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I thought the younger generation cared about the planet?

(114 Posts)
GrannyGravy13 Wed 01-Sep-21 13:07:00

This is an aerial photo of the debris left after Reading Festival last weekend.

Thousands of tents abandoned, along with anything they could not be bothered to pack up and take home with them.

This is the generation bemoaning climate change and blaming us older folks, it makes me so very cross…

GrannyGravy13 Wed 01-Sep-21 13:09:08

Apologies the photo would not load, will continue to try

greenlady102 Wed 01-Sep-21 13:09:17

big discussion about this on MN

Juliet27 Wed 01-Sep-21 13:13:56

www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-england-leeds-58396954

GrannyGravy13 Wed 01-Sep-21 13:17:46

Thank you for the link Juliet27 my iPhone will not upload the Reading photos.

If the tents can be used fair enough, but that really doesn’t excuse these folks just up and walking away leaving their detritus for other people to clear.

Jackiest Wed 01-Sep-21 13:21:08

Some of the younger generation do care. This is why you should never generalise and think all people in one group are the same. Many people divide the world up into young, old, men, women, this race, that race instead of treating everyone as an individual.

GrannyGravy13 Wed 01-Sep-21 13:26:02

Jackiest

Some of the younger generation do care. This is why you should never generalise and think all people in one group are the same. Many people divide the world up into young, old, men, women, this race, that race instead of treating everyone as an individual.

Many of us older generation care, however Ms.Thunberg, XR and other climate activists are very quick to blame us for the state of the planet.

Blossoming Wed 01-Sep-21 13:27:43

Many festival goers are the older generation nowadays.

Nannan2 Wed 01-Sep-21 13:29:14

Thanks for link.OMG why would anyone just go home and leave tents/sleeping bags there?!(I'd believe they'd leave the rubbish, but why the camping gear?!) It makes no sense! Well done to them being able to reuse them, and for a good cause.But yes, everything others have said, that i thought it was the younger ones who were supposed to be all about saving the earth, and anti litter etc these days!? They should be very ashamed of themselves! Even only litter left would have been bad enough, but this too?! They should cancel this festival from now on because of this- it might make them see sense!?

Nannan2 Wed 01-Sep-21 13:32:48

Well whatever age these festival goers are, they are all in same boat! They should be ashamed, those who did just abandon their gear, and litter, no matter how young or old they are!?

Amberone Wed 01-Sep-21 13:40:00

Some do. Some say they do but can't be botherered to do anything about it. Some just aren't interested or don't think it's anything to do with them. Same as every generation really.

Amberone Wed 01-Sep-21 13:41:00

Didn't the same thing happen on the beaches earlier in the year?

vegansrock Wed 01-Sep-21 13:41:38

I’ve never read any where that all younger people care about the planet and all older people don’t. Why have a go at Greta Thurnberg, XR into it? Why not mention David Attenborough? Where have they ever said that it’s all old peoples fault? There plenty of selfish young people and selfish old people, plenty of young people who care about the planet and plenty of older people who care about the planet too. These sort of sweeeping lazy generalisations just an excuse to belittle environmental campaigns.

Smileless2012 Wed 01-Sep-21 13:43:57

I couldn't believe it when I saw the picturesshock. There were so many tents I thought everyone was still there.

Chewbacca Wed 01-Sep-21 13:44:11

I'm sure I read somewhere that the abandoned tents aren't wasted. They're collected and donated to the homeless via charities I think.

Hithere Wed 01-Sep-21 13:45:14

Disrespectful and inconsiderate people - in all generations and genders.

vegansrock Wed 01-Sep-21 13:47:22

Yes I think they are sent to homeless/ refugee charities, so festival goers will know that, and if they aren’t going to reuse the tent they may as well leave it.

Germanshepherdsmum Wed 01-Sep-21 13:49:29

What a dreadful mess. It’s good that the tents and sleeping bags could be put to good use, and well done to whoever thought of that. Why people would leave them behind I can’t imagine. Sadly the rubbish is typical of wherever crowds gather. The landowners or council tax payers pay for it to be cleared up. I wonder if the people who do this were ever taught, as I was and doubtless most GNs were, to always take your rubbish home if there wasn’t a bin to put it in?

Gwyneth Wed 01-Sep-21 13:50:48

I have walked home behind groups of school children eating crisps, sweets and fizzy drinks etc. Many of them just drop the litter as they go even when passing bins. A few years ago I recall a day of protest when lots of school children took a day off school to protest against climate change. It seems that they can take action when it means sciving off school but they can’t manage to place their litter into a bin. Having said that the littering problem is across the age groups. Every month together with other people, almost all of us middle age or older, do a litter pick around our town and every month it gets worse. Very disheartening.

JaneJudge Wed 01-Sep-21 13:51:58

This has been happening for years unfortunately. It is good if the tents are repurposed but it is just the amount of general rubbish.

Lets face it, it isn't just festivals. I live rurally and you really wouldn't believe the amount of rubbish people either leave behind or throw out of their car windows as they drive past. As a village we have a scheme where we have litter picking equipment and we all take it in turns....but then we also have fly tippers.

All of it is disrespectful to nature. I have no idea of litterers ages.

I know it isn't my festival going son throwing rubbish everywhere as I borrowed his car yesterday hmm

GrannyGravy13 Wed 01-Sep-21 13:59:57

JaneJudge when our children were going to festivals they could not afford to leave their tents and equipment behind each time as that would have meant them having to continually purchase new stuff for each occasion.

greenlady102 Wed 01-Sep-21 14:00:56

was this Reading? Apparently the end was awful people were pouring petrol on tents and setting fire to them and also people were pouring urine on peoples possessions and smearing the tents with faeces.

Amberone Wed 01-Sep-21 14:01:35

It's brilliant that the tents are being reused, but it means that these people will just buy more of everything for next time because they consider them to be disposable, which means more and more plastic rubbish is being produced that will litter the planet for years to come.

greenlady102 Wed 01-Sep-21 14:02:07

vegansrock

Yes I think they are sent to homeless/ refugee charities, so festival goers will know that, and if they aren’t going to reuse the tent they may as well leave it.

some are cheap single use rubbish, you can buy a tent online for less than a tenner

Teacheranne Wed 01-Sep-21 15:34:13

In reality only a few are reused. There is just a short window of time when charities can go round collecting tents before machinery is brought in to bull doze through the debris. My son went to Reading several times and volunteers for one of these charities, he told me that they were very specific about the type of tent and equipment they wanted, many of the tents were unsuitable ( been damaged, too muddy, still wet, cheap or not water proof etc) . I think the organisers only allowed a few hours for them to take down tents and carry chairs etc away so thousands were left behind.

I think many festival goers think they are helping charities by leaving stuff behind but they are being mislead.