Climate Change/Freak Weather Etc.

Unfortunately I think the number of people who will be actively hindering their lives to a great extent purely for the good of the species/planet will be too low to have any meaningful impact.

Any big changes will need to be the result of government legislation, or as a reactive measure to already occuring events.

Are we at the point where we’re screwed as a race

Nope.

We're past it.

At what point do people start to change behaviours, not just in the paying it lip service sense, but people starting to make noticeable changes to their lifestyle to try and counter things?

Never. You change because it is in your nature. Others cannot change because it is in their nature.

Are we at the point where we’re screwed as a race or will we turn things around?

Turn things around? What do you offer in return?

Let it burn! Burn! Burn!

It's simple. We're screwed unless they can find a way to make a shit load of money out of fighting Climate Change be that mitigation, migration, green tech, transition risk litigation etc etc

If the major corporations of the world can monetise it, we've got half a chance of not living in  boil in the bag world.

I'm so glad I don't have kids cos they're inheriting a right shit show.

Nope.

We’re past it.

Sadly, I think this.

I think we're done for. May as well enjoy the decline!

Without a complete change in how society works. Which is never going to happen.

What IHN said. Humans are lost cause, I just want to do what I can to help everything else that lives on this planet

Meh. Planet's ****ed.

Me and OH are doing as much as we can (no car, no flights, no kids, no pets) but there are still fat, lazy, cheap meat guzzling biffers chuffing on single use vapes, driving their tribe of unruly kids to and from the school that's just round the corner. If they aren't arsed about the future for their own kids' sake then I sure as **** couldn't give a shit either, me and OH will be long gone, thankfully.

And there are people on here still flying to ride their bikes, FFS.

Someone on the speeding thread said:

The big thing people con themselves with is the idea that ‘everyones doing it’

Or rather they con themselves that no one is doing it. Which I suspect is a big part of the problem.

Take this hypothetical scenario.

Adam sees Bob driving a T5 van around, trips to the west coast of Scotland, trail centers, some skiing in Aviemore WHERE THEY'VE GOT A GIANT OUTDOOR AC UNIT TRYING TO KEEP AN ENTIRE HILLSIDE FROZEN IN THE FACE OF GLOBAL WARMING, DO YOU NOT SEE THE IRONY IN THIS, etc. He sees Charlie living in a big 4 bed house with the heating turned up to 22C. He sees Dave going on trips aboard several times a year. He sees Ewan eating steak off the BBQ.

So Adam does f*** all, because in no single way is he the worst person in his circle. Even if all his friends have cut back on other vices. Then view it from the other 5's perspective and none of them do anything.

Personally:
-veggie, and make an effort to reduce imported fresh food and aim to throw nothing away.
-haven't driven my car at all in a month, haven't driven for personal non-work use since December I think. Getting around via trains, bikes and car sharing.
-had my first trip abroad since 2015 this year for a friends wedding.
-house has been insulated as well as it practically can be and heating kept at 18C, and passive heating via the south facing conservatory maximized in spring/autumn by having the door open during the day. Those nice infographics on the back of the bills seem to suggest we're far to the left on the bel curve for energy and water consumption.

And there are far too many people, like 7 billion too many. I thought I'd be the first in with that one 😊

Without a complete change in how society works. Which is never going to happen.

The ones that annoy me most are the lefties*, who when actually presented with the idea that they could make some sacrifices to make things better for the rest of civilization as a whole. Come out with things like this.

No, we definitely don't have time to wait for your 6th form politics to overthrow then entire global capitalist system** before you make any changes to your own lifestyle.

*I've no idea what jambourgie's politics are

We're all totally screwed. It's far too late and all this net zero tosh won't do anything.
Individual action is basically pointless.

The current weather is being caused by events from the last century. Even changing now, temperatures will still go up and up for years to come.

Only thing we can do is
Stop all fossil fuel usage across the globe immediately.
Re-forest 50% of the earths landmass in the next 10 years.
Reduce the global population by 50% in 5-10 years.

Obviously, none of these things will happen, so we're all doomed.

Reduce the global population by 50% in 5-10 years.

I reckon it needs to be closer to 99.9%.

IHN : Nope.

We’re past it.

Can’t argue against this, we breached the tipping point years ago and anything we do now is akin to pissing on the fire to put it out

finephilly
Free Member

Only thing we can do is

Reduce the global population by 50% in 5-10 years.

Aye nae bother Thanos! 😆

I wonder if this is why the bellends in charge are so blatantly not giving a shit about trying to run the country, instead being as blazen as could be about robbing the country's purse blind and feathering their best mates' nests with dubious un-tendered PPE contracts in the faint hope they can somehow shield themselves from the worst of the shit we're about to experience.

There's a certain amount of issues locked in already. It's about not making it worse and heading for run away problems. tbh. But whatever we do now probably won't have a noticeable effect for hundreds of years. It takes time for all the carbon and methane to settle back out of the atmosphere and what ever loops are involved.

Which is why it's such a difficult sell really. Even if we stopped all emissions tomorrow the effects will last a long time.

Humans are lost cause

Well the fact that over 7000 languages are spoken tells you all you need to know about the stupidity of humans.

One species with one language which is easily understood by all obviously makes supreme sense. And yet the inability of humans to use one common language to easily communicate with each other is actually celebrated as some sort of huge positive achievement.

Put half a dozen of the world's most intelligent humans in one single room together and there is a reasonable chance that they won't be able to communicate between themselves beyond a very basic ape-like level.

What chance to tackle serious and complex global issues when humans are stuck in the knuckle-dragging values of tribal identity?

ernielynch
Free Member

One species with one language which is easily understood by all obviously makes supreme sense.

If you are after a mono culture. I prefer a diversified world myself, and language is a big part of that.

It'll take governments to make concerted efforts to help force/shape the change we need...but as the race for next PM has highlighted - they are intend to reduce things to help improve climate as it isn't what the people want...
People as individuals can change but it'll take the vast majority to do so and that needs a plan and enforcement.

If you are after a mono culture. I prefer a diversified world myself

Who said anything about a monoculture with no diversity?

I said one language which all humans understand, how the **** doesn't that make sense? There is nothing cool about not understanding another human because they speak a language which you don't understand.

The planet will be fine, the inhabitants of it are in for a challenging few centuries.
Adaption will happen as that has been the root of us existing.
I don't believe we are doomed, but i do believe there is going to be a huge amount of change coming

Oh look more doom and gloom bollocks. Yes that's helping isn't it.

I forgot to mention we all need to stop eating and preferably breathing too.

Was discussing this exact thing with a customer at work earlier and we both came to the same conclusion:

Are we at the point where we’re screwed as a race

Nope.

We’re past it.

I've always reckoned there being a 10-15 year lag in climate effects from what we pump into the atmosphere so to make any tangible difference today we needed to have made the changes around 2010.

Ok, have some good news. Humans only generate 900g of C02 per day from respiration. That's a trip to Morrisons in a Range Rover.
https://www.globe.gov/explore-science/scientists-blog/archived-posts/sciblog/index.html_p=183.html

ernielynch
Free Member
If you are after a mono culture. I prefer a diversified world myself

Who said anything about a monoculture with no diversity?

I said one language which all humans understand, how the **** doesn’t that make sense? There is nothing cool about not understanding another human because they speak a language which you don’t understand.

That's why god invented language classes and translation.

There generally is at least one Lingua Franca's anyhow. It used to be French, hence Lingua Franca, before English. So i'm not really getting your point anyhow, in relation to this issue.

Language barriers aren't the issue, rather more a case of over consumption.

Pretty silly thing for an English speaker to say given the dominance of English.

One species with one language which is easily understood by all obviously makes supreme sense. And yet the inability of humans to use one common language to easily communicate with each other is actually celebrated as some sort of huge positive achievement.

That's the most moronic thing I've heard you say ernie.

It's pretty obvious why things are like that if you give it 5 minutes.

thisisnotaspoon
Full Member

The ones that annoy me most are the lefties*, who when actually presented with the idea that they could make some sacrifices to make things better for the rest of civilization as a whole.

I could kill myself today and all of the environmental impact and savings will do nothing to make things better for civilisation as a whole. My contribution to the problem has a . and a lot of 0s in front of it.

Meanwhile 100 companies are responsible for 70% of all global emissions. Meanwhile we waste huge amounts of energy in order to extract oil from tar sands. Meanwhile we have water shortages because the pipes leak. Meanwhile we have cities and farms built in deserts.

The best trick the big polluters ever pulled was to make it about individuals.

Oh look more doom and gloom bollocks. Yes that’s helping isn’t it.

Well, no, not really, but then again neither is anything else.

Aye, we're toast.

On both sides.

1840-2040. RIP.

We aren't toast at all, people will adapt to whatever conditions they have in the future. But it's really just a question of how many problems we want to leave them.

Wow, I thought I was a cynical miserable git, but you lot, well you've cheered me right up. I've not completely given up hope yet.

But, it's not for individuals to act, unless it's to demand change. Corporations need to be forced to act swiftly. Fossil fuel businesses should be phased out in the next 5-10years, and I don't want them near green tech, it would be like giving health care to the tobacco industries.

That big orb in the sky that is causing today's record temps needs to be harnessed along with wind and tidal power.  As a country we're uniquely positioned to lead the charge, but we have spineless gimps begging at the teats of big business in charge.

So don't give up. Things aren't likely to improve but we can minimise the impact on future generations.  Corporations can **** off. The planet and its inhabitants first.

How we do this, I'm not sure. But lobbying your MP, joining extinction rebellion are the personal actions required. I'm now prepared to be arrested for my beliefs.

No doubt I'm a hypocrite and not doing enough, but that's exactly what big business wanted you to believe with personal carbon accounting.

Cheers all, you've given me a kick up the arse to go and get arrested 😀 (T&Cs apply, my work won't sack me, but it might limit some work i do...)

Cheer up, fight the bastards, don't let the human race go out without a fight.

Assuming you lot have another 50 - 60 years (depending on your age and health) to live this life why worry for the future beyond this life? It is not as if you are coming back to re-live this or another life again. i.e. no more continuity. Whatever the future generations are going to say or feel is of no consequence whatsoever because you do not exist in future in any form. Hence, the logic does not stack up because moral etc does not have a place in future if you do not exist. i.e. by that time you are merely just dust in the space and universe.

Unless you are me in which case I might start cursing you lot for destroying a perfectly nice planet, but then I might just consider it as a norm living in a burning planet. LOL!

Put half a dozen of the world’s most intelligent humans in one single room together and there is a reasonable chance that they won’t be able to communicate between themselves beyond a very basic ape-like level.

I bet they bloody could

The doctors and philosiphors have latin

The physicians and mathematicians and engineers have maths, english and possibly german.

The programmers have a shed load to choose from

The arts... well they have art.

Kids... and lets face it they are probaby the brightest group and the most untainted have never needed a shared language to rub along quite happily.

Everyone else just needs to get on board with English, Chinese and Spanish.

And we all have body language, mime and penncils and paper for sketching.

A wilful ignorance and lack of effort is for sure a negative thing but learning a common language is so obviously not a solution to anything.

Hence, the logic does not stack up because moral etc does not have a place in future if you do not exist. i.e. by that time you are merely just dust in the space and universe.

So if I get amsolutely steaming and jump in the car and mow a bus stop down and die before they do i shouldn't feel guilty.

You don't half talk bollocks sometime chewke

One species with one language which is easily understood by all obviously makes supreme sense.

What an absolutely ridiculous opinion for an intelligent person to hold.
Kind of thing that Cecil Rhodes and the boys used to spout.

Put half a dozen of the world’s most intelligent humans in one single room together and there is a reasonable chance that they won’t be able to communicate between themselves beyond a very basic ape-like level.

Not only is that a totally made up assertion its also totally wrong, they'd use pictograms, sounds, gesticulating, objects, songs even to communicate pretty rapidly. People without common language meet and communicate all over the world on a daily basis.

So if I get amsolutely steaming and jump in the car and mow a bus stop down and die before they do i shouldn’t feel guilty.

That will not happen because in your current state of mind that is illogical. But then it might be logical for you to take such action if you think letting off steam is of much greater importance than existence or non existence.

However, even if you do it your guilt is of no consequences whatsoever to yourself because you no longer exist after the incident.

You don’t half talk bollocks sometime chewke

Your logic does not stack up.

Why bother when you do not exist anymore?

That’s the most moronic thing I’ve heard you say ernie.

I think the fact that I can't communicate with the average Chinese man or woman is pretty moronic, and not least because unlike a member of another species there is absolutely no practical reason why it should be impossible.

But you are entitled to your opinion molgrips. And I will draw satisfaction from knowing that what is clearly a perfectly sensible observation you see as the most moronic comment you have heard me make.

So yeah, wishing for all humans to be able to easily and freely communicate with each other is really 'moronic'.
*rolls eyes*

Why bother when you do not exist anymore?

Cause I'd rather not leave masses of problems behind us.

It's not that difficult of a logic to get.

Whether I am around or not is irrelevant.

You might not have, but I have an interest in the well being of my fella man and the future generations to come.

If you don't care i can see why that might seem illogical, but it's perfectly logical.

My belief system is irrelevant.

ernielynch
Free Member

I think the fact that I can’t communicate with the average Chinese man or woman is pretty moronic.

What seems to be moronic is your lack of effort on your part more than anything. If you have a burning desire to converse in Chinese, learn Chinese. That plus English will let you converse with a fair old chunk of the planet.

Utterly irrelevant to a Climate change thread anyhow.

Cause I’d rather not leave masses of problems behind us.

Illogical. You no longer exist in future. Your current concerns are just for the current state of mind in existence, beyond that it is illogical (assuming the mind of science).

My belief system is irrelevant.

If you apply logic your belief is irrelevant because you do not exist in future (beyond your current life). Your belief is only relevant in the current state of mind.

Therefore, those who argue for a better future world in the form of science is illogical. Moral is an emotional argument in science. i.e. it has no place in science, dust cannot argue especially when you do not exist anymore.

I forgot to mention we all need to stop eating and preferably breathing too.

& reproducing, for a while.
Too many people on the planet, it's not rocking horse science.