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

I care about recycling, even though it takes time and effort. Washing out bread bags etc and taking them to the plastic recycling bin at Asda, as well as driving everything else to the bins at another supermarket seeing as we aren't provided with any facilities where we live. The only issue with all this is whether any of this stuff actually ends up being recycled, as some years ago my Mum witnessed bags of recycling just being tossed into the back of a standard waste lorry by the guys who collect it!

Have never owned a car or flown, so no issues for me there, but can't get excited about other people doing so either TBH. The things that bother me are those I can actually see, ie mountains of waste, the effect on ocean creatures..

So, the main thing I would like to see tackled is less packaging/more recyclable materials, as well as general over-consumption. And alongside protests, would be good to see the younger generation addressing peers re their own excessive materialism, which seems far worse than when I was that age. Do teenagers really need 10 huge makeup palettes and 20 mascaras, or to replace their mobile with the latest model when the existing one still works perfectly fine..?

As for the Climate Change movement.. Hard to take seriously due to its figureheads (DiCaprio, Gore, Thunberg), who are clearly just puppets playing a role. Can only assume there's lots of money involved with donations, appeals etc, but not much of it going where actually intended

They don't want guilt about flying, having kids, eating meat

That implies people feel guilt about eating meat, flying or having kids
I dont
We flying to gold coast in around 2 weeks for a holiday,
do we need to? no
do we want to? yes, so we will. We could drive but thats 4 days lost and a much bigger cost.
A vegan diet is simply not for me, not to my tastes. Id only drop meat and dairy if i were allergic, hence why i dont eat seafood

I worry about climate change to a degree and do things that I think might help, small things but none the less, small things lead to big changes. I think the real problem are the big corporations who put profits before people, that is where the buck stops for me, they have the power to make massive changes that influence the world and yet often choose to take the easier, cheaper option.

I made it our family’s new year resolution to try and be more green this year and to be more vigilant with recycling and use of less plastic. The summer is hopefully when we can start looking at ways for our garden to be more eco friendly. I am concerned about the planets future but fear damage has been done that simply we cannot rectify.

We do our best as a family. My boys are quite young 4 and 7 and my 7 year old has done quite a lot at school about climate change. I'm always telling them not to be wasteful and encouraging recycling. We only have one car and we eat very little meat. I've just started using soap nuts for our washing. Every little bit helps, hopefully renewable energy use will be more widespread but I fear the government isn't really on board with that.

I'm petrified. I do what I can - reduce how much heating I use, don't have a car, recycle as much as I can, buy second hand clothes, reduce plastic and meat, rarely fly etc. But what difference does it make when the government and big business won't do anything? I feel helpless.

I think everyone should do what they can, what infuriates me is to hear all these well off /rich people who preach about what we should be doing etc but think nothing of flying all over the world, wearing an outfit only once, driving gas guzzling cars to name a few. Why do they have to fly private planes what's wrong with normal flights the same for gas guzzling cars?? Why can't the rich and famous wear the same outfit more than once what's wrong with everyone.People should be proud to recycle, upcycle and be more frugal

It's terrifying.

Go vegan. It's surprisingly enjoyable! I'm almost 6 years in and feel better than ever. No more IBS, no more sinusitis. One of the best decisions I've made. Win win.

I think that nothing will change till big organisations start using all recyclable packaging etc. it needs to start from the top to make a difference and every country needs to be onboard, us popping the odd box in the recycle bin isn't going to make much of differnce otherwise.

i worry that anything we (the UK) does won't be enough as your large mass producers of plastics & pollution aren't doing their bit.

The whole climate emergency scares the life out of me and makes me worry so much for the future for my children.
I try my best to do as much as I possibly can such as recycling and using energy saving light bulbs but I really believe that more needs to be done by the government to at least try and fix the problem.

My worry is that no matter how much I educate my family about the importance of our own contributions I genuinely think we've gone to far to reverse the major damage.

I do try to do my 'bit'. I got rid of my car - most journeys were under a couple of miles, so we got bikes and book the train in advance of we're going further afield. I buy from charity shops, try to avoid having items delivered from Amazon and the like, I eat very little meat, keep the thermostat very low at home, rarely fly, research purchases and chose the option that has less impact...

And it all feels so futile. I spent years ensuring I avoided BPA in my kids' bottles and toys - when their food, air and water is full of microplastics and toxic pollution. My mother scoffed at me recently for recycling. 'What's the point, it all just gets dumped somewhere abroad. And why restrict your standard of living when industry has 1000x the impact and isn't doing anything? I'm not giving up my holidays abroad, I've worked damn hard for them so why should some celebrity tell me off when they spend half their lives flying round the world?' She has this mentality of no one is telling her what to do, she won't be around in 100 years and science will find some magic solution before then so why worry. It infuriates me!

I'm very concerned about it all - I have close family that have been effected by the fires in Australia. I think we all need to do our bit but make more of an effort and there should be more education on what exactly we can all do to improve the future prospects of our only planet

What are your biggest concerns, if any, for yours and your children’s future?

Uncertainty and fear...

Are there any small things your family does to try and help?

We do most of the small things - local shopping, no car, nearly all veggie, cold house.

What would you recommend as being the most effective change people can make in helping the fight against Climate Change?

1. Have one fewer child.
2. Stop pretending it's all someone else's problem.
3. Travel less - of course fly less/not at all, but just travel less overall.
4. Really enjoy the things that you buy, and if you arne't going to enjoy them, don't buy them.

How aware are your children of the Climate Emergency?

Very very very. Is a big part of our life. We are all trying to learn, together, to find the joy in small local things.

How do you talk to them about it?

I share my own fears and worries and frustrations. I answer their questions. We talk all the time about how we live, and why we live as we do.

Do you think schools are doing enough to educate children on the Climate Emergency?

Absolutely NOT. It's not just that they need to learn about the Climate Emergency - they need to learn how to think about these complicated and difficult issues, in a world where humans have too much power. They need to learn far more about thinking and justice and imagination and creativity.

Saying there is nothing we can do is just a counsel of despair. One of the great things is to lobby - post messages on the facebook pages of organisations that are dragging their feet, tweet about it, retweet and like tweets about it. Dont post support comments on Facebook about over consumption, whether that is a flight or a new non-electric car. Write to your MP - although pressure on large firms is more effective. Lobby and boycott any firm using open fridges in its stores.

Unfortunately what my family can do is constrained by what options we have. If shops dont sell food except in plastic I cant buy food without it. We've had reuseable bags not plastic for about 20 years, we used to buy veg from a local shop that used mainly paper bags until it closed. I cant buy British products often, few left in the shops. I can - and did long ago - insulate my house; have only low energy lights; only replace products when they break, not because I want something new; shun fast fashion for clothes that last. We still sin over flights but pay carbon offset for that and all carbon costs, we went carbon neutral a few years ago. We also pay to plant trees.

Electric cars still dont have a good enough range and until recently there were few public charging points. We joined the campaign to get more installed locally.

Lobby for the return of subsidies on things like insulation, electric cars, solar heating, demolition of property if a replacement is more environmentally friendly, reduction in VAT on building work that improves energy efficiency.

forgot the comment about children - mine is grown so we fund them to have energy efficient appliances, buy quality furniture so it wont need replacing often, we'll probably get them an electric car when they need one. Unfortunately they make less effort than we do, schools certainly need to do more to educate the young as their friends influence them as much or more than parents can.

I read the science daily as part of my job and I grieve every day. I look at my children and I weep inside at the thought of what I have sentenced them to by giving birth in these times, and the senselessness of the immense suffering marching towards us because people like @squeekums see no reason to change their ways.

What one can do, and what all should do:
Vote for politicians who get the scale of the catastrophe coming and prioritise action on this above all else
Start living simply and find meaning in that. Do away with consumerism, stop flying, start biking.
Switch electricity supplier to a truly green one. I have installed solar panels on our house.
Buy organic and in season, eat mostly plants.
Care for nature, plant (organic) flowers for the bees, let the grass grow. Realise how connected we are to other living beings, and that if we harm life, we harm ourselves.

I'm very worried about man made climate change and am cutting down on meat and dairy and trying to only buy second hand and repair where possible. I've also switched to an energy company that is 100% renewable or carbon neutral and stopped flying.

It needs government and industry action on a massive scale though. Individual lifestyle changes are just tinkering around the edges.

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.

@TheVanGuardSix.. i have been saying this to DH ever since i met him. We haven't been anywhere 'exotic' for 15 years, in fact we've not been on a plane for 15 years. I think travel can never be as incredible as you are made out to that it is. I think you can have a far better time in your dreams. Think, no traffic getting to the airport, no airport baggage bollocks, no planes. When you get to wherever it is you're going it's already been spoilt by countless others. Think rubbish everywhere, dirty fumes, even plastic particles in the air in remote mountains. So for this reason and the other points of your post i think you deserve to win. Although i'm betting you're the kind to not really care about the prize. Good on you.

I think bigger business's need to be cracked down on more then public

I recycle and do all the things we r told to do to help the environment but everyone in the world needs to it!

It all worries me, but what worries me most is that arguably the biggest issue is the unchecked growth in the human population. I fear we have already reached the tipping point where the planet's resources are no longer sufficient to sustain the current population.

Genuinely - i'm quite terrified and utterly alarmed that it has got to this state already