Global Climate Strike

Cellar Door said:

I already decided that my sign would have said "I HAVE AGORAPHOBIA BUT THIS IMPORTANT".

Great minds think alike*. That girl -

(* actually great minds think differently. Otherwise we'd keep inventing the same thing. I've seen a few of those placards but I've never seen mention of agoraphobia or 'So bad even the autistic people are here.')

I was there in September, with time off from work, rather than striking. It was hardly the General Strike that some thought would force politicians to act. But it brought people together in a recognition of the worst threat currently facing life on Earth. Good to hear than Fraiselongue enjoyed it. In general, it seems the introverts and autistic people help the process along but aren't the high-profile organisers. Or maybe that's not true. Chris Packham did a fantastic People’s Walk for Wildlife. There are quite a few other autistic environmentalists, including Eric Holthaus above, Dara McAnulty (a 15-year old whose just had his book on Radio 4) and Edgar McGregor - and Daryl Hannah. Not a good idea to compare yourself though.

But you feel so small when you realise the opposition is a fossil fuel industry that knows it's got to either destroy or be destroyed. I often try to get friends going along to these things, but if I can't, that's fine. Most of the people there are very nice and you don't have to say anything. I'll just go along maybe with a placard of my own design. That's how Greta Thunberg started, anyway.

Greta is stating the obvious and has researched well. The good thing is people are listening to her. She is courageous indeed. And tenacious. As she said, the cause is the issue, not her.

I am a coward in comparison. I give up too easily. I would like to add my lone voice to the much younger crowd and say enough is really enough. Humans do have to stop ruining this beautiful planet and each other. I am so glad younger people feel empowered enough to try to change things. 

Yes, I think Greta is doing great. The amount of hate and propaganda directed at her is appalling.

Also, people say you shouldn't listen to a child with "a mental disorder" or "illness", someone "retarded". They also say things like that the "puppet masters" make her dress younger than she is.

So much bull. We are the ones who are supposed to be bad at reading people? I think it is very obvious that she is completely sincere. She cares immensely. She speaks from the heart, and with much knowledge behind her.

She became this symbolic figure, and she is doing her best, and successfully uniting a lot of people under one cause. I worry about her though. I think she is the happiest working on what she cares about, but it is such a heavy burden.

It can be quite overwhelming, the feelings of frustration and disappointment in other people. Oddly, the thing that calms me is knowing that in 1000 years there will probably be some equilibrium. The humans that have survived (if any) will have learnt that they have to live in harmony with the planet and other species will have the space and resources to thrive. And in a billion years there will probably be a whole load of different species here and all our wars and destruction will be forgotten. As you say, we're no different to ants in the grand scheme of things.

Unfortunately I can't always live in that place in my mind!

Did you see Greta Thunberg's UN speech. It summed up how I feel. 

At the moment the power held by the rich makes it very hard for grass roots movements to tip the balance. But it's getting bigger. I have some hope.

I also struggle with public transport, and any kind of political event would have me worried about violence breaking out, or just feeling trapped. That book looks interesting. Unfortunately a lot of people in power are influenced by the wrong kind of people who also hold a lot of power. And the amounts of misinformation is just too much.

I sometimes feel so incredibly disappointed in our species. We live in a world where we can see it all, animals going extinct, the reefs suffering, the forests burning, the people starving. And we have all this research, technology and problem-solving, yet we keep on failing, or we choose to focus on feeding our greed and shallow interests.

There are the problematic capitalists, but also the religious ones who think that the planet was made for them, and basically that any casualties are part of a gods plan. Sometimes I look at ants and wonder when an alien species will arrive, and look at us like we look at ants. Oh, how sweet, they built this thing. Oh look at them walk in their little lines.

The logistics of attending are hard for me as I struggle with public transport (much easier if I'm not on my own) and hate crowds and uncertainty! The one near me sounded do-able. I've had attacks of agoraphobia though and just leaving the house was impossible.

I'm reading the Extinction Rebellion book at the moment and it's very inspiring. Also terrifying. I hope that once everyone gets their heads out of the sand then working together to solve the climate crisis might increase the amount of love and peace between opposing political factions. Surely even very right wing pro-capitalist people can't keep ignoring it when their house is flooded for the 3rd time in a year?

I would have liked to go in theory, but did not.

I already decided that my sign would have said "I HAVE AGORAPHOBIA BUT THIS IMPORTANT".

Great to see people showing interest in the environment.

I'm not sure I understand what you mean. 98% of scientists (as far as I recall) agree that the climate is changing due to human activity. Even the IPCC which is very conservative in its estimates, believes that we have 12 years to avert catastrophe. The ice caps are melting before our eyes (estimates believed this was far in the future). The southern hemisphere are suffering most from flooding, typhoons, storms, droughts. Millions of people are displaced due to climate change (that we in the northern hemisphere created). Even here we saw huge temperatures in Europe over summer that killed many. There's a good visual showing temperatures over the past 150 years and how they are increasing.

5G really is the least of our worries. A small increase in temperature can destroy crops. Remember the droughts in the UK last year? Not enough grass feed for the livestock. Then flooding where many animals drowned. Potato harvests 25% smaller. 

As the ice melts the increase in temperature accelerates. We're already too late for many poor countries who are suffering now. If we act quickly and do everything possible (and things currently impossible) we can reduce the impact. 

I find it insane that people can see photos of Arctic ice from 50 years ago, now completely melted, and continue to question the science. Personally I have a chronic illness. We had a moor fire last year that made me so ill I needed 2 weeks hospital treatment. I didn't even live that close. It's very scary but putting our heads in the sand won't help. Everyone needs to get on board quickly and work together to prevent more harm. Even if it means giving up things we want.

Have you read the opposition argument against extinction rebellion? There are a few interesting thoughts out there, and I don't know what to believe personally. Are environmental issues taking the spotlight detracting from our ability to stay up to date with the latest communication technologies companies implementations of 5G? 

one of best movies ever 

Ha ha! 

Made me think of Monty Python's Life of Brian..

"He's not the messiah, he's a very naughty boy!"

My executive functioning is too wonky to rule over just myself most of the time, never mind a whole kingdom. If I got to turn all of the world's discarded plastic into Lego, though; hmmm.....

that day may return    --

--  year 2030 after the Black Death Ultra  no-one knew what to do.  People did wander about saying, "why are the supermarkets empty", "why is there no internet", "what happened to Stoke ?".

Then in from the deep earth  a man who called himself "Trog the Knight" appeared.

For seven nights he wrote do how it should be and for 7 years the lost human tribes did build his world. Thus was borne a land we call Great BreakSet. King "Trog the Knight" ruled his land and  all was good ......

lol

yea "Twats" layer

...and I could well imagine that it won't be a very polite one!

Oh yes, I can never resists a bit of "dumpster diving"! I've almost completely furnished some of my homes with stuff that other people were just throwing out. What I don't get is why some people seem to get possessive even about "their" skip outside their house - I've been virtually accused of stealing a couple of times!

To be honest, I deliberately exclude news media from my life for the most part - to some extent because I realise the biases which you mentioned. I also find that most modern news outlets contain very little actual news at all - just lots of idle speculation and sensationalism sourced from people who can't possibly know the full facts yet, and who's bona fides as "experts" are often extremely dubious. I read Private Eye once a fortnight to get an overview of what's been going on (the investigative journalism is good; the 6th-form humour less so), but other than that, I only know whatever I stumble across during my usual online activities. I've rarely found that people who know lots of detailed "facts" about the news have any better understanding of the wider picture - and there has even been some research done which seems to confirm this.

And I agree, there's a lot of "greenwashing" going on these days - buying no product at all will always trump buying a "green" one. Ultimately, I think we're going to make little progress until the oxymoronic (or just moronic) idea of "sustainable growth" is finally put to bed (or at least that "growth" is defined in terms other than financial ones).

When I was a kid, milk was delivered to your door from an electric vehicle in a bottle which was washed and reused (not even smashed up for "recycling".) The local greengrocer sold your veggies in a brown paper bag. There were enough local shops that you didn't need a car, or to take a bus journey, to do your shopping. It was expected and accepted that some foods were seasonal. The responsibility has been unfairly pushed onto individual consumers, and then co-opted as another "unique selling point" for yet more useless junk that nobody really needs - or at least, these "needs" have been manufactured every bit as much as the products.

the aliens will have their own term surely

Yeah I started cutting out meat, then cut out fish, then dairy. Doing things in increments makes it much easier!

Totally agree. The people in power largely have lots of money in polluting companies. That's why I like the green party as they are honest that living sustainably can't go hand in hand with rabid capitalism. We could limit flights but that would affect the profits of the airline companies. We could insist that all packaging is reusable or recyclable but that would eat into profits. If we weren't so obsessed with making money, everything would be so much easier.

I get depressed about it all. It's so frustrating hearing the same old terrible arguments when species are regularly going extinct and the poorest regions are being so badly affected. XR and Greta Thunberg have given me a bit of hope that we might be able to turn this around. And the solutions to the crisis are often also really positive for people's wellbeing.

I wish I was more confident - I could be out talking to my neighbours, bringing them on board. I'm very grateful for the confident young people!

Hmmm... That's an idea. Maybe someone more organized could do it! Loads of the town centre is empty shops - would make a good addition to the high street. 

OH would also love a board game library.