Pathetic!

On By Mick CanningIn climate change, comment, environment, opinion, plastic, politics

On the back of the climate change protesters in London this month, inspirational Swedish teenager Greta Thunberg yesterday addressed MPs at the UK Parliament. And she scathingly shredded our responses to the crisis.

The UK has, admittedly, done a little more to tackle the issue than many other countries, but compared to what is needed our response has been, quite frankly, pathetic.

There is still no political will to tackle climate change. Politicians would rather the protesters just disappeared and everything could go back to business as usual. But, no matter what they would like to think, unless there is drastic change, one day it won’t be business as usual any longer. Not for any of us. Their response to the protests? This is bad. People are being inconvenienced.

Inconvenienced?

I’ll tell you what the end of the world isn’t, it isn’t people tutting because their bus is a bit late because of protesters. It isn’t people getting angry because other people who care passionately about the world and its future are telling them uncomfortable truths. It isn’t people being ‘inconvenienced’. And it isn’t some already rich and privileged people having to pay themselves less to ensure that millions of ordinary people aren’t made homeless and destitute by rising sea levels, devastating weather patterns and disappearing farmland.

Inconvenienced?

I cannot tell you how angry that makes me!

deserty-desert

‘One day, my boy, all this will be yours’

As Greta Thunberg said, climate change is not a matter of opinion, it’s real. It’s a fact. It’s science.

And it’s not someone else’s problem – it’s your problem and it’s my problem. Every one of us needs to do more:

  • Turn down the heating. Maybe wear something warmer.
  • Switch off lights you aren’t using.
  • Don’t leave taps running.
  • Use recyclable bags rather than plastic. Re-use ones you already have.
  • Plant a tree in your garden. Two if you have space.
  • Refill containers rather than buy new ones.
  • DON’T buy bottled water!
  • Avoid plastics wherever possible.

And badger politicians and manufacturers to do more:

  • Go on protests such as Extinction Rebellion. Help to raise the profile of this issue.
  • Use public transport wherever possible. There are bonuses – here in the UK it’s often cheaper to buy long distance train tickets in advance than it is to drive, and you get the bonus of being able to relax and read or listen to music or whatever floats your boat rather than sit in a ten mile tailback on the M1.
  • Sign petitions – politicians are more likely to act when they know they are being scrutinised.
  • Fossil fuels will destroy the world. Let no politician tell you that renewables are not viable, because they are. And they are already economically viable, too. Only vested interests pretend otherwise.
  • Badger manufacturers to do the right thing – write to them and tell them you will no longer buy their products unless they are environmentally / ethically sound. If enough people do that, even those who really do not care will be forced to act.
  • And look at the Food Miles when you shop. Don’t buy food that has been transported halfway across the globe – buy a local alternative. And if that means you have to do without a particular food you fancy, well, is that so important? There are so many alternatives available.

Even if you don’t do this for yourself, do it for your children, and for their children.

Let nobody fool themselves. If we do not seriously tackle the issue now – as in NOW – then the consequences will be spreading deserts, rising sea levels flooding large areas of land, more devastating forest fires, wars over water and food supplies, and possibly other consequences too terrible to contemplate.

Now that’s what I call inconvenient.

35 thoughts on “Pathetic!”

  1. Mick, a passionate post on a topic close to my heart … Greta Thurnberg is one amazing young lady and more eloquent then most of politicians and talks a lot more sense. I love that she has been nominated for a Nobel Prize! Her message is definitely being heard … may it be listened to and heeded by those in power and by people around the globe!

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    1. It’s been heard, Annika, reported on (although I see this morning’s BBC website has already dropped the story from the front page!), and even had the likes of Michael Gove(!!!) saying we need to do more. But, in a week or a month or whenever, I imagine most of those politicians who applauded her yesterday will conveniently forget. Am I cynical? Yes, I bloody well am. I just don’t believe they have the will.

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  2. A very welcome post. Here in southeastern Australia, we are still in the grip of summer ‘fire season’, half way through autumn. Why ? Because it’s been so dry, so very dry.
    In many ways, Australia is a bit like the canary in the coal mine; we’ve always had extremes of weather, and climate change is making them more extreme every year. Yet despite the science and the lived experience of people who know things have changed [for the worse] our politicians are still trying to dodge responsibility for climate change. We /did/ cause it, and we will have to fix it, or allow our children and grandchildren to suffer. 😦

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    1. I was thinking of Australia – and Frank’s incredible poems – when I mentioned forest fires. They have got worse, haven’t they? And they seem to be getting worse everywhere; in the last year or two there have also been devastating ones in Greece, Portugal and California, and many other smaller ones all over the world. They’re even becoming more common in the UK, although not on any great scale.
      I don’t know what it will take for the politicians to sit up and take notice. Whatever happens, they seem to be able to shrug it off. No wonder people get angry. I’m angry. It’s one of the few issues that makes me want to advocate violence.

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  3. Hear, hear! I so agree. I try to do most of the above, plus gather up rubbish on the beach before I go for a swim. But it’s never enough. And it never will be, unless laws are passed that oblige big companies and governments to change, rather than just make individuals feel guilty every time they turn on a tap.

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    1. It’s the only way, Marina. They will never do it voluntarily. If it costs them money, they won’t do it unless they are forced to. The world could go to hell in a handcart but as long as they can still pay themselves big bonuses they just don’t bloody care!

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  5. Good Morning Mick, this is the second time recently I’ve heard Michael Gove talking of the need for action on Global Warming.The first time appeared to be without a prompt. Maybe there is a politician with a real interest in doing something serious rather than just a gloss over of the problem. I shall keep up pressure on him and remind how how future generations are relying on him to make a start. They won’t be putting statues up to the pretenders.Perhaps that will be his motivation.
    Excellent post my friend.
    Hugs

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    1. Thanks, David. I’ve never been a fan of Gove, but if he actually does something serious about climate change issues he will certainly justify himself in my eyes. It is important to keep up that pressure; petitions, emails, letters, direct action…we may not get another chance.
      Hugs back!

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  6. Amen to this, Mick. And think about all the ‘small’ things that rarely make the news: species extinctions for one thing. The environment has only a short time left before the damage is irreversible. I fear that until these politicians feel the effects personally and dramatically there will be no change.

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  7. Very well said, my friend. Quite often I hear a comment that something is “too inconvenient”, and I occasionally ask “How inconvenient will it be to have your water rationed and have to wear a mask just to step outside. Better yet, how inconvenient will it be to be dead?” I’ve lost a few friends that way. Thumbs up to Greta … she is doing what we adults should have started doing decades ago!

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  9. A good post, Mick! We can all do more. What truly scares me is that we need the cooperation of all the countries of the world to make this work, and the chances of that seem so small. We can’t even manage not to go to war with each other, much less work together to save our environment. I have a friend whose daughter lived in China for three years, and he said his daughters went for weeks without seeing the sun. Not because it was cloudy, but because of the air pollution. We really are all in this together, but cooperating with each other is not what humans are good at.

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    1. No, it’s not a hopeful situation, is it? If there is any degree of serious cooperation between countries, I fear it will only come when it’s already far too late and everything is burning around us. Even then, of course, there will be plenty of voices bleating ‘Fake news!’

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  10. That’s a wonderful blog Mick and one which has stirred up lots of emotion Good for you
    I agree this plastic lark has to stop. We are now banning our host families from giving a new plastic bottle of water every day. We get the kids to bring their own bottle and we ask our hosts to refill it. Its small, but we have to start somewhere

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    1. Ah, Jackie. I wondered where you had got to recently. Hope everything’s going well. I’d better take a look at what you’re doing over the next few days.

      Yes, good for you. If everybody did that and we managed to get rid of the plastic bottled water industry, it would be a fine achievement.

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      1. Mick. No new blogs from me.. So don’t get excited. Haha
        Yes I think it’s a good start to get rid of the bottles and get kids to reuse nice ones
        Went to a book shop in Chichester the other day and they are giving g away free thick plastic ones. I bought a book and he gave me two bags. I said I didn’t even want one and they were not supposed to give them away and why couldn’t they use paper bags
        The reply to the assembled shoppers was ” she must be one of those activists”

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  11. I agree with everything you have said here, Mick. If only the nations of this world took climate change seriously! We have protesters here who claim climate change is a hoax so half the energy of people trying to fight pollution goes in defending the cause! It’s a shame that in this day and age there are people who believe this is a hoax!!

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