Will you take the pledge?

my poor beaten and abandoned rescue dog doesn't think she is luxurious animal

A pet is not just a luxury, to some it’s a lifeline, some lives would be intolerable without a pet.

Doodledog, easy peasy - I already tick all the boxes, so I don't need to make any changes. I'll have to find some much harder challenges!

Well, point one, I will fail dismally regarding waste. Three children live here, and the amount of waste is shocking.
But we only eat poultry and fish no red meat, love salads, but do have a stash of chicken nuggets and pizzas.

Three items of clothes a year? Both my granddaughters have far exceeded this already. I haven’t, but I will, that’s way too strict.

I’m not a gadget person, so I keep electrical items till they give up.

I haven’t flown for fifteen years, and don’t intend to. My husband normally does a few short haul flights each year, but none since covid.

My car was new four years ago, I will change it this year, but for something smaller. Completely impractical not to own a car where we live.

I bought some heating oil at the weekend, now £1 a litre, I had an email from our electricity supplier today saying we can expect our electricity to cost £700 more this year. So will definitely be consuming less.

One last thing JaneJudge, I am very interested in your washing line. I have been searching for the king of all washing lines but haven’t found one yet, please tell me about yours.

No, we have already cut down on meat and eat fish at least twice a week and I'm not even keen on it and as many pulses as possible.
I suggest any of them with a hiatus hernia should try uping their veg intake, I think I would buy out the stocks of Gaviscon.
We are not allowed to recycle our veg peelings etc. in the garden waste bin so would be driving for miles to find a recycling plant using fossil fuels. We have nowhere to put a compost bin or I would.
I think they should give it a trial run for at least three years and see if they still agree.

JaneJudge I completely agree but people need to stop breeding so many more animals. The ones which are already born deserve all the love and care their owners can give.

Why is assumed always that plane travel is about holidays? I was on a plane in December to care for my three year old granddaughters to enable Mummy to work.
My son in law will be on a plane this weekend to work on a project ( you can't construct the infrastructure of a factory
via Zoom )

What’s the point of making a pledge? People who want to do these things will do them anyway and people who don’t, won’t. There are no new ideas in their list, either, it’s just a rehash of what we already know.

The point was to show people that they can make a difference, as they found that a lot of us think that it should be down to governments to make changes, or we just don't know what we, as individuals, can do that will matter.

I agree that there is no real point to a pledge - and I don't think they meant a pledge where you solemnly swear in front of an audience - but asking people to make minor changes in the knowledge that it will make a real difference seems to me a good idea.

Not everyone will be able to do all of it - as I've said, I would miss the car, even though I don't drive, and the country is not equally well-served for public transport. Asking someone who lives in the sticks to give up their car is a much bigger deal than asking someone in a city - particularly if they get a free bus pass. The three items of clothing a year would work for me just now, but I'm not going very far, and already have full wardrobes. I will be buying clothes for my son's wedding, though, and that could easily use up my 'allowance'. Similarly with electrical items that break down.

I think it's good to know the things we can change, and do them when we can, but not to see them as commandments set in stone.

No I cant tell you how wary I am of things like this. The law of unintended consequences. Article on radio 4 today about the impact of the plastic bag charge, more people buying fabric bags etc which guess what have a high environmental impact due to production, transport etc. What could be the unintended consequences of limiting flights, in a world where we struggle to understand other cultures.
It's just not simple. I have depressed myself now

1) I m vegetarian
2) I buy way more than 3 items but 90% come from the charity shop so recycling anyway
3) just replaced my white goods that I had second hand 10 years ago plus a gas stove I had second hand 20+ years ago so hopefully they ll last
4) not sure about that one I normally do one short haul a year and a long haul every five but the older I get the less I want to do anyway
5) never had a car
6) don’t know what that would be I can’t do solar as
I m in a conservation area I don’t have a pension provider only the government my energy provider advertises as green

Doodledog

Academics at Leeds University have come up with six pledges that they say would make a big difference to the environment if we all signed up to them.
Already do some of them. I won’t replace my car when I stop work, but a choice of 20 minutes by car or over an hour with 2 bus changes and a walk each way, means I’ll carry on driving for now.
What I’d be interested to see is whether these academics are really doing the pledges they’ve come up with.
Cynical, moi?

HettyBetty:

'people need to stop breeding so many more animals'

very true - and might I add:

'people need to stop breeding'

Mollygo

Doodledog

Academics at Leeds University have come up with six pledges that they say would make a big difference to the environment if we all signed up to them.
Already do some of them. I won’t replace my car when I stop work, but a choice of 20 minutes by car or over an hour with 2 bus changes and a walk each way, means I’ll carry on driving for now.
What I’d be interested to see is whether these academics are really doing the pledges they’ve come up with.
Cynical, moi?

Here's the article.

I don't know if it matters whether they do it all, tbh. It's a bit like doctors giving advice on alcohol units whilst knocking it back themselves - it doesn't make the advice wrong ?

Surely you’d have to have been living under a rock for the last several years to not know about things you can do to help? It just seems to be reinventing the wheel to me.

No thanks, hate being patronised.

Hetty58 a reduction would certainly be a good idea from an environmental point of view

people need to stop breeding

This.

Chewbacca

^people need to stop breeding^

This.

At least I can say yes to that!

I do all those things already so no need to make any radical changes.

1. We eat very small amounts of meat and have done for years.
2. Clothing - fail. This girl needs a modicum of retail therapy…and surely layering up earns some brownie points? ?
3. Electrical products in this house go on and on until they don’t. I have a Kenwood food processor from way back when which still works a treat.
4. I don’t like flying and will do anything to avoid it.
5. Motor vehicle - my battery was flat today. Does that count?
6. We have cavity wall and extra thick loft insulation together with double glazing. I admit we could do better with solar panels but taking dogs for brisk walks and cuddling up with them is keeping us warm (and happy). As Prince Charles would say, they’re ‘not negotiable’ for us. ?
Re veg peelings. I try to keep these to a minimum. In the months when the council collects the garden waste bin I add them so they become compost.

In general most people are more informed on how to be more considerate and environmentally friendly unless they live blinkered lives.

There is plenty of information out there for people to take on board advice about creating a safer and greener future.

If we all try to improve the damage already done by past mistakes a pledge wouldn’t be necessary. .

I can tick all these already. Apart from the travel one. I never use short haul, but would not give up one long haul flight every other year to visit family I would never otherwise see.

Not ok here, everywhere is so far apart. It costs more to drive than airfares, thousands and thousands of kms. Well I’ve stopped breeding, but my kids haven’t and neither have their kids. Started off with just 4 children, a small family, but now there are about 25 of us but I have lost count. I consider it a blessing. Climate has been changing since the world began,much more and faster than it is just now. It will be good if they can grow crops in the Antarctic and other cold places and set up towns there and perhaps that will happen.

I do what I can am very aware, so I won’t be signing a pledge. The amount of waste I see daily though appals me. Young people seem to have the heating on full blast and go around the house in t shirts as if it’s summer, wait until they get the bills. Another gripe I have is the amount of take always people have and the garbage they come in. I can do a pasta dish in less time than it takes to fetch one. Even worse when they have drinks and a pizza delivered, I can’t understand it. I get one out of the freezer and it’s ready in fifteen minutes.
Showing my age as gc ?