Global Boiling

Well said vegansrock!
I hate all this turning on eachother, I mean countries. It smacks of Xenophobia.
The planet earth is small and we share it. A bit like trapped animals, they and we, turn on eachother rather than finding ways to work together to escape.
Yes the clean air of the covid pandemic was wonderful nanna8 for a while. Swans on the canals in Venice. Empty roads and clear skies.
We need cooperation not conflict to get through this crisis.

I believe mother earth herself will survive but whether the human race will is another matter.

Be aware that if you buy clothing from Bangladesh ( and other far east countries) you are still supporting the chinese economy.
In the late 90s the Chinese moved into these countries because of rising wages in China.

I do try not to buy anything from China and do what I can and think the UK takes it very seriously. I do think we are all guilty of just buying too much stuff because it’s cheap regardless of where it’s from. Now I check everything. We are a tiny country doing our best. Everyone knows who the culprits are but those countries don’t listen to the population. We are on a one way track, don’t think we can as a country can change much, it’s our children and their children that are in a bad place. I was born at the best possible time but unfortunately my much grandchildren not, I wish I could alter it. The earth will survive and it will be just another stage in its history.

I never buy anything from the US because there isn’t anything to buy anyway! It is hard to avoid China, though,because they make and manufacture more or less everything these days. I don’t want to go with no clothes,thanks.

Those who say we in U.K. can do nothing because China, USA,, India are so much worse should stop buying stuff from China as that would help. Did you know much of our energy infrastructure is owned by the Chinese as the Government has sold it to foreign owned organisations ? Even our National Grid is owned by the Chinese. Perhaps you should vote for parties that would reverse this. Also campaign for better insulation and energy saving in ALL new builds. At the moment regulations mean poorly insulated shoe boxes are constructed quickly .

Those who deny then hanging climate change is nothing to do with human activity - We have very detailed records of past climate from Ice cores, plankton, tree rings and oxygen isotope ratios in coral & foraminifera. We know that greenhouse gases are warming our planet. If you have some scientific insight, you should publish it and have it peer reviewed.

One small good thing about Covid was the lovely fresh air when no one was driving around. Quite noticeable in certain areas (Beijing for one ) . Maybe that was what the experiment was all about, who knows ?

It is true that climate change has always been, but what we have done since the industrial revolution is to speed up the change massively.

I’m not sure China is reliable in reporting it’s achievements against targets. They don’t hesitate to deny I’ll treatment of minorities.

And despite releasing Covid on to the world which caused millions of deaths, untold misery, and basically crashed the world economy, they denied it, told lies about it, and have continued to lie about it ever since. Why would anyone believe what they say?

silvercollie

Jess 20. Cannot agree that it is all down to us. The earth has been changing climates for millennia.
At one time you could ice skate on the River Thames and Walnuts grew near Hadrians Wall. Neither of those phenomena are happening at the moment.
Climate change has always been.

Well said, silvercollie.

You may not trust what China reports grantanow but this is a report from
GLOBAL ENERGY MONITOR a San Francisco based non governmental organisation which catalogues fossil fuel and renewable energy projects worldwide. GEM shares information in support of clean energy and it's data and reports on energy trends are widely cited by governments, media and researchers.

Grammaretto

I daresay she wouldn't be safe in China because she is so high profile and their regime is inhospitable maddyone but she would be popular amongst the intelligent, thinking people.

Here in Edinburgh there are many Chinese university students who are very forward looking and eager to discuss
global warming and any other crisis facing the world.

China is on course to hit wind and solar power target 5 years ahead of time

I'm not sure China is reliable in reporting its achievements against targets. They don't hesitate to deny ill-treatment of minorities.

This isn't helping:

Article is from May 2022

Renewable energy developers are facing delays of up to a decade to connect new capacity to the electricity grid, threatening the government’s pledge to shift away from fossil fuels and meet net zero targets.

The UK recently set out ambitious new goals to more than double existing renewable generation capacity, adding 50 gigawatts of offshore wind by 2030, 70GW of solar by 2035 and 24GW of nuclear by 2050.

But developers say they are being told that they will have to wait six to 10 years to connect to the regional distribution networks because of constraints on National Grid’s network.

www.ft.com/content/7c674f56-9028-48a3-8cbf-c1c8b10868ba

www.theguardian.com/world/2023/jun/29/china-wind-solar-power-global-renewable-energy-leader

Sorry about the bad link. I am not reaching my own targets of being computer savvy 😭

www.ecowatch.com/china-solar-wind-capacity-goals-2030

I daresay she wouldn't be safe in China because she is so high profile and their regime is inhospitable maddyone but she would be popular amongst the intelligent, thinking people.

Here in Edinburgh there are many Chinese university students who are very forward looking and eager to discuss
global warming and any other crisis facing the world.

China is on course to hit wind and solar power target 5 years ahead of time

I wonder how Thunberg would get on in China! Strange that she hasn’t been there but instead directs her venom towards countries in Europe primarily.

First. ULEZ has little to do with climate change: it's a public health policy but it appears to be a regressive tax on poorer people. Not surprising they and their friends voted against it in Uxbridge.

Second, all UK plans to combat climate change envisage some use of oil and gas by 2050. It's not 'zero' but 'net zero' hence the emphasis on carbon capture (already being done at scale by Norway) and renewables to offset fossil emissions. It's important the UK makes progress on climate change but it's contribution is modest in comparison with the changes needed in China, USA and Australia. Thunberg makes a lot of noise protesting in the UK and Europe but her efforts might be better directed to the major CO2 producers.

And we are the world's 6th largest exporter of goods

We need to be doing our part clearly

Here is one example,

The UK is currently 5th in the world for the amount of flights taken, it has previously been as high as 3rd

I expect that figure is not included in the data

Your bet isn’t fact VS.

I don't understand this idea that "we are only contributing 1% so it should be down to the bigger contributers to resolve..

A. Lowering our emissions will make a difference

B. I am willing to bet if we looked at the numbers by area or individual instead of by country our contribution is actually higher

Nancat

These are the 5 most polluting countries on the planet.
1. China (30%)
2. United States (15%)
3. India (7%)
4. Russia (5%)
5. Japan (4%)

= 61%

The rest of the World together contributes the other 39%. Yes, we should all be doing what we can to reduce our contribution, but until the major culprits significantly reduce their output, our efforts are just a drop in the (polluted) ocean. They all come up with excuses why they can't do it now, and don't seem to accept that the clock is ticking to the point of no return. I don't know what the answer is, I do my bit, my conscience won't let me do otherwise, but it's a losing battle while the big countries won't change their policies.

and China is buying up large parts of other parts of the world ie in Africa and Mongolia, not to mention it's unlawful invasion ofTibet.. a truly worrying country and one that doesn't appear to negotiate or respect any human rights. So I don't see a good outcome to this climate crisis there

It is true that the UK currently is not contributing a great deal of CO2 to global warming. But we have simply outsourced the pollution to China, which now manufactures the goods we buy.

These are the 5 most polluting countries on the planet.
1. China (30%)
2. United States (15%)
3. India (7%)
4. Russia (5%)
5. Japan (4%)

= 61%

The rest of the World together contributes the other 39%. Yes, we should all be doing what we can to reduce our contribution, but until the major culprits significantly reduce their output, our efforts are just a drop in the (polluted) ocean. They all come up with excuses why they can't do it now, and don't seem to accept that the clock is ticking to the point of no return. I don't know what the answer is, I do my bit, my conscience won't let me do otherwise, but it's a losing battle while the big countries won't change their policies.