Climate Change Demonstrations

Oh Jane - yes, I can see that. But it has to start from somewhere ... should we really tell our grandchildren and youngsters- ah don't bother, go buy some more, chuck it all away, jump on a plane and a cruise and work hard to get that jag or two- might as well not bother.

NO

I am not against them but as to what difference it will make I'm not sure . Our bus and train services are rubbish the streets are littered with rubbish .i know people who use their cars and will not give them or several holidays abroad up .i worry about what the future holds for our children in our area there are too many unemployed ,homeless and child poverty so lots to worry about .

EllanV- one of the saddest post I've seen in a long time

No wonder the kids get depressed, have mental health issues, become food confused, anorexic and/or bullimic

I wish I could invite you to talk to the youngsters I've mentionned above - so you can say that to their face. They would be very friendly, and calm, and polite - but they would give you answers- for sure.

BTW - tragically, most of them have already decided not to have children - as they think the world is too **ed up.

Gosh, I am amazed at some of the pent up anger that is seeping through this Post. Those of you that consider beef cattle contribute to the pollution problem do have a look at the number of heavy duty diesel guzzling trucks that inhabit the entire world. What gasses are they emitting?

I think the point people are making Jura2 is that these youngsters lecture us old uns on where we’re going wrong without acknowledging that most of them aren’t blameless either.

It’s become an us and them thing, just like blaming baby boomers for having their own houses, good jobs, free education, pensions, you-name-it!

I content myself with the thought that they’ll get hell from their own grandchildren for something or other!

I applaud their enthusiasm but concerned that they have just woke to climate change when millions have been aware of climate changes since the 1960’s and have quietly been taking measures to slow this process.
I applaud their enthusiasm but want to know their strategies to enable this change, or is this just something that adults should do.
I hope that their actions continue to encourage the ongoing change in environmental awareness from the individual to the big corporations.
But little will change unless the elephant in the room is addressed which is human overpopulation.
I hope the next worldwide demonstration is a worldwide litterpick, now that would have a positive impact.

As meat has been mentioned I will point out that meat has less than 5% of our carbon footprint, traveling and transport has over 50% so a reduction and will have 10 times the effect, why has nobody mentioned that I wonder.
Probably because everyone values highly their independence to go places, it would change their lifestyle, go to Africa, it is just the same once food has been bought the next purchase is a motorbike or for the middle classes a car. So you see a squalid hovel with a new Chinese motorbike outside, living conditions come second to the status of having a bike.
Our lifestyles in the west have got to change drastically and it’s nothing to do with recycling plastic or glass, that might make us feel good but real gains are in reducing transport until that is accepted we are wasting our time. Consumption in the developing world negates everything we do, population growth makes it even worse.

Jura, I wasnt mocking or deriding anyone. I was just stating these as examples that folk on the whole will not walk anywhere. Of course change is needed and some of it needs to be folk with cars. If folk want to go out and protest fine, but they need to incorporate their beliefs into their everyday lives. People use their cars for the most unnecessary trips and I do know young people and some adults, who almost mock me for not holidaying abroad very often. They find it strange! I dont care, there are some countries Ive been to where the Climate message is not making the impact thats needed and yes, it is down to their governments. Protesting in this country is, I feel, preaching to the converted. I definitely was deriding and insulting no one.

Young people raising awareness of the issue is fine but I don’t accept being blamed for ruining the environment. Like some others posting on this topic I try not to be wasteful: eat little red meat, don’t have a car, walk or take public transport, go by train rather than plane if I can, never did the school run in a gas-guzzling vehicle, don’t buy designer nonsense, recycle where possible and keep my carbon footprint low. Don’t want to sound overly virtuous but my generation didn’t have a throw-away culture and my parents’ generation even less so. So teaching grandmothers to suck eggs some of it!

Saddest, Jura2 ? Honest I'd have said. Why shout about changes and whipping up a frenzy giving children false hopes ?
Children should be told the truth ! The truth about how the world disposes of its rubbish and effluence, etc. The truth about no more holidays because aviation fuel is in the air that they breathe through too many planes in the air, petrol fumes from the cars they're driven in. Cruises because their effects are ruining the coral reefs and the habitats of creatures. This is just a minute portion of the nitty-gritty of your so-called climate change protestations.

You haven't even begun to scratch the surface of what climate change/eco entails.

Jura 2 no one is mocking or deriding anyone on this thread that I can see. Im only saying that not all youngsters at the school I live near were there for Climate protest at all. The things I have stated regarding car use are true. I think this thread has been a good and interesting debate and has everyone talking and thinking.

Anja, of course I meant the single use bottles. I dare say some people do re-use/refill them, but I wouldn't want to bet on how many.

I think the climate change protest is right and it is good that children and young people are engaging to draw attention to their future.
It is all very well to pass exams to earn a place in a highly industrialised society as we all have done unquestionally but they are rightly stepping back and looking at the whole picture.

Whitewavemark2 what do you suggest the elderly do? I don't class myself as elderly, a mere stripling of 64 but I was brought up to waste nothing.

I do drive but being too young for a bus pass & having limited mobility I need to get to my shops, not supermarkets but local shops selling local produce.

I recycle everything possible, make do & mend as I was brought up to do. I don't belong to the "throw away" society that many of the young do especially regarding clothing/consumer goods. My generation & my parents are the original recyclers.

Governments will pay "lip service" but even if UK Government does listen how are these demonstrations going to bring about change in other Countries?

Don't get me started on the "eat less meat" debate

I'm now going to don my tin hat & hunker down behind the parapet. Agree to disagree but nothing will persuade me that these demonstrations are a good thing & will solve the problems

The only way to make a serious impression on the major polluting countries is economically. By refusing to buy clothes, electronics, machinery, fruit etc etc from these countries. So no more mobile phones, Primark clothes, mangoes and a multitude of other items plus of course no more long haul flights. That'll be easy though as planes won't have the fuel.

Hulahoop, your post really resonates with me. Its the same where I am and people think a holiday isnt a proper holiday unless its abroad.

legs55 that demonstration was world wide including African countries, and small islands who are being so badly affected, and who contributed nothing or a minuscule amount to the pollution

One lovely banner yesterday

“I’ve been to the year 2050. Not much has changed, but we live under water”

?

The kids are right, our generations and those who have preceded us over the past times are responsible for the environmental disasters that are falling our planet. Sure our parent's generation repaired things while pollution went uncontrolled. I remember the smogs that engulfed not only London but virtually every industrial town in the land. Am I the only one who remembers all of the buildings being black from soot. I can remember the River Darwen always white from polutents and steam constantly rising from the surface. It is only in recent years that the lower reaches of the Thames could sustain life such as fish. Even today, our cities are toxic because of air pollution and this is in our small islands. When we look further afield things are often worse, but our generation and that of our adult children deny our responsibilities.

All of this is down to our generation and those that we followed. Thank God that our grandchildren are aware of the issue and shout ENOUGH IS ENOUGH.

Had Brexit happened though WhitewaveMark2 ?

I absolutely agree with Jane10 and others! I'm 76 and was brought up, like most of my generation, to make shift and mend! Everything had to last, from clothes to toys, to bicycles! As a young adult, furniture, household equipment etc, all had to, as my Granny would have said, 'do a turn '!
Like others I do slightly resent being accused of being responsible for climate change!! I think young people have to realise that to make difference their own lives and attitudes will also have to change quite drastically!

Renewable energy seems a win win idea to me. Instead of importing polluting oil, we can aim for self sufficiency with British wind, British tides, and even British sunshine!
But as renewable technology gets more advanced, the government tips the scales back by reducing subsidies.

A day off school here and there makes no difference at all to exam results.
Nothing ever gets results without mass protests. Remember the suffragettes? Had it not been for them women would still not have the vote.
Good for all who protest for a better world for all. President Trump will be alone one day.

It's depressing to think of, but we are a small country and even if we all turned uber-green overnight, I wonder how much difference it'd make (not that I'm saying we shouldn't try!) when much bigger countries are unlikely to do much at all.

Once again this year, there's a piece in today's Times about the annual, vast forest fires in Indonesia - many started deliberately to clear the land for palm oil plantations. It's illegal of course, but corruption is rife there and I wouldn't like to wonder how many people are ever prosecuted. We have relatives in Singapore who suffer nearly every year from the appalling pollution wafting over it, so bad sometimes that schools are closed.

We visited several areas of Indonesia some years ago, when a dd was working there, and I can honestly say I've never seen so much plastic litter in my life. Much of it consisted of vast numbers of small water 'cups' - not even small bottles.

We also saw miles and miles of palm oil plantations, thousands of neat geometric rows of them - in areas which had previously been virgin rain forest.

Though having said that, I gather that much of the UK was once covered in forest, so much of which over many centuries has been cleared for farmland. So I suppose they are only doing what we once did - though of course nobody had ever thought of the consequences then.

None of this has ever stopped me and dh from trying to do our bit - a lot more public transport and cycling, not wasting food (not that we ever did), eating a lot less meat, not buying stuff we don't need, not ditching things just because we fancy a newer version.

I must confess to having often thought about a new kitchen (ours is 30 years old) but as long as it still works I doubt I can really be bothered with all the faff. And as long as it still produces a shepherd's pie now and then, dh couldn't give a toss.

We are ignoring natural climate solutions...We spend 1,000 times more on global fossil fuel subsidies than on nature-based solutions. This is your money, it is your taxes, and your savings." -
@GretaThunberg