Weather and Climate Change

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takhana said:
It's really not though. My food bills are far cheaper because I don't buy meat. A grocery basket made up of only vegetarian or vegan products is cheaper than a grocery basket with meat products in - that is a fact that you can check out yourself at any supermarket. (In the UK at least). A bell pepper (45p) stuffed with rice (about 15p a portion if you get the right sized bag) with assorted fried veggies (mushrooms, onions, courgette, none of those cost more than 90p each that would do a few meals), a can of beans (30p) and a jarred sauce (which you can get for again, under 50p) is a filling, healthy, protein packed and animal product free meal. It's when you start buying replacement meat products like Linda McCartney's sausages that the price starts to crank up to similar to a meat eaters food bill.
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It’s cheaper to buy the products individually yes but when you are short on a) time to come up with a meal for yourself and your family b) creating a meal from scratch isn’t as easy as say putting a microwave dish on. You need to take some time to find out what goes with what, what you like, what you don’t, etc.

Also there is a case that is it really environmentally friendly to be eating food that is sourced from all over the world when you could support your local farmer and get your dinner from just down the road? Our country isn’t set up to grow a wide variety of fruit and vegetables so we have to important a lot from abroad. Which is adding to emissions. Because there is such a demand for certain vegan foods, the people who live in the countries we source them from can even afford them because the prices are jacked up.

And because there is such a demand for these sort of foods it’s actually increasing illegal deforestation to make way for land to plant things like avocados. Lots of places around the world don’t have the right land to grow food, some being the poorest parts of the world who rely on animal farming for their livelihood.

It’s quite worrying that you dismiss that being vegan and meat free as not being for those who are privileged. And this is a massive problem with vegan activists, their viewpoint is so blinded because they think their way is the right way. Which is commendable but not realistic or helpful. Creating farming that is sustainable whilst lowering our meat intake (if we can) is the most sensible and productive way to go about helping with climate change.
 
thegirlscout said:
Also there is a case that is it really environmentally friendly to be eating food that is sourced from all over the world when you could support your local farmer and get your dinner from just down the road?
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At the same time, it's good to take into account that a lot of the meat we do make has to be exported to other countries because we simply don't eat those cuts
At the same time, that's also the reason we import some meat into the UK (beef is a big one but it normally comes from Ireland so not that far), though I imagine you're much more likely to find those cuts in the supermarket though I imagine a lot more people use those than the local butchers

Basically, there are hidden emissions with pretty much everything we eat
 
It is huge companies' fault, but I do get a bit annoyed when people say that in response to climate change chat, because people don't actively talk about what we can do to challenge these huge companies. It sounds revolutionary at first glance and I think that's what makes people want to say it. But it's a bit doomerist-y, and IMO climate change doomerism ("what can I do about it, what difference can I make to this situation, I can't change what Jeff Bezos is doing") -> climate change apathy, and absolutely nothing is going to change if we all stop caring.

Obviously, Jeff Bezos & the CEO of e.g. Boohoo are way more responsible for climate change than any of us individually. But I don't think that should be the end of the conversation, and it often is. Realistically, for a lot of us, the easiest change we can make is to boycott or reduce our consumption of certain things and not fund those companies. It's one of the least complex changes or actions to communicate (and make for some people) so I think it's why it gets discussed so much.
 
Merpedy said:
At the same time, it's good to take into account that a lot of the meat we do make has to be exported to other countries because we simply don't eat those cuts
At the same time, that's also the reason we import some meat into the UK (beef is a big one but it normally comes from Ireland so not that far), though I imagine you're much more likely to find those cuts in the supermarket though I imagine a lot more people use those than the local butchers

Basically, there are hidden emissions with pretty much everything we eat
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I agree. I think the farming and how we source meat needs to change as well. I know so many people who would be happy to go to a local butcher but they don’t have one for miles and miles. It’s difficult.

Not sure why my post needed a laugh react @takhana ?
 
greenvelvet said:
Obviously, Jeff Bezos & the CEO of e.g. Boohoo are way more responsible for climate change than any of us individually. But I don't think that should be the end of the conversation and it often is. Realistically, for a lot of us, the easiest and smallest change we can make is to boycott or reduce our consumption of certain things.
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Exactly this

People talk about boycotting Amazon because their standards for employees are bad (among other things such as local business not being able to compete) but the moment you mention climate change it’s “well the governments should tax them!”

Fast fashion is overall horrible imo. I buy from cheaper stores and don’t dabble much in charity shops or vintage stores as I’m poor and my size is harder to find, but I also buy things I’m going to wear for the next several years. So many people buy these cheap things, wear them a few times and then leave them to rot in their wardrobes because the trend has passed
 
Merpedy said:
Exactly this

People talk about boycotting Amazon because their standards for employees are bad (among other things such as local business not being able to compete) but the moment you mention climate change it’s “well the governments should tax them!”

Fast fashion is overall horrible imo. I buy from cheaper stores and don’t dabble much in charity shops or vintage stores as I’m poor and my size is harder to find, but I also buy things I’m going to wear for the next several years. So many people buy these cheap things, wear them a few times and then leave them to rot in their wardrobes because the trend has passed
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Fast fashion and fast make up. The beauty industry is awash with waste products and packaging!
 
I eat meat, but make sure to buy organically. I buy from either Coombe Farm or Dorset meat company. I prefer to eat meat, but I don't often buy steak. I prefer offal, especially liver. I would take chicken all day, every day no problem. I find that buying high quality meat is far better than buying cheap meat to eat every day.

When you think about it, it's mad we can walk into Iceland and buy a load of cheap frozen meat for £20-30, that's generally meat from Thailand or Brazil, likely factory farmed and probably injected with hormones too, and coming from half way across the world. Buy locally, for better quality, and it will be far better in the long run.

I have definitely started looking at what I can save on too, and if I can find more ethically sourced and environmentally friendly products, such as soap, shampoo etc. I try to avoid food products with palm oil in the ingredients list too. There is a lot more we can do individually, but it takes more than me or this forum. Unfortunately a lot of people are quite selfish and only think about cheap food and fast fashion.
 
Agree! Everything's really intersectional. The reasons so many of us lean on e.g. Amazon could be (aside from living in a very remote area): having to work multiple shifts to sustain ourselves and not often being around when charity and local stores are open, being a parent or carer and unavailable for similar reasons, rent on the high street for small businesses being too high for them to support themselves -> there are few if any local sustainable businesses near us, work overstretching us so we want to get everything all in one place to save on time and mental energy. Some of these are things we could pressure government about too

People that don't have a lot of money especially want the promise of a guaranteed return and so shop at big chains that can afford to offer that. People are used to instant gratification now too so that plays into it.

I think increasing beauty standards (e.g. the need to be more and more creative with your fashion, terms like "cheugy") contribute to fast fashion. This video about fast fashion makes some good points
 
Plant milk is a massive culprit too, because of the growing of the produce on massive scales plus transportation and import, whereas at least most of our cow milk is from local farms. (I say that as someone who eats meat but drinks oat milk because cows milk makes me heave).

I agree that all walks of life are harmful to some degree. A lot of vegan convenience foods are packaged in lots of plastic packets too.

I think we should all be conscious of doing our bit but government and commerce are the ones selling us tat constantly. The supply and demand relationship needs to change. The price of things dictates what people can afford. A lot of stuff is eco washed / greenwashed whilst not making much of a difference (e.g. Influencers shilling gymwear that has been greenwashed). Kids are influenced to by vegan/eco tat to be seen as "sustainable" but really it's driving up demand for more tat anyway.

I've become addicted to sewing so am no longer buying fast fashion however I can't afford organic eco fabrics, so I'm still contributing to textiles demand however I might be more likely to treasure my garments and keep them for longer. That said most people don't want to make own clothes/can't/don't have the time so clothing needs to be affordable. I do think however we need to step away from the idea of buying a new dress for one night, etc. Capsule wardrobe seem a good idea to me, and I'm working on that.

We're all culpable, and all need to do our bit. I can't see though how we can all be 100% eco friendly unless we all walk around naked and not working, not consuming anything other than local stuff. Modern work means offices are required which drives up electicity use, work requires travel, we all want to see the world which means travel, which means businesses which means transportation etc etc. I don't know what the answer is but government needs to make the concern a priority.

In terms of weather, it's scary how many wildfires are happening, plus those floods. I don't think our bodies are built for this kind of humidity either.
 
Code Red for Humanity - that's not from an environmental group but from the United Nations.
It made big news on Monday but has dropped off again inspite of reports of terrible fires and record temperatures.
But it affects everything, every bit of our future.
 
Clarends said:
Code Red for Humanity - that's not from an environmental group but from the United Nations.
It made big news on Monday but has dropped off again inspite of reports of terrible fires and record temperatures.
But it affects everything, every bit of our future.
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The fires in Greece and the soaring temperatures in general haven't had much focus. BBC news mentions them but in barely any detail and without much context imo, to the point where it's sort of normalised?

It's honestly wild. Even Eastern Europe had a massive heat wave like a month ago which included Siberia, and I don't think that has happened before on this scale
 
48.8c in Sicily the other day, a record for Europe, Spain is expecting 43c this weekend
:oops:
I couldn't even imagine coping with heat like that
 
Merpedy said:
The fires in Greece and the soaring temperatures in general haven't had much focus. BBC news mentions them but in barely any detail and without much context imo, to the point where it's sort of normalised?

It's honestly wild. Even Eastern Europe had a massive heat wave like a month ago which included Siberia, and I don't think that has happened before on this scale
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What's worrying about Siberia warming up is the melting of the permafrost, releasing methane and even more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere and accelerating the warming process further
 
There's just so much weather at the moment, but what do you really say about it?

Other than with each year it seems to get worse.

The extreme floods and fires gets lots of airtime as it's dramatic. But what I'm more concerned about is crop failure and yeilds way down, hard to put this together into a compelling package for media. But it could make so many places unable to support human life
 
I'm still trying to make this thread happen 😆

There's just so much weather at the moment, Asian heatwave, Paris 40c+ degrees this week, India went from expecting a surplus of wheat to banning exports due to crop failures. There's crop failures in so many countries due to the weather and no signs of this stopping.

Seville is expected to get to 47c this week, and could easily break the hottest ever temperature in Spain of 47.4 recorded last year.

It's really hard to take it all in and exactly what is happening everywhere.
 
www.studyfinds.org

Maximum temperature human body can bear lower than thought, scientists discover

As climate change heats up our planet, scientists find the max temperatures humans can handle may be lower than previously thought.
www.studyfinds.org www.studyfinds.org
That process led to the conclusions that critical wet-bulb temperatures ranged from 25°C to 28°C (77°F-82°F) in hot-dry environments and from 30°C to 31°C (86°F-89°F) in warm-humid environments.
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the article also has a link to the actual study
 
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