Are my efforts worth anything

Yes they make a difference. I didn't vote Green, but that is also something else we could all do.
Not everyone is going to try, not all countries are going to try but if the majority do then there's hope. Can't be done by politicians alone.

Wasting even.

nanna8

You sometimes hear that the recycling bins and the stuff we separate out all ends up at the tip anyway. I hope this isn’t the case but I do feel suspicious.

I know someone who lives in a block.of flats and all the block's rubbish goes into huge bins. No separate bins for the recycling. I always wash my recycling but a lot of people don't, so my clean recycling gets mixed in with the dirty. I will continue to wash it out but do think I am waiting my time.

Yes, your little bit helps. If only everyone who says not would do the same as you and I it would make a terrific difference to the future.

Yes Tizliz, your efforts do make a positive difference. Keep your spirits up .

well obviously they need somewhere to land all those private jets

Am I right in thinking that Donald Trump recently decided that plastic straws would be better than paper ones?

You sometimes hear that the recycling bins and the stuff we separate out all ends up at the tip anyway. I hope this isn’t the case but I do feel suspicious.

I was a teacher for part of my life and when I was teaching junior children there was a little outbreak of pinching, such things as rubbers and pencils. I got them all together and said this to them, which is what I think matters to me at any rate.
When you look at yourself in the mirror, you see who you are and what y ou have done today. It doesnt matter whether anyone else knows that you have cheated or stolen something. YOU will know , you cannot hide from yourself. If you win something by cheating, you will always know that you didnt deserve it. We all make mistakes and do things we wish we hadnt, but if you can look in the mirror and feel you have done the best you can, you will live a happier life.

I still feel like that about myself and also keeping to the principles that matter to me. So I have never banked with Barclays, as they supported aparteid, and while I know that things have changed I still stick to that. Our family were always green, reusing and growing veg etc ect, partly through the cost of things and then things like not leaving litter etc was just how we expected to behave So I think it is important we do whatever we can and give a good example to others. Yes there are often times you could scream and feel in despair at what happens around you, but we can only do what we can ourselves and join with others to fight against the wrongs we see.Keep doing the best you can

My good habits which seem to help save the planet are those gleaned from childhood and not any modern fanciful notions.

Re-use, re-cycle - but even better, don't use at all.

We have to control our obsession with buying far too much, gadgets, clothes, etc, etc.

But also, put pressure on our Governement to improve processes, by making new laws to put pressure on industries, businesses, retailers- on cutting plastic, cutting waste, cutting packaging or make packaging properly recyclable, like cardboard, and stop landfill sites. Many countries make it law to stop polystirene packaging, and insist on recycled materials to pack and to protect during transport. Encourage re-fills for washing liquids, etc. Simple things like only selling earbuds with carboard stem, in a cardboard box. Even in the USA, McDonalds, etc, have to be sold in cardboard boxes, not plastic or polystirene, and coffee paper cups with cardboard lids, etc.

How can the climate summit people think they will have any credibility left, after this?
Unless they denounce the road.

fancythat

Out of interest, does any Gnetter think what has been done, in the link, was the right thing to do?

Building a road through the rainforest is appalling. I thought the leader of Brazil was an environmentalist?

I feel that if I don't make every effort to do the things I can then I can't harangue my MP, organisations and people in general to try to make them do their bit.

I pick up plastic litter on the beach and in my town every day.
Because I feel so strongly about the litter I've taken photos of what I find and sent it to the council and put it on social media. The council invited me to speak to their meeting about it.
As a result we now have more recycling bins on the sea front.

It doesn't stop people throwing down litter, but I know I've done my bit.

midgey

Everything helps!

This. It is just a cynical and pathetic excuse to say it's not worth it.

I too try to look after my own small corner, reusing and buying as little as possible.

I couldn’t believe my ears when I heard that there were cycle lanes on this road - who in the whole wide world will use them? The distances in Brazil are huge - most people fly from one town to another because to drive takes days, let alone cycle!
The road might benefit the existing town, but the forest? No.

Well, no. I find it difficult to believe that our recycling makes any difference to the planet. And should we be wasting water rinsing out jam jars and milk bottles before recycling? …

It’s right that we should be conscientious about not wasting resources but that’s a different angle.

I think Roosevelt had a rather large corner.

I’m with you Casdon. I think it was Eleanor Roosevelt who said that we should each look after our own small corner.

Out of interest, does any Gnetter think what has been done, in the link, was the right thing to do?

It is disheartening to read of such destruction and stupidity, but surely we must all go on doing what we can. Hundreds of thousands of people, each making their small effort within their means, can only help. I think of Helen Keller's words; slightly off message but you get the point:

'The world is moved along, not only by the mighty shoves of its heroes, but also by the aggregate of tiny pushes of each honest worker.'

I saw that Tizliz and felt the same.
But we’ll carry on recycling, trying to buy locally as much as we can and not flying for holidays

That’s why I avoid using goods from outside the EU wherever possible David49. If everybody bought less, bought more locally, reused and recycled, we would make a difference. We can all do it, with a bit of effort.

It make us feel better, very little of what we recycle is economic, landfill tax is the reason it’s done by councils. Importing cheap goods from China and others using coal for fuel and other is simply exporting our pollution then adding transport pollution.

I do what I can to recycle, including reusing the frightening amount of water that is run off from hot taps before I get any hot water (combi boiler!), which I use to flush the downstairs loo, and in the garden in the summer. But it does make you wonder why you bother sometimes.
I was extremely saddened when I read about this road through the rainforest. There are local people living next to it who have now lost their only means of earning a living because of this obscene project.