Archie_tect
Active Member
40 years ago we were tree huggers, 20 years ago we were eco-warriors, earlier this year we were 'Green Party loonies' [sic] and now we are an uncomfortable thorn.
COP26: All talk or some real action on climate change?
- Thread starter Banderill
- Start date
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mudsticks
Squire
With uncomfortable truths.
Quite happy and proud to have been a 'loony green tree hugger' all these years.
Tbh it's not been a bad life, lots of fun has been had alongside all the 'worthy' stuff.
I've got to hang out with some utterly splendid people too.
Doing things 'differently' hasn't been at all awful.
Of course there's always that thing of "could I /we have done more to make more people take notice?? "
But it's not like there weren't or aren't hundreds of thousands of eco loons world wide, all saying basically the same thing...
It's just when you're up against the oil corps (etc) and their lobbyists, and general inertia from 'ordinary' people, the odds are stacked against , somewhat...
One reason I'm not giving up just yet.
(Apart from the chance to avoid tenths of degrees of warming, and the hopes of building more resilient systems)
Is that I don't want the younger ones to see me give up trying, and give up hope altogether..
BoldonLad
Old man on a bike. Not a member of a clique.
- Location
- South Tyneside
In the interview I saw (a day or two ago, on BBC), he actually said "it is already too late".... now, this may be true, but, IMHO, it is not wise to say it, since a large tranch of the population will regards that as "no point doing anything". Far better to offer hope (even if he doesn't think there is any).
mudsticks
Squire
It's too late to halt climate change and its effects in our lifetimes, yes, as Archie has said that tipping point has already been reached.
It's not too late to try to slow it down, build resilience do things differently and make things less bad for the future.
Trouble is you've got scientists, trying to communicate complex uncertainties , but also some unavoidable cause and effect modelling to lay people (or non scientists)
Who would rather have absolute definitive answers.
In a world where there are very few such certainties.
I agree he shouldn't have said.
"It's too late"
Although he may have said that in a particular context, and it's been presented out of context..
BoldonLad
Old man on a bike. Not a member of a clique.
- Location
- South Tyneside
Quite.
Only if some naughty BBC person edited the interview to miss-represent the context of his remarks.
mudsticks
Squire
Well also bear in mind that David is only some bloke off of the telly.
He's not even a climate scientist, although he should know a lot about it, after all these years.
BoldonLad
Old man on a bike. Not a member of a clique.
- Location
- South Tyneside
Yes, but, for the majority of people, who do not avidly follow the news etc, he is one of the "public faces" of Climate Change.
mudsticks
Squire
I know.
The obsession with 'celebrity' and 'personality' when it comes to 'issues of the day' is really so unhelpful, in so many ways.
For instance ms Thunberg keeps saying.
"Listen to the climate scientists" stop focussing on me.
But people would rather poke fun at her, or elsewise elevate her as some kind of guru like 'spokesperson' for climate .
Neither of which was her intended aim at all..
Oh well , this isn't getting anything done either is it...
mjr
Active Member
yeah, fark 'em, it's not like it's a matter of life and... Oh, wait...
Fab Foodie
Legendary Member
They said on the radio that Boaty McBoatface has been moored in Greenwich to coincide with 'That's what I call Cop26' in Glasgow next week...surely the Clyde might have been better?
mudsticks
Squire
I know, what are we like, right..??
I mean some of us don't even think that saying 'bum' is the last word in cutting edge humour..
Clearly we massively need to get over ourselves..
Of course, like most 'groups' who are dealing with rather difficult matters, we have our own particular brand of dark, and self lampooning humour.
But I'm not sure here is the place, for it really.
Well there are events going on in all major cities to coincide.
The cynical among us might say that relocating the whole shebang from London, to Glasgow in November, was a calculated move to make it harder for some people to attend.
Apparently there are problems finding accomodation for everyone who wants to go.
Personally I'm cool with it, as not only am I fond of the place, and now have a child residing there, it also gives me chance for a mini skirmish further northward into the hills while I'm in the area
Archie_tect
Active Member
Perhaps it was a speeliing mystake and should have said Greenock?
mjr
Active Member
Special pre-COP26 edition of the Fully Charged Show with a surprising-to-me appearance by former anti-green-tax-campaigner-and-RHA-shill Quentin Wilson who apparently has quit FairFuelUK, slamming the door on his way out, and now works for EV battery manufacturer British Volt
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6k865qo-6mw
Disclaimer: I've not finished watching it yet. May contain nuts. Other than Mr Wilson.
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6k865qo-6mw
Disclaimer: I've not finished watching it yet. May contain nuts. Other than Mr Wilson.
mjr
Active Member
For people who don't have relatives to stay with, https://cop26coalition.org/coming-to-cop26/homestay-network/ is one effort to help.
But yes, I suspect the thought did occur to someone in Whitehall that Glasgow in late autumn might deter some of those pesky cyclists from making the trip.
Was Rishi's sabotaging budget simply an attempt to make life difficult for Ashok and prevent him becoming a planet-saviour rival once Boris eventually implodes?
swansonj
Regular
I was at a conference, ironically enough a health and safety conference, once where the after-dinner speaker was Quentin Wilson. I was sufficiently moved by his homophobia, anti-environmentalism and advocacy of breaking speed limits that I wrote to the organisers afterwards to complain.
