Environment v quality of life
We are being advised to avoid eating red meat and dairy products, to eliminate cattle and reduce production of methane. One MP suggests we should scrap all our cars. The Amazon rain forest, which produces 20% of Earth's oxygen and soaks up CO2, is seriously under threat. The oceans are being polluted at an alarming rate, and coral reefs are dying in vast numbers. Household refuse is becoming difficult to manage, and recycling has a long way to go before it becomes really effective. Oh dear, what a boring outlook for future generations. It's great to be old!
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Old without a conscience would be even better but that’s not an option for most folk. It’s the ‘what & who we leave behind’ that I struggle with☹️
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Likewise. While it’s good to feel that I've seen the best of things and the future's not going to bother me personally, I do feel for the younger generations who seem to have a very different future to look forward to in so many ways😕
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Many of us had to endure the h bomb testing era, that was pretty scary. Every generation will have to endure something difficult whilst seeing other types of progress. No I don't think it's great to be old and I don't feel smug about anything, we all share this planet, whatever age we are.
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I'll do the best I can but I'm no saint and will still carry on caravanning which means using a polluting vehicle etc.
However, I can't help but feel that Mother Earth can't wait for us to go the way of the dinosaurs. She's given us so much and has such beauty and what have we done to thank her? Acted like the worst kind of vandal and descrecrated her at every opportunity.
Any other planet with life supporting atmosphere must fervently hope that these disgusting neighbours don't find their way to them.
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It isn't anything to do with being smug. We follow the rules in the best interests of the planet within our practical capability. Rubbish and food waste kept to a minimum. Recycling done wherever applicable. I do not allow my engine to idle unnecessarily (fancy it being a requirement to penalise drivers to bring them into line. Shame on them!). I only have a large motor because I pull a caravan, although the exhaust system gases are cleaned by an ad blue system and DPF. I am retired so mileage is low, and we use our bus passes wherever possible - both at home and when on holiday. And we also have young family members for whom we share concerns, alongside all the young folk.
My "great to be old" was a bit tongue-in-cheek, and harkened back to a time when we were young ourselves - a time when people cared about others besides themselves - but most of us were kept ignorant of the threat to come, which has been highlighted largely through the social media, better reporting, and successive governments' inability to keep things hidden. And yet in spite of the dangers, various governments are at odds with each other instead of joining in a concerted effort to turn things around. That would still take time, but current attitudes are likely to make changes impossible. As one learned professor pointed out, "We only have one Earth."
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Amidst all the talk of climate change, we hear little about population growth. Any given land area has a finite capability to produce food/water. I fear that until we address this issue as well, were are headed for disaster.
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Absolutely correct, cyberyacht. But the issue has negatives as well as positives. Population growth produces more global warming which is exacerbated by clearing more land for human occupation. Medical science has prevented early deaths and also prolonged life for the elderly, which in turn further increases the rate of population growth. The reduction in regular large scale warring of nations has cut the annual deaths and early demise of thousands of would-be warriors, left instead to stay at home and breed still more children.
When (if) all the technological advances are exhausted and the climate change still goes in the wrong direction, is there a risk that the population explosion will be resolved by means of what we today regard as inhuman and unacceptable? One day, food production will stagnate, major unrest will prevail, and brutal regimes may arise to settle the problem. Not a nice thought, but not impossible either.
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As a 73 year old I can't change the world, I can only change what I do. I have made sure my house is as insulated as it can be so that I use less energy, which saves me money. I doubt I drive more than 5000 miles a year. I don't fly anywhere. I try and use public transport where that is practical, especially when out and about in the motorhome. For the past 10 or so years we have been using Waitrose Quick Check where we scan our own shopping and pack it in bags that are years old so during that time we have probably saved in the region of 5000 plastic bags. We only buy what we can eat and the little waste we have goes for composting. That is just my meager contribution to saving the planet.
The Government could do so much more. Why don't they subsidise me having solar panels so that I could contribute to reducing the amount of electricity I use? Why do they charge VAT on Electric Cars? If the Government were actually serious about the environment they would be doing a lot more even if it meant being unpopular.
And older people we could stop vilifying the likes of Greta Thunberg and Extinction Rebelion.
David
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Now up to younger generations? I think not. Unfortunately it is us oldies with our outdated beliefs that are meddling too much in a future we will not even play a part in. You just have to look at the mess our decision makers (and us) are in right now to realise that it's the older generations who have caused it and 'we' continue to allow the problems to escalate.
If we are to hand over responsibility to the the younger generations then we need to 'let go more'. I have far more faith in them.
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+1, it’s GT’s generation & those to come who will live with our laissez faire attitude to our planet.
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So, are those you left behind who have not hung their boots up are primarily older or younger? Those I left behind when mine were hung up were all younger!
A pretty much correct deduction from info provided rather than a wrong presumption I guess.
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The comment wasn't aimed at people on this forum particularly but elsewhere and in the press it is quite widespread.
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More an educated guess then given the limited info. given.
However, despite the semantics the essence of my post stands. Us oldies are medelling to the detriment of future generations. Much of this medelling is steeped in past and now spurious belief.
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I’m becoming more of a convert since the effect on the flora & fauna of the planet has & is being proved widely to be detrimental. Add to that my own backyard is showing stresses annually of lack of rain & increases in temps of 30c+.
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We still seem to be incentivising population growth or we would have scrapped child benefit. I'd best be careful lest we stray to far into politics though.
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The two key factors without a doubt are population and consumerism. Mankind has become a little bit too savvy in terms of protecting itself from the kind of diseases that would have ravaged it last century, no world wars to decimate it further, although certain countries sadly are doing their best on that score.
I think somehow, folks everywhere need to be persuaded not to have as many children, and to make a few simple changes that could help. Not as many flights per year? Cut out the face to face meetings and use technology to discuss where required? Relearn how to mend things instead of just throwing things away? Get back to local schools and work if possible? Substitute a few none meat meals per week? above all, share more instead of the me, me, me greedy culture we have now.
It wont happen. The genie is out of the bottle. Who are we to deny other cultures what we have enjoyed for decades? Religious beliefs and constraints still have to be overcome in a lot of places, and Capitalism is running rife with a few wanting unbelievable wealth at the expense of the many. It will reach a point where resources and space run out, and then it will be survival of the fittest. How long that will take will vary from country to country, but it will happen. Not in my lifetime hopefully.
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I'm a great believer in Nature, Dorset Driver, and I think that she(?) will create something to address the problem. But a word of warning - nature did not create Earth with human beings having any particular worth, so she might have something else in mind which eliminates the presence of Homo Sapiens. That, of course, is before our Sun expands into a red giant and vaporises the whole lot.
As for us looking after the environment, we live near to a primary school and a day nursery, and pupils pass to and fro along our road to attend college. The discarding of litter and often food can occasionally be enough to be an eyesore, so many parents and the ones who will eventually "look after" the planet seem to not as yet got the message.
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I agree with the litter problem ,he heads of both our local primary and comprehensive, when advised that their pupils/and parent's are in need of advise about litter tried to pass the buck on to "others?"until the were told that there is not a problem out of school term times
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I don’t think you can blame the schools to be honest. I was taught by my parents at a very early age that dropping litter isn’t a nice thing to do, so I didn’t and don’t do it. Granted schools probably have vending machines nowadays that doesn’t help, but it’s parenting that is the key.
We can but hope that the new eco warriors will try and educate their parents, as well as their future offspring.
Convenience packaging is very much an evil of the last four decades, and has changed our diets and eating habits. I am constantly astonished at how much recycling we do daily. There’s only two of us and a dog, so heaven help families. Lots of packaging is just so unnecessary. Why do I need a bit of cardboard to hold together four bottles of cider? Why do three onions require a plastic net? Why do three trifles in plastic pots need some cardboard around them? Bonkers. Only plus thing is we use cardboard in stove to help light it. Not sure that’s eco friendly but we would be drowning in the blinking stuff at times.
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The trouble is there are far too many facets in this dilemma, many fighting against each other. Take the red meat argument for example. There are vast areas of 'upland' Britain that are totally unsuitable for producing anything but red meat. They are far to steep to cultivate and the soil quite poor but OK for sheep and beef cattle. What arable land we do have isn't sufficient to produce all the vegetables that we as a nation need especially if we go down the veggie route. To add to this, in my own area alone there are many hundreds of acres of good fertile land now under bricks and mortar to try to help with the increasing housing demand. Yes we need housing but we also need arable land. To counteract this shortfall we will have to import much more fruit and veg but also remember that the countries that we are buying from also have an increasing population so the quantities available for export to us will be diminished, or greatly increased in price. And as we know, imported food increases our carbon footprint.
Those of us born in the decade or two after WW2 probably have had it the best even with the food shortages immediately after the war, the H bomb threat that we had to live with and not forgetting the 15% mortgage rate.
We applaud, and perhaps rightly, the school achievements of our younger folk but I do worry about what capabilities they will have in their adult life. I worry that 22% is a pass rate in maths. It means that 78% of the time they can't get the right answer. Many also seem so unstreetwise (if that is a word) spending much of their time looking at social media or playing games on their various devices. These are the people that will be running the country and our industries in the not too distant future.
Unfortunately I just don't think we can win whatever we do or don't do. How long the situation can go on for is anyone's guess but Regretfully I think that even though we might improve some things it will be at the detriment of others. There won't be a win / win outcome. We have made the way we live in the world far too complex, with or without politicians.
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Another here who was taught not to litter and bring rubbish home if no bin available. Once emptied my pockets of rubbish, leaving it on the side - as per house rules -not allowed to open the Rayburn fire door. Sadly I'd also put my mouth brace in a tissue on the draining board and gone out to meet friend. When I came home ALL had gone 😲. Asked about brace in tissue on the fire 😲😲😲. Oh boy were there sparks and cross words??
I always pick up litter that blows along our road. Considerably more when in term time, we are enroute for 3 schools and a dual site college. There's often lots on bin day too especially as apart from a black bin for household rubbish and a brown bin for garden waste sorted recycling, card, paper, plastic are collected in sacks which often aren't emptied fully and blow about the road distributing their wares 😤. On a windy day the plastic ones are often full and blown into the road, householders make no attempt to weight them down or hang them, then cars drive over them and make a bigger mess. 😢😤
I recycle as much as I can and am, like takethedogalong, appalled by the unnecessary additional packaging used. And the non recyclable bags things are packed in. We cannot do anything about this as individuals but complain to the companies, I have, brings a platitude of rubbish responses but no action 😤😤
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Reading the posts it seems that others, like myself, are aware of the problem, even though we see that there are major difficulties in finding a workable solution, which will have to be actioned by global agreement. A typical negative response is that of the Brazilian president, when challenged about the seriousness of fires and clearance of the Amazon rain forest, simply stating that other countries should mind their own business. And this is where the danger lies in the risk of doing nothing until it is too late. What nobody knows, is at what stage and how far away is the point where an unstoppable runaway situation might become catastrophic and take over events for us.
The sci-fi disaster movies we have watched with mild amusement are beginning to look a bit too realistic to me!
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