Climate Change is here and man made

[NeilYoungIsBack]

The climate movement has become quite mainstream nowadays yet no-one is really doing anything personally about it, no-one has changed their behaviour and no-one is going to. They'd rather just blame governments and there you go it's someone else's problem.

Any attempt to solve this problem is self-defeating unless we tackle the only thing that matters and that's consumption. If we reduce consumption by 50% (god knows how) then that still becomes pointless if we will increase the population over time by 50%. The actual figure is more sobering, the population has increased by 900% in just 200 years.

I think we can do a fair bit to make a difference at a personal level. If enough people care enough to change their habits, I mean.

e.g. one of the quickest (and cheapest) wins is modify what you eat. Some foods have a much bigger carbon footprint than others, with beef, lamb and dairy products being the biggest problem. The carbon footprint of chicken and pork is much much lower, so just by switching away from red meat to white meat you can have a significant effect. Obviously, if you can eat less meat altogether then that's probably even better.

Another action is cutting down on short distance car journeys. Most car journeys are less than 2 miles, so we should be doing more to walk or cycle instead, or if that isn't possible think about catching a bus. I live next to our village primary school: it's amazing how many people drive their kids to school when they only live a short distance away. Some of them don't even bother switching their engines off while they gossip with their mates at drop off/pick up times, that one really drives me mad...

 

[Mr Kobayashi]

Some of them don't even bother switching their engines off while they gossip with their mates at drop off/pick up times, that one really drives me mad...

Live next to a school in suburbia, this has the same effect on me. What astounds me is these arseholes are by their own laziness polluting the air which their little darlings have to walk back through to get in the car.

 

[BlueHammer85]

I think we can do a fair bit to make a difference at a personal level. If enough people care enough to change their habits, I mean.

e.g. one of the quickest (and cheapest) wins is modify what you eat. Some foods have a much bigger carbon footprint than others, with beef, lamb and dairy products being the biggest problem. The carbon footprint of chicken and pork is much much lower, so just by switching away from red meat to white meat you can have a significant effect. Obviously, if you can eat less meat altogether then that's probably even better.

Another action is cutting down on short distance car journeys. Most car journeys are less than 2 miles, so we should be doing more to walk or cycle instead, or if that isn't possible think about catching a bus. I live next to our village primary school: it's amazing how many people drive their kids to school when they only live a short distance away. Some of them don't even bother switching their engines off while they gossip with their mates at drop off/pick up times, that one really drives me mad...

what chance have we got though when you look at the pollution levels in India and China

 

[Chippy_boy]

I think we can do a fair bit to make a difference at a personal level. If enough people care enough to change their habits, I mean.

e.g. one of the quickest (and cheapest) wins is modify what you eat. Some foods have a much bigger carbon footprint than others, with beef, lamb and dairy products being the biggest problem. The carbon footprint of chicken and pork is much much lower, so just by switching away from red meat to white meat you can have a significant effect. Obviously, if you can eat less meat altogether then that's probably even better.

Another action is cutting down on short distance car journeys. Most car journeys are less than 2 miles, so we should be doing more to walk or cycle instead, or if that isn't possible think about catching a bus. I live next to our village primary school: it's amazing how many people drive their kids to school when they only live a short distance away. Some of them don't even bother switching their engines off while they gossip with their mates at drop off/pick up times, that one really drives me mad...

Unfortunately you've been brainwashed into believing any of the above will make any difference at all. Complete and utter waste of time unless/until we fix MUCH bigger problems like half the developing world or China actually giving a shit.

It suits politicians to sing you this song because it enables them to tax you more without you feeling too bad about it. But in reality it's just one enormous great con. Nothing you do, nothing anyone in the UK can do, will make an atom of difference.

Putting aside the rather obvious statement that the UK's contribution to global CO2 levels is, in itself, fuck all (The UK's total output is less than 500m tonnes of CO2 equivalent vs the US and China outputting around 17,000m just between the two of them. Not to mention India, Russia, Brazil, Indonesia, Japan etc - who all output multiples of what we do); you then factor in the ALL agriculture contributes 10% to our overall total. So you think eating less meat is going to help? Dream on.

Transport is the UK's biggest contributor, but of the 27% coming from transport, how much of that is lorries, delivery vans, buses, trains, planes? So cycling to Morrisons is going to help? Maybe you get to feel better about yourself but that's about it.

 

[NeilYoungIsBack]

what chance have we got though when you look at the pollution levels in India and China

We can't ignore our own pollution levels though. According to Public Health England between 25,000 and 32,000 people die in the UK each year from conditions linked to high levels of air pollution.

Obviously some of that pollution comes from source such as Power Generation, Industry, Agriculture and Public Transport, but how we heat our homes and the vehicles we drive also play a significant role.

 

[inbetween]

I think we can do a fair bit to make a difference at a personal level. If enough people care enough to change their habits, I mean.

e.g. one of the quickest (and cheapest) wins is modify what you eat. Some foods have a much bigger carbon footprint than others, with beef, lamb and dairy products being the biggest problem. The carbon footprint of chicken and pork is much much lower, so just by switching away from red meat to white meat you can have a significant effect. Obviously, if you can eat less meat altogether then that's probably even better.

Another action is cutting down on short distance car journeys. Most car journeys are less than 2 miles, so we should be doing more to walk or cycle instead, or if that isn't possible think about catching a bus. I live next to our village primary school: it's amazing how many people drive their kids to school when they only live a short distance away. Some of them don't even bother switching their engines off while they gossip with their mates at drop off/pick up times, that one really drives me mad...

Indeed diet modification would be a very quick win even if people just reigned it in a bit, that's what we are trying to do.

We still eat meat every now and then but we've started to follow a few meat-free books, one I like is called Dirty Vegan by Matt Pritchard, there's some good ones on his youtube too. Some of the stuff you can make is really good and meat isn't needed. I make my chilli now without mince and it's no different plus it's cheaper because kidney beans are cheap as chips.

I'm hoping that the pandemic will change how people drive indeed. My work is in the middle of nowhere, it's impossible to get to by public transport unless I take 2 trains and a bus. Thankfully the pandemic has meant we now work from home and probably will do forever so that's a lot of saved journeys multiplied by everyone at our work. We have 2 cars but I think 1 of them is going to go for good when the lease is up.

 

[NeilYoungIsBack]

Unfortunately you've been brainwashed into believing any of the above will make any difference at all. Complete and utter waste of time unless/until we fix MUCH bigger problems like half the developing world or China actually giving a shit.

It suits politicians to sing you this song because it enables them to tax you more without you feeling too bad about it. But in reality it's just one enormous great con. Nothing you do, nothing anyone in the UK can do, will make an atom of difference.

I am pretty sure that if I use my car less then I will be paying less tax! Walking more and eating less red meat is also good for health reasons, not just the environment.

Also, I am very aware that a significant number of people couldn't care less about the environment we live in, you just have to look at the piles of litter on the verges of any major road. That doesn't stop me from taking my own litter home.

Similarly, we have to hope that big countries like China, India and the US also do more, but in the meantime that's no reason to do nothing.

 

[Chippy_boy]

I am pretty sure that if I use my car less then I will be paying less tax! Walking more and eating less red meat is also good for health reasons, not just the environment.

Also, I am very aware that a significant number of people couldn't care less about the environment we live in, you just have to look at the piles of litter on the verges of any major road. That doesn't stop me from taking my own litter home.

Similarly, we have to hope that big countries like China, India and the US also do more, but in the meantime that's no reason to do nothing.

Agree with all of the above and FWIW I act similarly. It's the "make a difference" bit I picked up on. If everyone in the UK acted like you do, it would still make fuck all difference. The only difference is you get to feel like you are doing your bit.

The other bit of brainwashing is of course this "climate catastrophe" narrative. Will the earth still be inhabited by 11 billion humans in 2121? Of course it will. Will it be a bit warmer? Sure. Certain crops no longer viable in certain regions, but growable in others? Yep. Sea levels a foot or two higher? Probably.

This is climate change. The word "change" however is not emotive enough, so they needed to resort to scare tactics. Can we accommodate gradual changes over the next century or three? Of course we can.

That poor child Thunberg doubtless believed the world was coming to an end and of course if you believed that you'd want to do anything and everything to prevent it. The world is not coming to an end. She was lied to. All our kids are being lied to, daily at school. It's like Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge burning all books. State-funded, media complicit, end to end, brainwashing, day in, day out.

Is it sensible that we should all try to pollute less and care for our planet? Of course, no-one would deny that. But some of the rhetoric is completely over the top.

 

[inbetween]

Agree with all of the above and FWIW I act similarly. It's the "make a difference" bit I picked up on. If everyone in the UK acted like you do, it would still make fuck all difference. The only difference is you get to feel like you are doing your bit.

If everyone cannot make a difference then how did we get here in the first place? We can't undo what has already happened or is happening but we can at least do our bit. I will sleep easy in my bed either way knowing that I'm eating healthier and making better habits.

A lot of people have this attitude but if you drive 1 mile up the road it costs you petrol, if you leave your lights on then you pay more for electricity... What benefit is there to the route of ignorance instead?

When we talk of taxes and the difference we can make, I'm doing my garden later so maybe I should just forget paying my £30 a year for my garden bin and just throw the grass clippings in the middle of the road instead. Maybe I should just throw all my rubbish and recycling out there with it?

 

[Chippy_boy]

If everyone cannot make a difference then how did we get here in the first place? We can't undo what has already happened or is happening but we can at least do our bit. I will sleep easy in my bed either way knowing that I'm eating healthier and making better habits.

A lot of people have this attitude but if you drive 1 mile up the road it costs you petrol, if you leave your lights on then you pay more for electricity... What benefit is there to the route of ignorance instead?

When we talk of taxes and the difference we can make, I'm doing my garden later so maybe I should just forget paying my £30 a year for my garden bin and just throw the grass clippings in the middle of the road instead. Maybe I should just throw all my rubbish and recycling out there with it?

I think maybe you should re-read the first sentence of line of mine that you quoted? ;-)