On a personal level, does climate change/global warming concern you?

[Perhaps]

Like, does worrying about it affect your daily life, your future plans? Do you care at all?

[Merritt]

It ties into my general belief of the future being a bleak place that none of us are adequately prepared for, and no one in a position to do anything about it will do anything about it (unless there's obscene wealth to be gained)

It doesn't especially worry me personally, but that's only because I've conditioned myself into embracing apathy (and my meds probably do their part too) I don't have any investment in the future - except a vague wish for things to work out well for others, but I don't think there's much I can do to help there, except trying not to actively contribute to the problems, and not judging younger/future generations for how they handle what they're left with. Good luck to them, they'll need it.

[Laurel]

no kids so it doesn't bother me. But I think it should be taken far far more seriously.

[Mr. Nobody]

Yes,.. because this planet is the only resource we have for staying alive,

I think some governments are slowly heading in the right direction,
But unless the entire globe does, then it's probably not going to be enough,

When you see pictures of the earth from satellites, you realise how precious and fragile life on this earth is,
And with so many arsehole dictators in charge of various countries, you become fearful for it's future.

[Jen.]

It used to concern me a little, but for the last few years not at all. If human life doesn't end with the current youngest generation, it'll end with the one after that, or the one after that, etc. I can't be more sad about human life ending in 100 years than in 5000 years or a million years, it's no different to me. It'll end at some point, whether that's on this or another planet as a direct result of human behaviour or something else. There's no reason it should concern me when it obviously can't continue on indefinitely, despite anyone's efforts to prolong it.

[anxiouslondoner]

I feel kind of numb to it all.

I know how horrible everything is but it just seems inevitable. The direction of humankind is towards some great catastrophe which we will engineer collectively but lack any power or control over.

I just hope the end is painless.

[Dougella]

Yes, even if I'm not affected by it I don't particularly want other people to suffer.

[SpectralOwls]

I just feel hopeless about it all honestly. Like, I do try really hard to do my part, but the reality here is that the humans who are greatly affecting life on this planet are the ones that hold all the power.

On a personal level, I am pagan and my beliefs embrace natural life. I do feel a sense of joy in finding a routine with being tidy, recycling what I can, upcycling, etc. I feel sad for the plants and animals that currently face a mass extinction event. It's a shame that creatures that took millions of years to evolve and form on the planet disappear in a relative instant, and for once its at the fault of a singular species.

But in the end the planet will adapt and new life will continue to emerge and prosper, so there is some weird comfort in knowing that.

[Appear]

Yep, but I'm fairly fatalistic about it. Unless we all make fundamental changes to our lifestyles that would entail a reduction in living standards few of us would be willing to accept, we won't really make a difference. Not that it should all be on the individual - governments and businesses arguably have a greater role to play, but the more immediate pressures of popularity and profit mean it's very unlikely they'll bring about sufficient changes.

I'm ambivalent about the continuation of humanity - we're just fleshy shit and reproduction machines that are a product of blind evolution - so stopping climate change for 'the sake of humanity' doesn't cut it for me. But the protracted period of suffering it's likely to inflict through famine, natural disasters, geographic dislocation, resource depletion (and the wars it will probably provoke) does bother me. Sometimes I think we should set a date to call quits to endless reproduction and leave humanity there.

[Avocado]

No. Concern for the environment is an excellent thing, we could do with more of it, but people's goodwill towards the environment is being thorougly abused; a lot of the policies driven by the obsession with CO2, for example biofuel directives, do net environmental harm. The science behind the theory of catastrophic climate change is paper-thin, even after huge sums have been spent on it. The very narrow funding channels for that kind of research largely kill off any alternative view. If people actually looked at what people who critique the climate lobby are saying, in their own words and not as some caricature from the climate lobby, they would be horrified at what the climate lobby are doing. People are being converted by the traditional media's selective and out of context reporting of bad weather. There has always been bad weather somewhere and there always will be.

[Marco]

There has always been bad weather somewhere and there always will be.

^Yes of course, but there is absolutely no doubt among the vast majority of the scientific community (based on overwhelming evidence!) that climate change is happening at an unprecedented rate and that it's largely man-made. This might not be of much concern to some people on this forum, but at least be aware that it's real and shit will happen to this planet if nothing is done about it as a matter of urgency (perhaps -probably - it's already too late).

[Jam do Bronx]

I'm finding the answers interesting, a lot of people here are not bothered. It makes sense and I get it, if you don't have kids, you won't be too concerned about the state of the world you're leaving behind.

Let me reframe the question in a way that sauk will be able to relate to more....

Does climate change/global warming concern you about what kind of world we're leaving behind for future cats and dogs?

[Jen.]

Originally Posted by Avocado

The science behind the theory of catastrophic climate change is paper-thin, even after huge sums have been spent on it. The very narrow funding channels for that kind of research largely kill off any alternative view.

If only there was any money to be made in gas, oil and coal

[Dougella]

Originally Posted by Avocado

No. Concern for the environment is an excellent thing, we could do with more of it, but people's goodwill towards the environment is being thorougly abused; a lot of the policies driven by the obsession with CO2, for example biofuel directives, do net environmental harm. The science behind the theory of catastrophic climate change is paper-thin, even after huge sums have been spent on it. The very narrow funding channels for that kind of research largely kill off any alternative view. If people actually looked at what people who critique the climate lobby are saying, in their own words and not as some caricature from the climate lobby, they would be horrified at what the climate lobby are doing. People are being converted by the traditional media's selective and out of context reporting of bad weather. There has always been bad weather somewhere and there always will be.

We're not talking about bad weather here, we're talking about catastrophic climate events.

[biscuits]

Sure, but not to the point where it plagues my every thought. More or less the same as everyone else, you vaguely do what you can on an individual level, but then daily life and lifestyle choices means you sort of don't. A lot of it is out of our individual control and measures would/should need to be enforced within law.

[Mr. Nobody]

Over-population is rarely discussed, but probably needs to be,

In my relatively very short time on earth so far, the population has more than DOUBLED

That's more than twice as many consuming resources, driving cars, eating food, needing housing etc.

That growth level simply cannot be sustainable,
And yet, very few people mention it,
It seems to be the climate change elephant in the room?

[Jen.]

^ It seems to be mentioned a lot, especially on here.

I forget who it is, but every time it comes up one person here likes to go on about how only African people should be told to stop reproducing.

The planet regulates itself in that regard - no species ever reproduces exponentially forever, their population is always reduced by something (lack of resources, disease, predators, etc). It's still only about 10-15% of the planet that's populated, and with developments in farming technology I think it will be a long, long way off before the Earth could ever be considered "full". Doing anything about it would require a reduction in living standards and developments that almost nobody would accept. The bigger concern these days seems to be based around the global birth rate and fertility levels dropping over the last few years - the worse and more likely scenario than overpopulation seems to be a world where most people are old and there aren't enough young people to support them.

[Laurel]

It is frustrating because it is Western populations that need to come down because of their high resource intensity. But there are people like Elon Musk insisting it's the other way around. And that civilisation will collapse because of the population getting older and needing a younger population to sustain that. So he's had like 8 kids...

[Jen.]

By "support" I wasn't talking about care home staff, I was talking about workers: farming, construction, transport, healthcare, commerce, etc. With an aging population the things that keep society running are all affected - if a third of the planet is over 70 the least of their concerns will be who is wiping their arses.

[Jen.]

https://www.un.org/en/global-issues/ageing

"The world’s population is ageing. Virtually every country in the world is experiencing growth in the number and proportion of older persons in their population.

Population ageing is poised to become one of the most significant social transformations of the twenty-first century, with implications for nearly all sectors of society, including labour and financial markets, the demand for goods and services, such as housing, transportation and social protection, as well as family structures and intergenerational ties.

Older persons are increasingly seen as contributors to development, whose abilities to act for the betterment of themselves and their societies should be woven into policies and programmes at all levels. In the coming decades, many countries are likely to face fiscal and political pressures in relation to public systems of health care, pensions and social protections for a growing older population.

Globally, the population aged 65 and over is growing faster than all other age groups. According to data from World Population Prospects: the 2019 Revision, by 2050, one in six people in the world will be over age 65 (16%), up from one in 11 in 2019 (9%). By 2050, one in four persons living in Europe and Northern America could be aged 65 or over. In 2018, for the first time in history, persons aged 65 or above outnumbered children under five years of age globally. The number of persons aged 80 years or over is projected to triple, from 143 million in 2019 to 426 million in 2050."

[Jen.]

I'm arguing that the concern (for those who have such feelings about the future) with population growth should be the increasing proportion of elderly within the global population rather than simply the number itself, given that we're a long, long way off maximum capacity (meaning actual capacity in terms of life that can potentially be supported, rather than a pointless utopian goal plucked out of the air of what capacity "should" be). This is something that's affecting the whole planet, not a "handful of countries", although the rate of overall growth has been steadily dropping for the last 50 years anyway so the global population is likely to start coming down at some point in a few generations. "There are just too many!" isn't saying anything about anything. Recognising that this demographic change has tangible and measurable effects (such as a dramatic reduction in workforce over time) gives something more concrete to be concerned about.

[Appear]

It was estimated that the global population in 2018 used earth's resources about 1.8 times faster than the earth's ability to regenerate those resources (see here). As the world's population continues to grow and countries become richer and consume more, this can only increase unless there are fundamental changes to consumption (either through lifestyle changes or technological innovation).

The longer this goes on, the more the earth's resources will be depleted and unable regenerate, compromising humanity in future. The size of the population isn't the only factor involved, but if everything else stays relatively stable (i.e. consumption practices, technology, dependence on resources), the growth of the global population is a problem. It's the same with climate change specifically - population size isn't the only contributor but it doesn't mean it isn't a problem if all other factors stay constant.

Edit for clarity: ....but the other contributors aren't constant and it's the high consumption of (mostly) Westerners that's the problem.

That doesn't mean aging populations aren't a problem, especially from an economic perspective - it very much is in lots of countries, including the UK. Both are problems, hence my pessimism on the future...

[Your Mum]

There are too many people. By which, I mean other people. Not me.

[Your Mum]

Originally Posted by The Devil, Probably.

If your comment was directly toward me though it is somewhat missing the target. I am very much aware that I am part of this destructive and vile species and in its own small way it would be better for the earth if I was gone. My parents committed an immoral act in breeding, and I have to live with the consequence of that.

It was aimed towards the entire concept of overpopulation - or overcrowding in general. On an extremely minor level, it's something I experienced in my job during the pandemic. If a passenger complained that I had allowed too many people to board a bus, they were always referring to other people. Nobody ever accepted my invitation to get off the bus and walk.

[Sunshine Recorder]

Yeah, it is a concern, but not something I'm losing sleep over. Things will be tough, but I'm sure humans will adapt somehow.

[Percy]

How can it build character if we're all dead?

[biscuits]

Originally Posted by Sunshine Recorder

Yeah, it is a concern, but not something I'm losing sleep over. Things will be tough, but I'm sure humans will adapt somehow.

SUNSHINE RECORDER!

How spooky! I just thought I wonder what happened to you because a thread was started by you. Y'alright?

[biscuits]

Originally Posted by Percy

How can it build character if we're all dead?

All zombies need a back story.

[Sunshine Recorder]

^ ^ Hey Biscuits. I'm good. I'm just busy with work, paying the bills and my last OU module. How've you been?

[Laurel]

Asia experiencing quite a heat wave. To 40 again. It might be a nightmare to get to 80 years old and 45 C heatwaves are the norm.