Will you take the pledge?

My son lives in Australia. Should I not see him more than once every 8 years ?

3 items of clothing a year? No I’m sorry I can’t do that either,

I’ll do what I can but no pledging.

Even small changes can make a massive difference - if we get the right information out there for informed choices. For instance, the meat eaters in my family have given up the two worst types for environmental damage - beef and lamb.

Hmm: the stop breeding suggestion ( commands?) might not be such a wonderful idea, in the West, at least. The population rise here is not due to births, which are well below replacement levels, but due to older people living longer. Yes, that'll be me, CLG,
and maybe a few other posters. If the birthrate continues the future maybe a West full of old, and very old, people and very few young workers. Hungary has been wrestling with this problem since they broke from Soviet rule, and it has proved very difficult for them.

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.
Nothing wrong with offering advice, but my brother was a great practitioner of “ don’t do as I do, do as I tell you!”
So I’m interested whether they practise what they preach.

I do what I can without signing up to any Academics pledge

FannyCornforth

Chewbacca

people need to stop breeding

This.

Exactly.
And yet it’s rarely mentioned.

I don’t have kids and have been vegetarian for nearly forty years; so I shall have as many pets and dresses as I damn well want! (Stamps foot)

I enjoyed this a lot, thanks FannyC

We eat meat about 3 times a week but I do have chicken nuggets in the freezer for those emergency ‘can you pick the children up from school and give them tea’ occasions

Clothes - bought none during the covid years, just got new jeans, jumper and warm coat. I’ll wear them 10 years or more providing I’m still here

Electrical items - antiques here and only replaced when beyond repair

Flights - I’ve flown to Greece every year for 15 years. I don’t want to give it up

Cars - we have awful public transport. My car is 6 years old I’ll run it till it dies.

Our savings are with ethical companies. Im not moving to green suppliers. Several have gone bust leaving clients in a right pickle

I dont know that we do know it to be honest. Or we certainly dont know the consequences of it as demonstrated with some of the results of the plastic bag charge.

I'm not going to become vegetarian but we do eat less meat and there's very little waste. My little food bin takes a week to fill up.
I need my car for work, there's no way I could get public transport to do a 40 mile journey to arrive at 6.30am. I bought mine 2nd hand in 2016 and have no intention of replacing it. It's only a 1L so as cheap as possible to run. Our other car is 25 years old and, again, no intention of replacing it. I walk to the shops etc.
I hate flying so try and find alternative ways of traveling if possible but I didn't travel much when I was younger so have no intention of staying put until age and health stop me.
Only replace electrical items when they break and am not gadget minded so don't have many.
Most clothes I buy are second hand from ebay or charity shops, I will continue to buy what I need or want, I wear a uniform for work so am not a big clothes buyer anyway.
Can't change my pension scheme, it's an NHS pension so not under my control.
I will never get rid of my dogs, for mental health they are a lifesaver.

karmalady

SueDonim

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.

This

Many of us do what we can as a lifestyle choice. We do not want, or need, a lecture

I agree!
So it takes academics at university to come up with what we already know?

Seems really strange to me, as a child, I walked most places, public transport was good and regular, then came the car, people stopped using public transport, the few that needed to use it were faced with reduced timetables, because guess what, you can’t run empty buses, not viable. So now people keep complaining about lack of public transport, who is to blame, the car users. I have had a European made fridge freezer for 21 years, do not buy more than three items a year, as hold on to my clothes, as long as they are serviceable, don’t really care about fashion trends. Made a massive pot of bean and veg soup which will last at least three more days, do not and will never require a pet to fulfill whatever purpose they do fill. Use car sparingly, for food shopping mainly, I have been with a green energy company for the last four years. Oh and I recycle as much as I can, So no pledge for me, my life anyway.

SueDonim

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.

This

Many of us do what we can as a lifestyle choice. We do not want, or need, a lecture

Chewbacca

^people need to stop breeding^

This.

Exactly.
And yet it’s rarely mentioned.

I don’t have kids and have been vegetarian for nearly forty years; so I shall have as many pets and dresses as I damn well want! (Stamps foot)

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 ?

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 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.

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. .

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.

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

Chewbacca

^people need to stop breeding^

This.

At least I can say yes to that!

people need to stop breeding

This.

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

No thanks, hate being patronised.

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.

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 ?

HettyBetty:

'people need to stop breeding so many more animals'

very true - and might I add:

'people need to stop breeding'