Extinction - the facts

I was saddened by the program. We have ALL got to do our bit to save the planet. I fear for my great grandchildren.

Surely we can all do a bit to help. Grow a few of your own vegs, change to milk in glass bottles, solar panels on roof, buy a compost bin. Also shop wisely, so no food wasted.
These are a few of the things we've been doing for the last 10 years. I know I could do more, and I plan to , with my grandchildren in mind.

I watched it and found it very very disturbing indeed
The human race do not come out very well at all in the documentary
We should be the carers for out planet not the destroyers.
I think its all down to the greed of people that were are in this state and I feel ashamed of the ignorance of people ( including myself)

I eat very little meat or dairy, but as veganism/ vegetarianism have become more popular there has been a proliferation of ‘junk’ products. Many of them are unhealthy and packaged in ways that are equally harmful to the environment. Several of the substitute milks are not without such an impact.
Surely we could also quickly phase out plastic bottled water which contributes to all the detritus on our beaches and countryside?

Happygirl
It's not your fault ? We have all been put in this position by these huge conglomerates.
Human nature being what it is who is not going to want to buy whatever they want, anytime of the year? Not me ( no halo here) because I've driven through the plastic poly tunnels in Spain many times.

I spoke to a friend yesterday who needs some parts for his very old car. £500 ( including import duty) from the US or £250 from china. What's he to do?

I'm awaiting a reply from a textile company who boast that they are a uk company. No mention of where their goods are made.
It's getting harder and harder to help the planet ?

Suekie
Of course we could stop the sale of bottled water. Make it prohibitively expensive. That wouldn't be popular with voters, though, would it. In fact, no measures to help the inviroment would be popular with voters.

I posted about this on another forum and had very few comments.
From my perspective , cutting down rain forests and taking up vast areas of land , using lots of water to grow soya. This soya goes into feeding cattle for consumption . Not eating meat ( or less meat ) is one of the solutions.
Also expecting to buy very cheap fish that has been trawled up in huge nets, in some cases killing coral beds that will never come back.

I think every generation since Victorian times (and probably long before then too) has been fearful for their children's/grandchildren's future. First World War, the Depression, Second World War, Cold War, nuclear threat, climate change - you get the picture. But each generation has coped and adapted.

My Granny (b.1880) would only have 1 child (my Mum b.1914) because the trauma of having a tiny baby through WW1 left her thinking the world would be an unsafe place for children. My Mum and Dad had 2 girls and openly apologised to us for bringing us into a world where (at the time) there was a distinct nuclear threat.

And so it goes on down the generations. You are right to be fearful, but don't let it consume you. Think about what you have already survived.

David Attenborough is a legend

unigran4 let’s hope you are right.

At the moment we have been given the “gift” of Covid. We are all complaining that we can’t do this or that and I don’t hear many people saying that we should get used to doing less, buying less. Amazon is booming.
Our world governments want to get back to business as usual.
Seems that we can’t live without 2 weeks in Benidorm.

We still don’t get it.

Don't watch depressing stuff these days even with a slightly happy ending (I read). No, not head in the sand. Call it personal survival if you like.

Oat milk is much less harmful in terms of water, land use and emissions than dairy milk. It has as much protein and calcium as dairy milk .Plus we can grow oats in the U.K. Yes, it’s more expensive, but that’s because dairy farms have maximised the output from their animals - removed their calves immediately to be slaughtered if male, squashing all the animals together in industrial units, killed as soon as they stop producing, Forget the happy cow cartoons. Life is miserable for most dairy cows.

If farmers were to stop intensive farming and pasture feed their animals instead carbon emissions would be zero and we could eat meat and dairy without harming the environment so wouldn’t need oat milk.

If you're really interested in finding out what is going try reading Apocalypse Never by Michael Schellenberger. Very illuminating and has changed my views on a lot of things environmental and I'm an environmental chemist.

Unigran
I think you must have missed one of the most important pieces of the program. We are killing off the pollinators.
Why do we need pollinators = to pollinate the food that keeps us alive and healthy.

This is to everyone. When was the last time you had to clean your windscreen of insects. I can't remember ?
That's how bad it is in just a short time, relatively speaking.

I don't want to frighten my grandchildren and to make them think there is little hope. I want them to be optimistic and look forward to a bright future. I will keep doing the small things I do working on the theory that every little helps though it's a drop in the ocean I realise. We have a wildlife-friendly garden with a pond and 3 holes in our fences for Hedgehogs (who visit regularly). The RSPB says if we make space for nature it will come and it is so true. We give what we can to environmental organisations and I volunteer at a local nature garden. I also email various bods about environmental issues. If we all do our small bit it does help. The future frightens me so I do enjoy reading about anything that is actually positive such as the thousands of trees that are being planted for the Northern Forest which apparently is going to stretch across a large part of the north of England. There is some good stuff going on but it isn't nearly enough - the world needs to wake up... not in 20 years time but NOW. What actually amazes me is that I consider my friends to be intelligent people but hardly any of them seem to have the slightest interest in the natural world. They appear to think it doesn't affect them. I find it hard to believe.

LadyBella
I feel the same about my friends.

Vegansrock. The programme did make the point that some meat production is necessary. Meadowland, grazed meadowland is essential for biodiversity and carbon entrapment. A good meadow holds more carbon than a bad forest. Have you read Wilding by Isabella Tree? In many ways veganism could be as damaging to the environment as the present overeating of meat if we all became vegan. Instead of growing soya etc for animal feed it would be for human consumption. We just need to eat less meat. Considerably less, but not none at all. We need diversity.

I can’t bear it. I can’t watch those programmes as I get too upset and i dwell on it.

I do all I can both in my personal life like wildlife friendly gardening -all plants planted with bees etc in mind etc as well as supporting all those fighting to prevent climate change and save our wildlife.

I try to ensure that there is pollen in the garden every single day of the year. Our winter clematis which lasts for months is always buzzing with buff tails.

We are now planning to buy an electric car, as lock down and how swiftly the air started to clear really made us think.

NFK meat production uses far more land, water and produces far more carbon emissions than any veg production, this is without going into the ethics of the exploitation of sentient creatures. No one is expecting everyone to go vegan overnight, or at all, but no one denies that reducing meat and dairy consumption would be the one thing that would have a beneficial effect on the planet.

Air pollution has increased since the easing of lockdown as more people are getting in their cars and avoiding public transport. Also, many local councils are closing side roads and channelling traffic into ever more congested main roads.

Since biblical times people have gone by the theory of ' keep calm and carry on'.

Couldn't agree more Luckygirl and why isn't he speaking out about the positive effects of the recent lack of air travel and road traffic.

no one denies that reducing meat and dairy consumption would be the one thing that would have a beneficial effect on the planet.

I agree with Nfk's post. A return to mixed farming would be the ideal but it will take time and I'm afraid money talks.

MerylStreep You're right about the pollinators but my post was addressing the original comment that the OP was fearful for her grandchildren. Sorry if I was unclear

I do wish that the trend towards artificial grass could be reversed - in fact I wish the stuff could be banned altogether.

Grass is good at carbon capture, not on the scale of trees but it all plays a part, as well as encouraging insect life which provides food for birds.

I think it is worth remembering that we ARE nature too. People often speak as if there is nature and then there is us. We are simply a part of that natural system.

It is an interesting philosophical debate as to where we all fit in together; all species; all animals, including us. In the non-human sphere, survival of the fittest is the rule. And we assume that this does not apply to us - but it does. We too are part of that universal system: this is what humans have been doing since they evolved - fighting for their own survival. It is part of how nature works. It is what we are programmed to do.

But now we are faced with the paradox that following nature - following what we were born to do - has resulted in the danger that we will extinguish ourselves, and the rest of nature along with us.

What I conclude from this is that it would be good to ditch the guilt - we are guilty only of doing what we were programmed to do, which is to place our survival above all other, as all of nature does, and always has.

What we need to do now is to stand back and persuade ourselves to deprogramme and move in what is an "unnatural" direction.

These appeals for change should not be worded with the premise that we are all guilty of some crime, but rather that we are evolved creatures who can stand outside our nature and make changes because our intellect chooses for us to do so. Being told that we have the sense to stand outside our nature and do what is needed is far more appealing than the relentless guilt trip that is dinned into us; and into our children.

Ascribing guilt to others makes it very easy to duck out of the need to change.

I was not having a go at Attenborough, but it is a fact that his life has consisted of flying around the world in a way that most people do not. He is therefore maybe not the best mouthpiece for this important cause.