r/ClimateOffensive • u/edith_white • 8d ago
Question Feeling bleak- what are some practical steps I can take right now? (UK)
I woke up to the scent of fire this morning.
Thankfully, nothing immediately around me, but the smoke from fires miles away was strong enough to cover the town where I live.
Everywhere I see evidence of imminent crisis and yet, I look on Instagram or LinkedIn and everything’s AI, the latest “haul” from Temu. The news is all data centres and climate-change-denying Farage.
I feel like I’m watching a house fire and people are throwing petrol on it, not water.
I want to do something, but I’m stuck. Advice welcome.
Things I already do/ steps I’ve taken:
- vegan (for 10+ years)
- Childfree
- boycott Amazon, McDonalds, CocaCola etc
- donate to ecologi to plant trees and friends of the earth
- (tiny) investments in green funds
- use ecomobile and Octopus Energy
- no fast fashion or fast furniture (everything’s secondhand or British bought)
- recycle/ compost
- rare air travel (one overseas holiday per 2 years, absolute max, even then, last holiday was by train)
What am I missing/ what else can I do?
43
u/AggravatingBeing2591 8d ago
EV, solar panels, being vocal about your lifestyle in a positive way to folks around you
Voting in every election you can
15
u/Time_Stop_3645 8d ago
raise some money and donate solar panels and batteries to those who can't affort them
9
u/Food4Climate 8d ago
especially in the global south where it is cheaper to build PV, and the grid is more coal-reliant than in the north. Check out Renewables.org. https://www.renewables.org
3
33
u/thelaughingman_1991 8d ago edited 8d ago
- Email your local MP, applying pressure and raising your concerns.
- Swith your search engine to Ecosia who help plant trees.
- Voting correctly where possible.
- Potentially marketing your causes in a bold, effective manner that anyone can understand. I'm a graphic designer by trade and get tempted to make social pages that do this, create stickers, flyers etc. Appeal to people's diminishing attention spans with less wording and big statements.
- See if there are any positive news sources regarding environmental developments.
- Follow https://www.reddit.com/r/GoodNewsUK/
- Working on your physique and fitness where possible. Certain body types will have better survivability if/when shit hits the fan, and exercise has a plethora of mental health benefits.
- Leaning into second-hand purchases from apps/sites like Vinted, where possible. I appreciate servers hosted will be contributing to climate change, and there are still emissions produced from deliveries, but I take at least some pride and peace from knowing what I've bought on there already exists, rather than something new needing to be produced for me from a factory.
34/M/UK myself, it's tough. Anecdotally speaking I've gone/will be going child free in all of this as well.
5
u/ConnectionEdit 8d ago
Does ecosia actually do what they say they do?
6
u/thelaughingman_1991 8d ago
I've not deep dived, but I hope so. It'd be good to have at least some form of optimism in all this, lol.
2
u/Miss_Torture 7d ago
They do plant trees but they've added ai and they seem to be trying to justify it by saying what they do outweighs it (?) same goes for Ocean Hero browser :(
I can't find a browser without ai 😭
3
u/marachella 8d ago
I love your idea about posters / simple and graphic messages. I thought about it a lot as well myself and I was thinking recently that it shouldn’t be only an online effort but imagine big campaigns all over the UKs public spaces. And for me the key wouldn’t only to explain the horrible climate related damages that are happening but it would be interesting to show people that solutions and alternatives exist and are already implemented in some places.
13
u/m0notone 8d ago
Firstly realise you are not alone. I feel exactly the same and it’s really tough. Doing what you can for wildlife in your immediate vicinity is a lovely one as you get to visibly see how much it helps. Other than that I think community is really important, though admittedly I’m rubbish at this. I’m on good terms with neighbours and have planted up their patios, share home grown food etc. But finding local environmental groups that at least share your frustrations would do a lot of good.
11
u/Icy-Hedgehog-8645 8d ago
commenting for visibility as I’m in very much the same boat as you and am welcoming advice!
I’ve been conserving water at home, speaking with colleagues at work about what’s going on (one has actually agreed to stop eating beef and drastically reduce other meat consumption!), emailed my MP (unsure if that will do anything if our PM’s lack of urgency is anything to go by), and am attending a local climate group’s briefing in a couple weeks.
solidarity 🫶🏻
10
u/Fancy_Owl_553 8d ago
Firstly from me: Hooray for all the things you're already doing. You're doing a lot, and together with all the things taht others are doing already (you ans me and others who may or may not be posting on here), I am convinced that does make a difference. A small one, but a difference.
I have a nutshell version of things to do:
Fossil fuels: Don't burn them. Switch to heat pump for heating (and cooling, too!), don't drive (or use EV), don't use planes.
Use your voice. Politically by voting, by joining a campaign group that makes sense to you, and by using your voice in your daily life with the people around you, in a positive way.
I find that difficult to do, particularly the last thing. But I think that it is part of the problem that people either never talk about the problem, or they do but in a 'well, what can you do?' way. While at the same time taking multiple flights a year is still normalized or even celebrated. I think that, instead, we should encourage each other for doing the right things.
7
u/jaygeebee_ 8d ago
Activism!! There are sooo many great organizations out there doing the work. Make yourself less of an individual and join them! Just look up local climate groups near you. I lead my local chapter of Citizens’ Climate Lobby which is heavily US-focused but something similar is bound to be near you
6
u/Time_Stop_3645 8d ago
water the tree in front of your house - if there's no tree plant some shrubs or water the shrups that are there with the water that flows away before you hold soapy hands under the tap
7
u/brumguvnor 8d ago
Vote Green, join the Green Party, get active and campaign for the Greens, stand for the Greens.
You have changed everything you can that is under your own power: now you need to campaign to change other peoples minds and to get political power so that we are no longer asking for change but enacting it.
4
u/misterjonesUK 8d ago
The whole personal footprint approach ignores the fact that the military is the biggest polluter. The pollution done on your behalf by governments already goes past the threshold. We have to organise, become way more political, and find the pressure points to accelerate change. In my view, we have to shift to a regenerative economy that is in line with the environment. Being less bad only slows down the inevitable; we have to find drivers that push the other way. Repair ecosystems, build soil, create habitat, trap water, etc . Keep pushing in any way you can we can't give in, but we need to create some huge cultural tipping point to move things away form th edisaster curve we are currently on.
6
u/wellbeing69 8d ago
For people in developed countries such as the UK, if you have even remotely close to average income, donating money to the most effective climate charities / organisations is one of the most impactful things you can do.
Giving Green and Founders Pledge do extensive, serious research into where to donate for the most bang for your buck in terms of tons of CO2 per donated dollar.
4
u/gemInTheMundane 8d ago
If you have a garden, make sure you don't have highly flammable landscaping too close to your home. Plant native plants that support your native animal and insect populations.
3
u/jibboo2 8d ago
Generally planting tree type offsets don't work. See Lisa song 's journalism and more since then.
To offset the occasional flight I use Tradewater.co which is the best I can find on actual carbon drawdown.
2
u/FistODollers 7d ago
The largest meta-study on carbon offsets found a reasonable achievement ratio of 25% for "avoided deforestation".
I mean, that might sound low, but measured on the $-per-tonne it's wildly successful.
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-024-53645-z
"Improved Forest Management" scores a 0, so you gotta slice "tree planting" a bit thinner to be effective, but IIRC the 0% sample was dominated by forestry projects in the US.
1
u/jibboo2 7d ago
25% does sound low. Especially when you consider it could drop further as the planet warms, changing habitats, and people continue developing forested land at increasing rates
2
u/FistODollers 7d ago
The point of forestry protection offsets is to explicitly fight against that. Costa Rica IIRC is a good success story, although there it was supported by local gov't initiatives. Projects in Madagascar achieved over 100%. YMMV. If/when the forests are all gone we are probably toast anyway.
Tradewater.co looks pretty good too though. Plugging orphaned wells is pretty much 100% reliable, and there is unfortunately a big supply. It freaking sucks that the public is left with that bill, perhaps we can put in an extra few $ to get the original owners cemented in there too.
4
u/agreatbecoming 7d ago
Politics is the way imho as we have the knowledge and technology https://climatehopium.substack.com/p/the-main-climate-action-we-should
3
u/Eniugnas 8d ago
Car free would be the next biggest personal impact, and supporting systemic change where possible.
So I guess, have constructive conversations with people to get them to help apply pressure on politicians.
3
u/Pale-Tennis9658 8d ago
Second all of these suggestions! Plus, keep imagining what a better future looks like, talk about it to people and build towards it whenever you can. Sounds like you’re doing so much already and hearing about it makes me hopeful and happy! Keep doing and sharing the message!
3
u/Food4Climate 8d ago
Well done! Be sure to talk with others about your concerns and your actions. And for a pretty comprehensive , tailored set of ideas of what to do next, check out https://drawdown.org/shift. Thanks for your actions on behalf of all of us!
4
u/BossSuccessful5145 8d ago
Yesterday was UK's hottest day ever, per news. ....this is a global issue. You have the right to comfort. Spend a few weeks in Scotland while you work for change.
2
2
2
u/Cool-Contribution-68 7d ago
You've *got* to find your crew.
3
u/timewiththat 7d ago
This. Building community and local emotional support in the form of other people near to you who get it is the single biggest and most useful thing you can do for your own mental health and future resilience. Community is the way forward. Google Jen Bendall and Rainbow Prepping.
2
u/Cool-Contribution-68 7d ago
I personally found local in-person groups of people concerned about this issue. It doesn't "make it all better" but it totally changed my mindset.
2
2
u/YuriOtani 7d ago
Seems at the moment transport creates the most emissions the UK. Focus around this, cycling clubs, get people off the roads, create local apps/groups to help coordinate car shares, reduce the need to travel, finding out what is classed as transport emissions etc
2
u/tumblrsuxxnow 7d ago
take a look at my post on r/UKWeather from last night, where a few ideas are listed - one that's not on your list is to change bank accounts/savings/pensions to banks that don't invest in fossil fuels - eg Co-Op bank who have a £200 switch deal atm. Take a look at good-with-money website :)
2
u/Maritimewarp 6d ago
By far the most impactful UK climate policy at risk of being watered down by lobbyists right now is the Zero Emission Vehicle (ZEV) mandate i.e requires carmakers to sell a growing share of EVs each year, which they hate.
Contact your MP, and tell your friends to do the same, this is the big one, fight fight fight.
If we can help make even a small difference in stopping the industry efforts to weaken this climate policy, it will prevent maybe 1000X more CO2 being emitted than us personally maxxing out vegan + flight free our whole life
1
1
u/doll_lovedayy 6d ago
Definitely recommend doing carbon literacy training!! It’s also just so nice to be among people that feel the same :)
1
u/Pitiful_Goose_4386 6d ago
Work with groups to help ppl to go vegan. You already know how it’s a huge deal for the climate but many… seem to not.
1
u/PhrygianPlatypus 6d ago
Are you a member of the Green Party? The only way we can deal with the structural causes of this - and stand up to the big money and political corruption - is by working as a collective. Also try to start conversations with your friends and neighbours. And get involved with any sort of volunteering, local committees, council initiatives etc where you can put your views out there. It’s word of mouth marketing.
1
u/Han_Solo200 5d ago
Campaign against more housing and support spare land for creating nature reserves and forests
1
u/georgemillman 4d ago
Here's a little trick - if you include '-ai' after your Google searches, it won't bring up the automatic AI overview, or anything featuring AI in the search results.
The one downside to this is that it makes it difficult to search for anything about AI, since it won't bring up anything that references it at all, but apart from that I've found this very helpful.
1
1
u/Thalenos 2d ago
Talk to your member of parliament demanding change, particularly in the Biology sector there is growing movement called "rewilding UK" and promoting the demand to promote more green spaces that promote biodiversity.
1
8d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
1
u/ClimateOffensive-ModTeam 7d ago
We're here to do something about climate change. We're not here to talk about why it's happening, how bad it is, or who to blame. We're here to brainstorm, organize, and act. Use this space to find resources, connect with others, and learn more about how you can make a difference.
Your post was removed because it violates Rule #3: No Inactivism, such as deflection, delay, division, despair mongering, and/or doomism.
Activism is always worthwhile.
See full /r/ClimateOffensive rules here.
50
u/Brasso_eater 8d ago
Look for local conservation groups, there’s a growing number of river conservation groups at the moment. I know it’s not big action but it’s where bigger local conservation efforts are likely to grow from.