Sixth IPCC Report

[discovolante]

I promise I'm not picking on this particular twitter thread, it's just an example of the sort of thing I see in lots of places. In this thread - and many places elsewhere - we're told to not despair, that there's lots of things we can do to tackle climate and we should focus on the positives. It admits that individual decisions are only part of the problem and it's the system that needs changing. But the list of things we can do to change the system is as follows:
- go on climate marches
- vote for parties which prioritise the environment
- support environmental charities

I know I'm feeling incredibly pessimistic about everything which is probably clouding my judgement but f.ck those seem toothless.

Climate marches may achieve something, I don't know, and they can't hurt but the government seems to be singularly disinclined to care what protesters say. Protesting didn't stop the Iraq war, it didn't stop tuition fee rises, it didn't stop Brexit, there's been no signs to suggest it's going to change the substance of the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill. Maybe protesting will influence companies, I certainly hope so, and there are examples of companies doing the right thing voluntarily, but they are few and far between.

My vote in national elections hasn't once mattered in the 20+ years I've been eligible to vote. Writing to my MP does f.ck-all because I, like a huge number of other people in this country, am in a safe seat. Stick a rosette of the right colour on a cow and they'd get elected.

Supporting environmental charities requires disposable income which isn't something everyone has.

I get there's no simple solution but these feel more about making peple feel better than they do about creating any meaningful change. Oh, I waved a placard and I wrote an email to my MP which he never saw because his secretary is a master gatekeeper and I donated a couple of quid to the local Wildlife Trust. That's really going to make the government listen come COP26

Are there any actually effective things an individual can do to change the system? Or is it all symbolic stuff in the hopes that those with actual power decide to take note?

I agree too, but I also think asking 'how do I save the planet' is perhaps not a very realistic question to ask myself and maybe thinking about the impact I can make within my sphere of influence may be better...I'm certainly not denying that that's not *enough* but there are daily local impacts to climate-changing behaviours e.g. local air pollution, loss of biodiversity etc. The analogy that springs to mind right now is that by rescuing people crossing the channel the RNLI aren't changing Home Office policy, or the conditions that led people to make the journey in the first place, or ensuring that people have safe and stable lives once they've been rescued*, but nobody who isn't a total c.nt thinks what they're doing isn't worthwhile.

Also like BOAF points out, lots of people have been at it for *decades* and somehow manage not to be totally defeated by it, feels a bit unfair to just keep on leaving them to it.

*although as a matter of fact I'm not entirely sure what does happen post-rescue, and I can't find info on their site very easily

[PeteB]

...The big change for me is the increased certainty of predictions. We're going to hit 1.5°C of warming, probably by the end of the decade, so the Paris Agreement is kind of f.cked....

We are not reaching 1.5ºC earlier than previously thought

"In summary, when apples are compared to apples (i.e. best estimates of scenario-based exceedance times), then the SR1.5 and AR6 provide remarkably consistent numbers: 2034.5 versus 2035. Such a remarkably robust scientific finding is boring to report on, so expect a few headlines in the media that compare apples and oranges
....
It seems like the only thing that is changing across 30 years of IPCC reports is that the time is running. And given lackluster mitigation action, time seems to be running out. "

[Bird on a Fire]

...The big change for me is the increased certainty of predictions. We're going to hit 1.5°C of warming, probably by the end of the decade, so the Paris Agreement is kind of f.cked....

We are not reaching 1.5ºC earlier than previously thought

"In summary, when apples are compared to apples (i.e. best estimates of scenario-based exceedance times), then the SR1.5 and AR6 provide remarkably consistent numbers: 2034.5 versus 2035. Such a remarkably robust scientific finding is boring to report on, so expect a few headlines in the media that compare apples and oranges
....
It seems like the only thing that is changing across 30 years of IPCC reports is that the time is running. And given lackluster mitigation action, time seems to be running out. "

Exactly - confidence intervals are narrower, and two years have elapsed with no real progress. There doesn't seem to be any plausible way to avoid exceeding 1.5°C, especially because we're not on track for the low-emissions scenario that article focuses on. Even assuming everyone meets the Paris pledges they're currently failing to, we're in SSP2-4.5, for which the central estimate is between "already" and 2040. Which means that even if we magically swap to low emissions tomorrow we could well be over the threshold (as the lower bounds of SSP1-1.9 indicate).

Which, despite that article's headline, is actually earlier than the likely lower bound of 2030 given in SP1.5. Though I admire their optimism.

[Bird on a Fire]

A billion children at ‘extreme risk’ from climate impacts – Unicef

Almost half the world’s 2.2 billion children are already at “extremely high risk” from the impacts of the climate crisis and pollution, according to a report from Unicef. The UN agency’s head called the situation “unimaginably dire”.

Nearly every child around the world was at risk from at least one of these impacts today, including heatwaves, floods, cyclones, disease, drought, and air pollution, the report said. But 1 billion children live in 33 countries facing three or four impacts simultaneously. The countries include India, Nigeria and the Philippines, and much of sub-Saharan Africa.

The Unicef report said the impacts of the climate crisis were “deeply inequitable” and very likely to get worse. Rees said: “The top 10 countries that are at extremely high risk are only responsible for 0.5% of global emissions.”

The report found 920 million children are highly exposed to water scarcity, 820 million to heatwaves, and 600 million to vector-borne diseases such as malaria and dengue fever, which are likely to get worse as suitable climate conditions for mosquitoes and pathogens spread.

Must get a vasectomy.

[JQH]

I do worry about what sort of world my grandsons are going to live in.

[Fishnut]

I do worry about what sort of world my grandsons are going to live in.

I find myself increasingly grateful I don't have children. I still care, obviously, and hope that we can fix the world but I struggle at times to find hope for my own future let alone the generations after me.

[Bird on a Fire]

I do worry about what sort of world my grandsons are going to live in.

I find myself increasingly grateful I don't have children. I still care, obviously, and hope that we can fix the world but I struggle at times to find hope for my own future let alone the generations after me.

It's amazing(ly sad) how many people I've heard this from. Nothing wrong with not wanting kids, of course, and I don't think I would anyway, but there's a huge number of educated, informed thirtyishish folk saying they don't want kids because they're so devoid of hope for a basically liveable planet in the future which is seriously depressing.

Maybe "help us fix the climate or you won't get any grandkids" could be weaponised somehow? It does seem to be mostly the older generation less convinced of the urgency here (not all of them, of course).

[Fishnut]

I mean, I've never wanted kids - ever since I was old enough to distinguish between myself and children I knew I didn't want them - but I do find myself increasingly grateful for that choice.

The future feels so f.cking bleak. As a teen in the 90s it felt bright, like anything was possible. But now...

[discovolante]

I'm in this camp too...although me and Senor von Late are pretty much in a minority of couples who don't have kids and don't particularly plan to - there are reasons I would want to but given there is no guarantee that any of those things would happen it seems like a pretty hefty commitment to make unless it's something you really really really want. I have the occasional 'oh sh.t what if I change my mind and it's too late' feeling but the whole climate change thing tends to be the deal breaker. There is a couple we are pretty close with, the people we tend to hang out with the most as two couples, and a couple of years ago they were like 'nah no kids' and now they're trying to buy the flat below them to convert into a two floor house, and it's 'if we have a baby' this and 'we might have a baby' that...I mean aside from the intense feelings of betrayal I'm experiencing I just feel a bit like woah guys...you all know that climate change isn't some temporary blip that will be last week's news eventually? But I do have a tendency to catastrophise. Plus I feel like having kids is the most harmful thing I can do for the environment anyway. (If it does ever happen for some reason and my future kids reads this - sorry kid, I didn't know you then!)

Anyway this is all waffle soz.