Thread: What are you doing to save the planet?

With news about Amazon and Arctic wild fires and statements like we need to stop driving and taking flights because technology alone can't stop climate change, what are you doing to save the planet?
I think we might have reached the tipping point already because all countries want to grow their economies. All airports want to expand. People still want to eat food and own products sourced from all over the world.

I don't fly any more and have cut car journeys by half. But there are more people taking my place.
Plenty of criticism made of Brazil in cutting down trees, but that's what happened long ago in Britain. We've cut down most of our trees.
Thoughts please.

we efforts to save the earth planet through decrease population, decrease pollution, save more trees to cutting down and more things. Actually, I research daily on digital world, because I will start a blog within few day, I got this best blogging ideas site and get more interesting facts, news.

Life may take a shit-kicking but the planet will just go on unless some apocalyptic event takes it out. Any surviving life will surely evolve to take over what's left.

What do I do? My wife and I planned for two kids and zero population growth was a success here. Both made sure we had no more. I refuse to go on a sea cruise now that I know the pollution those ships put out. Don't use aerosols although I only started doing that when the ozone was depleting and did I read that hole is closing? I recycle & reuse. I catch a lot of fish but they all go back in the water. Environment always in the back of my mind so before I do anything I carefully analyze whether I'll impact it or not. I remind others of protecting environment in hope of influencing.

Originally Posted by ox

With news about Amazon and Arctic wild fires and statements like we need to stop driving and taking flights because technology alone can't stop climate change, what are you doing to save the planet?
I think we might have reached the tipping point already because all countries want to grow their economies. All airports want to expand. People still want to eat food and own products sourced from all over the world.

I don't fly any more and have cut car journeys by half. But there are more people taking my place.
Plenty of criticism made of Brazil in cutting down trees, but that's what happened long ago in Britain. We've cut down most of our trees.
Thoughts please.

I have done things like install solar and batteries (90-95% of electricity use whilst adding 4-5 times what we use back to the electricity grid) and reducing wasteful energy usage. I think it is necessary for my sanity and self esteem to make efforts to reduce my personal emissions. By Australian standards it is low but by any historical standards I live in extravagant and wasteful luxury. In climate stability terms, way too high. I think that whilst a lot of Environmental advocacy pushes personal frugality as a principle response - and I think they do have a point - I am not convinced personal sacrifice is the most important action that is needed, nor asking for it best advocacy approach for climate advocacy to take.

My own view is that the problem cannot be solved with personal lifestyle choices; we can ask it of others but not force them. We should not really have to make any personal sacrifices to have our calls for our governments and leaders to take a problem they already know is real and very serious seriously. Every avenue to reduce emissions should be pursued, including through lifestyle and consumer choices - and just for our sanity and self esteem we need to make some personal effort, inadequate as they are, but in the end everyone's choices need to be zero emission and that takes economy wide transition. It has to be a transition where even high emissions choices become zero emissions ones - no-one stopping anyone but extravagant emissions choices paid for with true and verifiable negative emissions one way or another.

Without paying for true negative emissions true zero emissions is currently unattainable without going all stone age; avoiding that is actually the whole point of an economy wide transition to low emissions, not it's intent, no matter the (false) perception that is what climate activists seek. The self appointed hypocrisy police won't take our concerns any more seriously if we refuse to fly or drive but they will hold it against anyone who is outspoken and effective at climate advocacy - no matter that in any knowing better but doing it anyway stakes those people in positions of trust who encourage community distrust of climate science to advance the very activities that make the problem worse are more morally reprehensible than anyone who knows better and advocates for change.

I remain convinced that informed advocacy is the single most important action I can take.Not sure I've been much good at it. Like my personal emissions it is not nearly enough, but it is because I am human and too often inclined to know better but do stuff anyway that there needs be a deeper institutional change. I think it needs to be built on fundamental principles of responsibility and accountability, without resort to political ideology, especially extreme sorts. I think it is because the most effective policy actions are fully compatible with (responsible) free enterprise, democracy and the independent rule of law that opponents work so hard to convince people they are not.

Vote the right people into office. We need large scale systemic changes.