Climate change

We are on the same team Geoffw, its nice to hear from someone concerned like me.
What do you suggest we do?

 

I'm at a bit of a loss too - I compost - I recycle diligently (but apparently that's pretty useless) - I've taken my own shopping bags for 30 years - I use string vege bags - solar panels/battery - solar hot water - I'm really big on soil improvement - plant heaps of shrubs for birds and bees - write letter to my local member - follow the teachings of natural sequence farming (bit hard to even grow weeds when it doesn't rain) - talk to everyone about what they "can" do ... but still feel like hardly anyone is listening.

Attended a two day seminar where the keynote speaker was Graeme Sait ... well worth googling and watching/listening to his youtube presentations.

 

People listen, sure, maybe not on a scale we'd like but all you can do is keep doing what you're doing. Positivety and results rub off on people.

Almost two years ago I went from a 41 year old meat eating, cheese fiend to a vegan pretty much overnight. I'd been slowly reading up on the health aspects, animal ethics and environment and it got to a point where the logical conclusion for me was no more animal products.

Much to the mirth of all my family and most of my friends and the exclamation from my partner of "well, you can but don't expect me to".

As the months passed, my health improved, my weight dropped, my athletic performance and recovery increased. Friends became curious as to my reasons and we'd have a chat here and there about animal agriculture, it's affect on the planet (and Aus is just as bad as the USA in terms of Big Ag and industrialized animal farming).

I had a blood panel done at the start and again one year in, my blood pressure dropped from Hyper Tension range to normal range, my bad cholesterol plummeted and my protein and calcium levels rose.

Coming up two years now and I'll never go back.

My point? Over that time my friends who took the mick have gone from taking the mick, to questioning my reasons, to reducing their meat intake, to taking more interest in the world around them, to the point of 3 of them going from meat eaters to Vegan in the last 18 months, two going from meat eater to vegetarian and another friend texted me just last week who was vegetarian for 30 years but had not paused to reflect on the dairy industry enough and wanted to thank me for being instrumental in them ditching dairy, she's been a closet vegan for 6 months and was messaging me to say she was sticking with it and making it "official" if you like.

What I am saying is, it seems an insurmountable task for the world to change right now (and maybe it never will) but we need to be change we wish to see in the world , by aligning our own actions with our morals change does happen. Of this small group of people that I have affected by association, they too with have other friends and family that will take in interest (my good mate was pushing 100kg with heart issues and off the chart cholesterol, he's now 85kg and off his blood pressure and cholesterol meds for the first time in years which in turn has made his other friends and family sit up and take note of what they see.

 

Me too. We are travelling in a caravan and have about 3 months to go. We do our best with reducing plastic in our shop but sometimes options dont exist. We camp off grid alot but we smash through diesel.
I pick up lots of rubbish from around camps and on hiking trails. It actually calms me down and I feel connected to nature. There is so much more out there.
My wife and I have actually decided on this trip to not work so our trip is extended but rather return home and start working on our long term goal. We wish to buy land in the Vic high country, move our lives up there, share it with visitors and protect it. Hopefully I can look after it for future generations to enjoy.

 

I must admit - there are a lot more "farmer direct" markets around than there were just a few years back ... and small diverse farming is way more productive in volume and nutrition than broadacre cropping ... and many "bring your own container" stores have opened up where they buy produce in bulk and bypass all that stoopid plastic packaging.

Small increments - it just feels so slow when there is urgency.

Interesting listening on ABC this morning in regards to positive feedback - even from large businesses - about Shorten's statement that 'you can't model and cost the changes needed to reduce carbon' ... basically because whatever they modelled would be wrong in 6 months , with the changes in technology, and the changes in costs to produce. Also went on to talk about how businesses are simply making the changes themselves, without waiting for government.

So there is hope

 

This! I've seen a lot around here, vegan cafe's popped up, small shops encouraging re-useable packaging, the solar mob we used for our install is going gangbusters. Listening to the Energy Insiders podcast, big energy companies (Shell for example) plowing millions into nonrenewables research outside of government help/innervation.

People are bringing about change at a grass roots levels without government meddling, we just have to hope there's enough to counteract the few mega corps hell bent on screwing every last resource out of the planet regardless of cost in order to maximize profits before we hit a point of no return.

 

Ive seen lots of promising signs on our trip to. South Australia is really pushing the limits of renewable energy generation which fosters further technology development. Large areas of WA are being replanted for sustainable forestry. Eco tourism is helping protect areas like Ningaloo from exploitation.
Times are changing one action at a time.

 

Ah - how different things could've been if Henry Ford had chosen electric over combustion ...

In 1901, nearly 40 per cent of cars were electric. So what went wrong?

 

Salt-Water Fish Extinction Seen By 2048

Are humans making droughts worse?

 

Between Measles - Flu - and now this guy .... Bubonic plague kills two in Mongolia

 

Maybe this is the answer... wipe out the human race with a genetically modified virus, and let the planet recover.
It could be done, technology is there.

 

That was population control in the olden days before medical advances. Plus wars. Our problem is not just cutting down trees, but curing disease.

 

While it isn't climate change as such, one of the issue could be improved efficiency in controlling medical outbreaks. At one stage the mortality rate for Ebola was in the high 90%. Now it's around 60%. Good or bad outcome I'll leave to others to decide.

Reverse with polio. Almost eliminated to one pocket in South Asia. Then Taliban. Now the disease has spread beyond that area.

 

What chance is there when the level of money, power and influence the coal industry has and the ties within Government run so deep.

Greenpeace just posted a new video yesterday which is pretty interesting.

 

And you trust GOOGLE????
I don't deny climate change, it has occurred and always will, the question is what humans have contributed to that climate change and what effect they may have since their existence?
I am open to all information, regardless where it comes from, this equally can be portrayed from the other side of view say as portrayed on ABC, funded too by vested interests!
All I try to do is to understand the facts and not just opinions but science is very complicated, and if people such as these professionals in their fields are not free to speak and express their expertise then where is the freedom of speech? I will choose to listen to a property investor who invested, I will choose to listen to a family that raised the children rather than to a couple who never had children, I will choose.....etc....I will choose to people who 'walk the talk', not just talk!
All I wish to say...let's agree to disagree like civilized people, yet some will not like that as that is against their values, hence conflict forms.
So I think below cartoon summaries it well, whether politics or climate change or freedom of speech:
No matter what one will say some will always be offended rather than just disagree, seems that's the world we live in now?


“What a morning...”
8:00 I made a snowman.
8:10 A feminist passed by and asked me why I didn’t make a snow woman.
8:15 So, I made a snow woman.
8:17 The nanny of the neighbours complained about the snow woman's voluptuous chest.
8:20 The gay couple living nearby grumbled that it could have been two snowmen instead.
8:22 The transgender person asked why I didn't just make one snow person with detachable parts.
8:25 The vegans at the end of the lane complained about the carrot nose, as veggies are food and not to decorate snow figures with.
8:28 I am being called a racist because the snow couple is white.
8:31 The Muslim gent across the road wants the snow woman to wear a headscarf.
8:40 The Police arrive saying someone has been offended.
8:42 The Feminist neighbour complained again that the broomstick of the snow woman needs to be removed because it depicted women in a domestic role.
8:43 The Government qualities officer arrived and threatened me with eviction.
8:45 TV news crew from the BBC shows up. I am asked if I know the difference between snowmen and snow-women? I reply, "Snowballs" and am called a sexist.
9:00 I'm on the news as a suspected terrorist, racist, homophobic sensibility offender bent on stirring up trouble during difficult weather.
9:10 I am asked if I have any accomplices... My children are taken by social services.
9:29 Far left protesters offended by everything are marching down the street demanding for me to be beheaded.

MORAL: There is no moral to this story. It's just the world in which we live today and it's going to get worse.

 

United Nations report: One million species at risk of extinction

 

Fine, then listen to the professionals, who have done millions of hours of research, put up their research to public scrutiny, professionals who publish their data and their methods and have had their research verified by others before it is accepted into science.

Every one is free to speak their minds, but opinion should not carry the same weight as formal research. But all means lets discuss the facts, but in order to do so they must first be presented, and I'm still waiting.

 

@MWI Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, no one is entitled to their own facts. The fact is 97% of climate scientists agree that humans are causing Global Warming.

The 97% consensus on global warming

 

This is why it is so essential we maintain biodiversity - and the cascade effect of losing species, that other species rely on as a food source or their existence, is frankly scary.

What is biodiversity and why does it matter to us?

 

Never before - in human existence - have CO2 levels been as high as they currently are:

Climate change: CO2 levels hit 415 parts per million in human first

But am enjoying what CAN be done and none of it is hard:

2040 - In Cinemas May 23