Is Climate Change Our Fault?

[El Cid 216]

I saw a snippet of news where Boris Johnson said Coca Cola  was one of the bad guys for "its part in producing an “overwhelming bulk” of plastic".

But yet he also said "recycling plastic materials doesn't work" and "is not the answer".

So what does he want Coca Cola to do, street fountains containing Coca Cola? He was blaming Coca Cola for providing everyone with their favourite drink,

Should we be banned from drinking on the go, great for peoples health if they drink water.

Ministers have unveiled plans for £5,000 grants to allow people to install home heat pumps and other low-carbon boiler replacements as part of a wider heat and buildings strategy that some campaigners warned lacked sufficient ambition and funding.

In 2015 the Government axed plans to make new homes carbon neutral from 2016, so new houses are still being built with gas or even electric central heating, the man is a fool.

 

Who is to blame for CO2 increases, even now, with all the solar panels and wind turbines that we have and the CO2 in our air is still increasing!

[Anna B 1,412]

Other countries recycle plastic bottles. If they can, why can't we?

 

 

[hackey lad 3,965]

1 minute ago, Anna B said:

Other countries recycle plastic bottles. If they can, why can't we?

 

 

We can and do  and will continue to  . His words have being taken out of context 

[Anna B 1,412]

Climate change is everybody's responsibility.

It has to  change from the top and the bottom.

We can all do our bit no matter how small because there are billions of us, and billions of small actions add up to a lot of change.

But the big corporations (of which there are few) have to make the most change with big actions and big investment. 

[Anna B 1,412]

7 minutes ago, hackey lad said:

We can and do  and will continue to  . His words have being taken out of context 

We don't do a fraction of what other countries do. Some countries for example have returnable plastic bottles as we used to do with glass. Needs a bit of organisation, but not impossible.

 

[hackey lad 3,965]

2 minutes ago, Anna B said:

We don't do a fraction of what other countries do. Some countries for example have returnable plastic bottles as we used to do with glass. Needs a bit of organisation, but not impossible.

 

And we do more than many other countries do .

[Thirsty Relic 213]

Covid figures are projected to go down, yet the Government is being pushed by its business pals to force us all to use Covid Passports (which will need producing etc - to great profit cost by their business buddies of course).  So, what should they do? 

 

Get the climate crisis in the news while they try and find a way to get the passports in, despite the figures and projections by their own scientists of course.  What I really don't understand is why Labour (remember them?) seem to be in favour of Covid Passes all of a sudden.

 

Other than posturing, I can't see anything concerte coming out of the climate meetings!  Of course climate change is OUR fault as humans, but unless we ALL pull together and do something, it will get worse.  Did I hear China were not going to the meetings?  Hmmmm!

[Jim Hardie 527]

Sheffield is doing its bit.

[Guest sibon]

Crikey.

I came here for reasoned discussion.

Do people really think that we shouldn't do anything, because others are worse?

Edited October 26, 2021 by sibon

[Waldo 96]

8 hours ago, sibon said:

Crikey.

I came here for reasoned discussion.

Do people really think that we shouldn't do anything, because others are worse?

That’s what I was wondering too. If everyone had that attitude...

[Resident 1,185]

Is climate change our fault? 

Short answer is no but that is far, far oversimplified. If you look at the history of the planet over millions of years it's existed there is evidence that the climate has changed a number of times & is cyclic. 

The correct question to ask is Have we rapidly increased the rate of change which may cause irreparable damage?

To which the answer in my opinion is yes & no. Yes to the increased rate, no to the damage, the planet may repair if changes are made globally. However it's a sad fact that some countries don't want to or lack the resources. 
 

9 hours ago, sibon said:

Crikey.

I came here for reasoned discussion.

Do people really think that we shouldn't do anything, because others are worse?

Reasoned debate wasn't on the cards from the OP, it was just another veiled attack on the current PM. But it's El Cid so there's no surprise there, 

As for your question, I don't think the majority of people think we shouldn't however they do ask if our efforts are in vain given that other countries make little or no effort

Here's the top ten list of the worst plastic polluters: 

 

China (59,079,741 tons)

United States (37,825,550 tons)

Germany (14,476,561 tons)

Brazil (11,852,055 tons)

Japan (7,993,489 tons)

Pakistan (6,412,210 tons)

Nigeria (5,961,750 tons)

Russia (5,839,685 tons)

Turkey (5,596,657 tons)

Egypt (5,464,471 tons)

The UK comes in 12th with 4,925,590 tons

It is, however, worth noting that several western countries including the US & UK export plastic waste to other countries, prodominately in Asia, essentially offloading the issue. 

[Guest sibon]

1 hour ago, Resident said:

Is climate change our fault? 

Short answer is no but that is far, far oversimplified. If you look at the history of the planet over millions of years it's existed there is evidence that the climate has changed a number of times & is cyclic. 

The correct question to ask is Have we rapidly increased the rate of change which may cause irreparable damage?

To which the answer in my opinion is yes & no. Yes to the increased rate, no to the damage, the planet may repair if changes are made globally. However it's a sad fact that some countries don't want to or lack the resources. 
 

Reasoned debate wasn't on the cards from the OP, it was just another veiled attack on the current PM. But it's El Cid so there's no surprise there, 

As for your question, I don't think the majority of people think we shouldn't however they do ask if our efforts are in vain given that other countries make little or no effort

Here's the top ten list of the worst plastic polluters: 

 

China (59,079,741 tons)

United States (37,825,550 tons)

Germany (14,476,561 tons)

Brazil (11,852,055 tons)

Japan (7,993,489 tons)

Pakistan (6,412,210 tons)

Nigeria (5,961,750 tons)

Russia (5,839,685 tons)

Turkey (5,596,657 tons)

Egypt (5,464,471 tons)

The UK comes in 12th with 4,925,590 tons

It is, however, worth noting that several western countries including the US & UK export plastic waste to other countries, prodominately in Asia, essentially

issue. 

Thanks for a sensible response.

 

It is a bit dispiriting when people just point at China/India and say that they are worse than us. Conveniently forgetting that we are where we are now on the back of huge historic emissions.

 

Fixing this won't be easy, as it will involve a shift in resources from developed nations to less developed ones. You can see how popular that is by looking higher up the thread.

 

It is also high time that single use, disposable bottles were taxed out of existence.  They aren't necessary and they are massively damaging to the environment. 

Edited October 26, 2021 by sibon