Life on Earth

Princess Anne said that?

I'm speechless!

We still and have always had our milk delivered in glass bottles........

Population, population, population - there are FAR too many of us (think David Attenborough's already quietly said this.) Solutions not politically comfortable, though.

Hnnahlois luke, I too read that dreadful story about millions of swallow and other birds being caught in those fine mist nets all along North Africa, but especially in Egypt. Their little bodies are then filled with herbs and they are cooked and eaten. This was in the Mail on Sunday, page 21. If you can get a copy, read it . When I went to Malta with my family 40 years ago birds were being shot all over the place. The Mediterranean if a very dangerous place for birds. Any birds which escape and go on to stop for a little rest may find they are caught in quicklime or primitive traps. If any swallows or martins reach these shores they may find it hard to get enough to eat as insects are being systematically wiped out due to the use of insecticides. And then there is the illegal destruction of swallows nests as people think they are untidy and messy..
People. value our migrating birds!!! Or we may soon have none left. If you are able to write to the RSPB and point out that they need to complain to the embassies of China (where the mist nets are made), Egypt, Morocco, and othe North African countries. (The Chinese are great killers of all wildlife and eat most of it). here possible don't use insecticides.. Don't use toxic slug killers, as slugs killed by these can also be eaten by birds and kill them too, AS FOR CATS!!! They kill 30 million birds a year.

My heart sinks when folk use “China” as a reason for us not to do things. We have exported our emissions to China (most consumer goods from white goods furniture. clothing, mobile phones, radios) that we have new / recent in our houses were made in Chinese factories. We have also exported our sweatshops to poorer nations too. Of course they benefit but the problems are more complicated than “we can’t do much because of China”, or blaming a 16 year old activist for not going there, or blaming celebs who we have created by our craving for celebs, for the fact that they are rich and travel. We all need to look to ourselves, our profligacy.

Humans have been allowed to breed uncontrollably and the planet cannot cope with these present numbers. There is only one solution and that is to control the birth rate worldwide until a lot more people are dying off than are born. In my opinion, the world population needs to be down to about a quarter of what it is now for the Earth's resources to be enough for future generations.

I often wonder how much power does it take for all the street lights to be kept on all night?
Why do we need them on all night?
When the World is viewed from space at night, it's lit up like a Christmas tree.
Perhaps they could be individually powered by solar panels?

who are these scientists? I find it very hard to believe as I drive the thousands of miles
of wilderness and forest in the Eastern US. I am not saying we should not work to combat pollution, etc. But all doom and gloom? Twelve years? No.

Did Princess Anne live with her divorced husband before she remarried then? Or am I missing the point?

That's not the point! And yes, there outrage at the time!

there was

But are they rainforests mcrc?

I am watching a programme called ‘The Customer Is Always Right’ where inventors have their products road tested by members of the public. Many of these products are designed with sustainability in mind using ethical materials. The young people who are testing the products get this right away and are prepared to support the idea. The older people may get it but are not prepared to the extra cost of the product. While there is still a demand for cheap and cheerful plastic items then nothing much will change.
The older generation have done their bit to (over) populate the planet, pollute it by flying and driving, demanding cheap clothes and goods and generally not taking account of the damage to the environment. I have faith in the young ones to start to put things right and I hope it is not too late. Meanwhile, I am doing my small bit to make amends and changing what I can. Better late than never.

The Guardian is reputable but it has a very left wing bias and is polemical in its support for climate panics. It is often miserly with the evidence and with objectivity in this area.

Try to ignore Chicken Licken. The sky is not falling in.

and there is the evry reason WHY we're in the stae we are Lilyflower ignore it and it might go away!!

Oh it’s in the guardian so it must be untrue, celebs support it so we can sneer at them , as for 16 year olds - what do they know ? etc. Perfect attitudes for ignoring the problem and feeling smug because we do a bit of recycling.....meanwhile a million species are in danger of extinction, because of human selfishness, but hey it doesn’t matter, the sky hasn’t fallen in.....

The main problem is the huge growth in human population and I cannot see any way to control this.
I find it all very sad how things have changed since I was born -no longer see hedgehogs or frogs in my garden like I did 20 years ago and no I do not use pesticides.
When I was a child a huge area of the South American rain forest had tribes unknown to the world but alas no longer
I just cannot see the answer to this as so many governments do not seem to be interested as long as their little bubble is ok

The research is widely reported. It was carried out by the UN.

It is incredible when you read that just because you can drive 000s of miles in the US and not see any evidence that people refuse to believe it is not happening. Equally the US is part of the world and will not be immune from global changes. Too late to pull the drawbridges up.

I recently opted to have my milk delivered, glass bottles and support for a local business. But, at 86p a pint it's not an option for some families who get through several pints a week.
My particular soap box is motor racing. How much fuel does that need, and the emissions must be horrendous. Add to that the global travel........but it's big money
I'm very conscientious but , as previously mentioned, some countries make no effort so it's hard to imagine that my meagre contribution does any good.

Buffybee, where I live the street lights are off between 1 and 5 am.
You also mentioned solar panels and I cannot understand why our government hasn't made these compulsory on all new builds

Extract from Time magazine 'There’s an awful lot in the just-released summary of a new U.N. report on biodiversity and ecosystem. There’s the tenfold increase in plastic pollution since 1980, for example. There’s the 400 million tons of heavy metals, toxic sludge and fertilizer runoff poured into the world’s water each year too. There’s the doubling of greenhouse gas emissions since 1980; the growth of industrial fishing, now sprawling across 55% of the world’s oceans, the 85% loss of the wetlands since the dawn of the industrial era, and the 70% increase in invasive species in 21 countries.

And then, finally, and perhaps most worrying are the extinctions. According to the conclusions of the 455 experts and contributing authors from 50 countries who drafted the report for the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), up to 1 million species of plants and animals are now threatened with extinction, some within decades, including 40% of all amphibians, 33% of marine mammals, and another 33% of shark, shark relatives and reef-forming corals.'
They are talking decades here, so could be our lifetimes, probably our children, let alone GC. Wake up call, which has been going on for decades now but we choose to ignore it. We will have to change our lifestyles, have to pay more attention and demand action from those who have the political clout to make national differences.

I think voluntary planet saving is hopeless. We need everyone to be on the same page and that can only be done with laws and cooperation between countries.

We can plod down to the recycling (which I do) as much as we like but until the powers that be recognise only a few will do this whilst others ignore the signs, pollute with plastic, buy whatever they want because why should they abstain when Mrs. so and so from down the road doesn't, then we'll get nowhere.

You have to ban certain things for 'all' to make a difference.

Buntybunny21 Have a look on line at ‘Milk and More’. I get my milk delivered and it comes in glass bottles.

I found a local milkman arranged how many pints and when I wanted delivery.........opened door to find milkmin plastic cartons!!!!!

If we all do our bit it must have some effect surely?

There is the technology to turn our waste into fuel but is there the monetary incentive, unfortunately money really does make the world go round.

If everyone stopped flying abroad what would happen to these communities who derive their very existence from tourism. There is a burgeoning eco-tourism market, which helps the poorest peoples in third world countries.

In my opinion there is not a "one size fits all solution" we cannot turn back the clock, but surely we can use technology and inventions to help solve the problems the planet is facing?