Climate Change Demonstrations

I didn't want my grandsons to go on this one. I wanted them out of XR. I tried. It didn't go down well and my name is most likely mud now, with them and their mother.

But think about it. If governments are let off the hook for five minutes things get put on back burners. Our government is on the case, but for how long and how much effort being involved? Other governments across the globe are not so much onto things. Far from it. Greta and her followers are shaking things up with them.

It's got to be done. Little people can't really make a lot of difference themselves. It's governments that must be made to do it.

Really, what's not to like?

Totally

^ any recycling will have been done by their parents^

Really? I got my Christmas presents wrapped up in old Beano comics that I bought for him in the first place. How's that for ingenuity?

Exactly WW2. Kids are taken off school for trips with often dubious educational value, like going to Alton Towers, etc. Many parents take kids off school for the most dubious of reasons- and many take them off to go on cheaper holidays.

What concrete aim? Awareness- and awareness that result into actions in everyday life. Young people who think about their footprint- take the train instead of having own car, go on holiday using night trains (very popular and growing in Europe now), start businesses where everything sold is done loose, with refill packs, refill bottles, fresh local fruit and veg and produce. Solid shampoos and soaps, to stop plastic bottles- powder for washing machine and conditioner made with natural products for refill.

Young people I know get stuck in, get the local politicians and Maires involved - and persuade better practices at council level - put pressure on schools to provide good alternatives for cleaning, food, lighting.... and the list goes on. They are active on a day to day basis. They influence their parents too, ensure changes are made in the household. One of my students refused to go on a long week-end to Portugal recently- and told her parents why. Flying is not necessarily a total NO- but if you do, make sure it is for a decent duration- not for 3 days. And she said, if for a decent duration- she would go by night train anyhow. Putting pressure on our Nationalised train services and others in Europe- to ensure night trains are available and affordable. And on, and on. They think, they research, they plan, they get together and work together, they seek the help of experts, they get stuck in - they do it. Amazing kids.

I love that, Gonegirl

They organise swap groups, for tools, services, anything- to avoid buying. They organise free REPAIR cafés, so people get things ... repaired instead fo throwing them out. They organise free table top sales, free exchange libraries for books ... and so much more. As said, amazing.

I live near a secondary school, from the conversations I heard yesterday it was a great day and I quote "we were just allowed to skive". The path next to the school is littered each day with rubbish including Mcdonalds wrappers, plastic bottles and allsorts. They are too exhausted to walk to the bin of which there are about 3 on the path, to even put their rubbish in it. If you challenge them, you are told to f off! The rubbish is left for the council workers to pick up at the backsides of these lazy individuals. Don't kid yourselves that all youngsters were there about Climate Protest. They can't even recycle/ dispose of their own litter. For the young people who did go with genuine intentions-great, but dont be complaining when your exam results are not what you expected. The people here applauding children and grandchildren taking days off school, will be the same ones complaining about the education system when their grandchildren fail their exams. Unless everyone is academically brilliant. Yes, theyve had the protests, hopefully governments have listened, especially USA, China, India and Africa among others. Now what? What are these people going to do when the marches have ended? Are they really going to change their lifestyles to save the planet? Sadly, Im not so sure. Last nights news showed youngsters were all running about taking selfies, I bet social media is awash with the 'look at me brigade' I was here. What else are they going to do, protests every week, every day ? Its our lifestyles that need to change as well as protest. I know youngsters who don't think a holiday is a holiday unless it's abroad.

Some people on here are muddling climate change and environmental erosion.

Exactly.

On a more local level you can join groups in your community trying to take action and help make your town more climate friendly.

This. (But please do your sodding geography homework before you leave out. You won't get any more second chances, eejit!)

That was the point of my post, jura. Young people actually doing something and encouraging others.

No one has answered my point about any suggestions about what the young do with or without a vote to influence the worlds rulers?

My grandchildren are also teaching me to suck eggs Jura2! I was brought up by a father who throws nothing away and was servicing/repairing his own car until recently (85 for God’s sake) - haven’t we always done those things to save ourselves money and thus inadvertently tried saving the planet?

I'm not delighted with the protests at all. Imo they should only protest at parliament or council premises not block roads and motorways. Children, well the majority, no longer walk anywhere like we had to. The majority of these protesters have cars or motorbikes, go flying around the world on foriegn holidays or gap years, have internet using electricity etc. And I'll bet very few don't buy imported goods to save the carbon footprint. Clothes are cheap imports - it's a throw away society. One protester turned up in a high powered Jag then rode a bike 1 mile to the protest! Busses were held up for an hour at a time but when the protest was finished they tried to get on the bus. Driver told them to walk Fair play to the driver.

The biggest most effective way to help the environment is to not eat meat. We grown grain/need cereal end mass to feed the cattle for us to eat the cattle. After decades of eating meat we no longer do. My hubby wasn't keen at first but we have never looked back. Grown up daughters did this first and grandchildren. All our health has improved so it's a win win.

Stragely enough, I went to FB after my comment- and one of those amazing young friends (from France just up the road) posted this - oh and she is so right. Those amazing kids hardly ever buy new clothes- they go to Charity shops, they organise twice yearly swap days, for clothes, skating and ski equipment, music and school stuff, etc, etc. The get together and alter clothes, personalise them, cut them up to make matts or bags, or whatever. Lesley and her friends had a bet last year and they all more or less managed not to buy anything new.

Well said, Fiachna50. Protests should not impact on school or business life. Protests are fine but do it out of school,time.

Do it slowly if you have to, with the meat ... just have 1 meat free day per week- and ensure you buy local meat the rest of the time. Then you may realise that meat-free day is OK, so go for 2. And eat less- make a bolognese and with half lentils.
Put more veg in the stew to diminish meat %- and so on.

Eat less meat by all means but we will still need grazing animals. Not all land is suitable for crop growing and if arable production is to be increased, healthy of the soil will be vital.

We don't want to return to the days of mass use of chemical fertilizers.

healthy soil.

Forgot to put link- she put this brilliant piece:

www.facebook.com/lesseriescanal/videos/530121841071293/

Sazzl1 a protester turned up in a jag! One of the most gas guzzling cars on the planet. The school near me has parents that drop their kids off to school and collect them by car everyday. We have had some bus services cut, but there is a town centre service that would bring them right to school. The cars all sit in my street with the engines running and the stench of the fumes is awful and the folk in the cars dont give a toss. I live in a county which is a mix of rural and urban. I understand if parents need to drive their children if there is no bus service. But an awful lot of folk wont walk the length of themselves.

I do hope all you environmentalists are vegan; the number one cause of ‘climate change’ is methane from cattle bred for meat.
If you don’t give a fig about animal welfare, at least stop eating animals to save the planet.

I find I have conflicting views about all the protests. Yes, it needs to be addressed. Yet who has benefited from most of the developments from the supposed causes? All the plastic toys, the cheap polyester clothing, sports goods, gym clothing, reluctance to walk anywhere must use a car, the makeup, cheap food (try finding anything without palm oil) household goods that must be easy to clean or needs no ironing, the cleaning materials, probably the pens/ paints used for the protest banners. Yes , all of us will have taken advantage of the so called progress in living standards but the young too have aided and abetted the problem too. Of course legislation is needed, but the will of the individual to not partake in the crisis is also needed even more so.

4allweknow

You are muddling climate change and environmental degradation.

'awareness' is such a nebulous aim. Looks like the educated middle classes here in Europe are well 'aware'. However, how are marches here going to influence India and China to alter far more polluting practices than we use?
My friend said yesterday that she once joined a 'Make poverty history' march and enjoyed the occasion but sadly it didn't add up to any changes whatsoever.

So one person turn up in a Jag- so 100s of 1000s become irrelevant and hypocrites? The rest of the post, re parents taking kids to school by car and letting engines run without a care- support the argument that changes are needed, no?

If we, the grand-parents and parents and other adults - refuse to think and change, because we have allowed ourselves to people locked into such a destructive system - then it truly shows that it is our children and grandchildren and other youngsters- who will indeed have to show us the way. We should be so proud of them - but no- they are challenging our bad, destructive, greedy habits - so we don't like it- so we will mock, deride, call them hypocrites- whatever- so we don't have to rethink and adjust. We don't deserve them then.

No way will anyone make any sort of a difference to what goes on in the world regarding the climate or eco so you're all wasting your time.
Try being mindful of the ever-increasing population which naturally brings with it an increase in ALL things that add to the destruction of the earth and its atmosphere.
you'll never halt man-made destruction, ever !