other countries accountable for their role in climate change. Whether they're a developing economy or not. It scares me for the future of my children.

Big business needs to do more, less waste and plastics and energy efficiency needs to be improved. A push toward green technology with grants to encourage uptake. Less reliance on coal, gas and oil. More education for older generations, the younger generations are more switched on. They also need to be taught about how to live a greener life and make better choices. The majority polluters are industry and farming. So research into efficiency and green technology is a must.

I've very worried that we have passed the point of actually being able to reverse this. I feel that on a personal level we do everything that we can, but big business and the government need to take decisive action now.

i think its very easy for certain genertaions to point fingers and lame someone else but at the end of the day its no joke and we all now have a responibility to do out part in trying to e more eco friendly

I feel that any changes we make is too little far too late.

Electric cars are NOT the way forwards. They are less polluting on the street, but the way we are making the electricity for them can be very polluting and making the batteries for them is far worse for the environment than making a traditional car.

Really we should be banning most people from having cars and make public transport, cycling and walking the default options for getting around.

Building low rise homes in the middle of nowhere is bad for the environment. It would be much better if we lived in a more dense area so that we reduce the travel costs for goods and services.

Maybe we could even ban kitchens. It would be far more environmentally friendly if everyone ate at a local canteen. Think of all the fridges (for non medical purposes), freezers, ovens, microwaves, etc that wouldn't need to be made. There would be far less packaging needed as they would be buying for the canteen in bulk. Less food would be wasted too.

I am extremely concerned about what I hear and see. It worries me that people may listen to the scientists but don’t do anything about it. I would like more direct advice about what I can do to help. Every country needs to be committed and ready to make real lifestyle changes in order to make a real difference.
As a family we have made small changes but I feel that we need to do more.

I really hope that it somehow turns itself around and isn't as bad as what we currently think.

It frustrates me that we aren't concentrating more on replanting trees. New build houses could be built with roof gardens and city sky scrapers can have window boxes or roof gardens.

It terrifies me that people as powerful as Donald Trump are in denial that there is a climate emergency.

It is really worrying - the fact species are under threat because of our actions and that people in power aren't taking it seriously enough is terrifying. We could be preventing our own species from survival

Great post @TheVanguardSix

I think planting trees is a huge help. It keeps being talked about on a small scale, but it doesn’t feel like it’s being taken seriously by the government and wider community. Organisations like the Woodland Trust are doing their bit but they don’t have the budget to do huge ad campaigns like some other charities.

Honestly I’m very upset about the climate change and feel hopeless , the governments should have done more and really need to act quick !
I’m doing my best to reduce my carbon footprint

I'm conflicted about it all. My Biology college lecturer was completely adamant there was no such thing as climate change & that it is a natural part of progression that the earth goes through and always has - up until that point I was always pretty sure there was an issue. I've since spent so much time researching that my head hurts.
However, logic dictates that pumping our already delicate atmosphere with harmful gasses will end disastrously. How can we continue to fill the seas with plastic that never break down & expect everything to move on as it was.
Something needs to be done but in a society of people that seem to care only about themselves (whilst most pretend that's not the case) I honestly think we're doomed.
I do my bit but I do believe humans themselves will be responsible for the destruction of the earth... Doesn't affect us now though does it, so people just ignore.

My children talk about it regularly but they're kids & they have no possible awareness of just how damaging our behaviours are. We recycle, avoid plastic. reuse items, batch cook etc.

AR2012, I'd agree with industry as a huge factor, but I believe energy supply and transport contribute more CO2 (or equivalent) than farming. Or did you mean contributors to environmental degradation more generally - soil erosion, nitrates, loss of habitat?

No-one seems to be mentioning China, billions in population and opening 100's of new fossil fuel mines every year!!! We are all do our bit but why no condemnation of them?

There is, if you scroll through the thread. But China has lower emission per head than some other places: about a quarter of the average in the US, for instance.

I had a quick look at emissions per person, as I couldn't remember: around 20 tonnes each in the US and Australia. Around 9-10 tonnes each in the UK. And about 4-5 in China.

I am not really worried about climate change but I would like to own solar panels to produce greener electricity but they cost too much money. I use LED light bulbs to reduce cost and use less power. My children are more knowledgeable than I am about climate change

If everyone did little things such as not leaving their car engines running when parked, walking short journeys instead of driving, reducing, reusing and recycling it would make a difference but the few people that do as much as they can does not make up for those who do little or nothing. Food rationing and one-child policies might be needed in the long term if people do not make changes now. My son has already made the decision to never have children.