Doing something about climate change

[giveadamakick]

Hi folks,

One of the main reasons I started on the path to veganism was anxiety about climate change. Learning more about industrial agriculture and how animals are "processed" only helped my motivation, but climate anxiety was the trigger.

Switching to a plant based diet alone is not enough though. I'd love to know what others here do about climate anxiety? What actions have you taken, if any?

 

[Emma JC]

welcome to the fourm

I think the climate is on many of our minds and is one of the three reasons many chose veganism and/or stay vegan.

I don't do as much as I could but try to do little things like using less electricity and water, trying not to drive unnecessarily, obviously not eating animals and using oat milk rather than almond, eating more whole foods than processed, aiming to live off-grid (ish). Those types of smaller things.

Emma JC
Find your vegan soulmate or just a friend. www.spiritualmatchmaking.com

 

[Lou]

Welcome.
I think its a new trend but going vegan for the climate is becoming a thing.

Going vegan or plant-based is probably the easiest and best thing you can do for the climate.

Emma already mentioned all the other obvious ones but I'm going to add one that sometimes gets ignored.

Activism. Although there are lots of things normal people can do, one at time is not enough. We need lots people doing it. and even then it won't be enough. Corporations are the big problem. Government policy is really important.

I think living in the Netherlands may be a great motivator for affecting change. And it looks to me like your people and government or doing good - I didn't follow the news story but that thing that just happened with Shell is supposed to be huge.

We have many discussions here about Climate change. try the search feature and put in "climate change"

I also recommend joining an organization that is working on it. I bet there is one near you. Volunteer time or donate money.

36 Organizations Helping Solve the Climate Crisis – Food Tank

 

[David3]

Hi folks,

One of the main reasons I started on the path to veganism was anxiety about climate change. Learning more about industrial agriculture and how animals are "processed" only helped my motivation, but climate anxiety was the trigger.

Switching to a plant based diet alone is not enough though. I'd love to know what others here do about climate anxiety? What actions have you taken, if any?

.
Welcome Adam,

The United Nations recommends 10 actions for individual people to combat climate change:

Act Now | United Nations

• 5 minute showers
• Bring your own bag
• Drive less
• Lights off
• Local produce
• Plant based meals
• Recycle
• Refill and reuse
• Unplug
• Zero waste fashion

Peter Rabbit - the children's book character - is now a spokesperson for the UN's promotion of plant-based diets. Check out the video starting at 0:21 . Quite an animal compassion statement from the United Nations !

 

[Jamie in Chile]

If I get negative emotions about climate change, I sometimes watch the youth climate song "Long Forgotten Road" as it about young people rising up and demanding change and it is quite uplifting:

I have done many, many things to cut my carbon footprint. I have got rid of our petrol and diesel cars, reduced flights, changed diet, and got solar panels and mostly stopped using fossil fuels, and become more minimalist and purchase things I don't need.

I have tinkered a bit with getting involved with activism by attending a few matches and events. I sometimes do petitions, letters to politicians as well. Raise the issues with friends and family. Raise the issue on forums like this one and others.

Climate change is always top of the agenda when I decide who to vote for as well.

I am always looking for the next thing to do on climate change, it is one of if not the biggest issue of our lives.

 

[giveadamakick]

Thank you @Emma JC, @Lou, @David3 and @Jamie in Chile for the kind welcome and helpful advice.

Activism. Although there are lots of things normal people can do, one at time is not enough. We need lots people doing it. and even then it won't be enough. Corporations are the big problem. Government policy is really important.

I think this is a very important one to have an impact beyond what you can do with your own lifestyle. I struggle a bit where I live (the Netherlands) with this, as I'm not a Dutch citizen so I can't vote, and going to protests has not been possible with the pandemic this past year+. @Lou what kinds of activism have you taken part in over there in the US?

 

[Lou]

There is a phrase that I heard in a documentary that was about climate change. (It may have been After The Flood), and although it really resonated with me, I can not remember the exact wording. It was something along the lines (but much better), that when it comes to climate change, veganism it both the most and the least you can do.

Not that you shouldn't do all those other things but cutting out meat is more effective than short showers or driving less.

Right now all my "activism" is centered around elections. Here in the US, climate change is very tightly connected with the Democratic Party. So to reduce global warming you need Democrats in office. Being that this is true with every thing else I care about (including animal rights) I put all of my efforts nowadays into elections.

Locally, I live in a very blue city, district, county, and state. So I've been relying on working with a local group of Democrats trying to effect change in other areas, mostly post card writing. For instance last fall we sent a lot of postcards encouraging registered Democrats in Georgia to vote. Back in 2018 we would travel to nearby red districts and register voters and even go door -to -door to encourage voters.

 

[poivron]

I'm sure some people here have seen this excellent video. It explains why going vegan is by far the best thing we can do for the environment:

Everything Wrong With Environmentalism In 11 Minutes Or Less! | Bite Size Vegan

 

[Jamie in Chile]

Didn´t really like the video that much although I do like her and all she has done for the cause.

While animal agriculture is the main cause of numerous environmental issues that isn´t the case for climate change, which is arguably the most important one.

The video has the implied tone and message that we should focus on animal agriculture rather than fossil fuels instead of saying as well as. That´s why it´s core message is wrong. Fossil fuels cause 70% of climate change and animal agriculture causes 20%-30%. If we ignore that 70% we are quite f*cked.

Also carbon dioxide causes ocean acidification which is very bad for ocean life.

I think this video could easily be used by vegans to defend their lack of efforts to use less fossil fuels. We need to both stop eating animals and stop using fossil fuels to protect the environment rather than focusing on one exclusively over the other which this video does.

Not impressed by the use of the 51% figure from the World Watch study at around 2.00-2.30. That was a short article - perhaps not even a research paper or a proper study that assumed that ALL land saved from going vegan would be used to grow biofuels and all that biofuels would replace coal, and counted all the coal reduction in their estimates, which is just silly. I was never quite sure if they were right to include the breathing out of CO2 either, isn´t that just part of a natural cycle? Plus the use of a 20-year timeframe to correlate methane and CO2 rather than the standard 100 is dubious.

The other error here - although this is a common error made by lots of others as well - is to focus on the small amount of water you save from having showers vs other things and it therefore implies you are free to go ahead and have long showers. The trouble with that is the environmental damage from the climate change caused by the CO2 emitted as the gas is burned to heat the water. Showers probably use under 1% of our water use, but they probably cause more like 3% or 5% of the climate change. (The CO2 is the problem with the showers, not the water consumption. Unless of course you use cold showers or have solar heating or electric heating in a country with only renewables.)

The video is quite right about environmentalists not focusing on animal agriculture enough however. Especially at the time this video was produced in 2015. It has got a big better since then.

 

[Jamie in Chile]

Has anyone heard from Emily Moran Barwick (BiteSizeVegan) who was behind this video? She did a post a few years ago saying she had been overworking and was autistic and would not post as regularly, and then had more occassional posts for a while, but she seems to have dropped off the internet altogether for about 2 years now? I hope she´s doing OK?

 

[poivron]

Has anyone heard from Emily Moran Barwick (BiteSizeVegan) who was behind this video? She did a post a few years ago saying she had been overworking and was autistic and would not post as regularly, and then had more occassional posts for a while, but she seems to have dropped off the internet altogether for about 2 years now? I hope she´s doing OK?

I think your post above is an excellent example of the reason why she dropped off from the internet. Just because something a person did is not perfect is not a reason to attack it. It's much easier to criticize than to actually do something to effect change. Her videos changed a lot of minds, but some people were clearly bothered by a young woman daring to speak, and they successfully shut her up.

I am sure she is doing extremely well personally. Smart women who are bullied away don't die in despair as their haters would wish; they find other worthwhile things to do and live fulfilling lives. The rest of us are poorer as a result. The haters hurt us, and themselves, more than they hurt the object of their hatred.

 

[Lou]

Didn´t really like the video that much although I do like her and all she has done for the cause.

While animal agriculture is the main cause of numerous environmental issues that isn´t the case for climate change, which is arguably the most important one.

I do agree with you but running to BSV's defense...

In a couple of documentaries they made this point but I think Its mainly overlooked -
Eating meat uses gasoline.
There is the gas used in planting, harvesting, and transporting grains for the cows.
The gas used in transporting the cows.
the gas used in transporting the meat, which has to be done in refrigerated trucks.
The electricity used at the store storing the meat in refrigerators and freezers.
And lets not forget the gas wasted in all of those other things just because producing animal proteins are much more inefficient than producing plant based foods.

Also, with no evidence to support this, Plant Based consumers are probably more likely concerned with personal energy consumption than the average Carnist. Global warming is one of the top three reasons people give for going vegan, and it looks to be increasing in importance.

 

[giveadamakick]

It can be difficult to gauge the effectiveness of different solutions for fighting climate change. That's why I love Project Drawdown: Project Drawdown. in 2017, they published a book which literally ranked the 100 most effective solutions.

Last year they released an updated edition via a free PDF (The Drawdown Review | Project Drawdown). They've moved the focus away from direct ranking somewhat, but they still do rank the solutions towards the end of that PDF. A plant based diet ranks very highly, but climate change is such a big problem, we need more vegans plus everything else - not just one solution or the other, as @Jamie in Chile says above.

 

[Lou]

I just skimmed the list. I was disappointed with the ranking. I'll have to read it to figure out if there is something about how they ranked that I didn't like or if I need to rethink.

 

[David3]

The year 2006 United Nations report, "Livestock's Long Shadow - Environmental Issues and Options", reported that livestock contributed 18% of global greenhouse gas emissions (see page xxi of the full report: http://www.fao.org/3/a0701e/a0701e.pdf) . At that time, livestock's GHG emissions were higher than those from the entire transportation sector.

 

[Jamie in Chile]

https://www.facebook.com/greenpeaceuk/photos/a.171896279228/10157026597379229

 

[David3]

Hi folks,

One of the main reasons I started on the path to veganism was anxiety about climate change. Learning more about industrial agriculture and how animals are "processed" only helped my motivation, but climate anxiety was the trigger.

Switching to a plant based diet alone is not enough though. I'd love to know what others here do about climate anxiety? What actions have you taken, if any?

.
Hi Adam,

It looks like the per capita (per person) CO2 emissions in the Netherlands are only about half those of the United States , but about twice those of the UK : List of countries by carbon dioxide emissions per capita - Wikipedia

Per the International Energy Agency (iea.org), the Netherlands seems to be doing a decent job of reducing its CO2 emissions: The Netherlands - Countries & Regions - IEA

Per the IEA, it also looks like the Netherlands is reducing its coal-generated electricity production, and is increasing its wind-generated electricity production:




Also per the IEA, the Netherlands' economy is currently heavily dependent on fossil fuels, but the nation is nevertheless targeting a 49% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030, and a 95% reduction by 2050, relative to year 1990 levels: The Netherlands is well prepared to reduce CO2 emissions, IEA policy review says - News - IEA


Lastly, per the IEA, the new electric-vehicle market-share in the Netherlands is 25% - pretty good! Trends and developments in electric vehicle markets – Global EV Outlook 2021 – Analysis - IEA . (The EV champion of the world is Norway - 75% of all new vehicles sold there are electric vehicles.)

 

[Amy SF]

Interesting idea:

But trying to bring back an animal that’s been extinct for thousands of years isn’t a slam-dunk. I think it’s an interesting idea, but other animals, extant animals, should be considered. For example, Bison, which evolved to survive in harsh climates in North America, can be a good choice. Or perhaps elephants, which are related to the Woolly Mammoth. Or perhaps reindeer might be considered.

Any thoughts on what the Russians are doing?

 

[bEt]

I look for oportunities to tell people who may care that air travel is one of the biggest contributors to CO2 emissions. It is surprising how many people don't know that.
I also became vegan because of climate anxiety. I care about all life because I learned to care about animals at an early age (including an angora rabbit named Nissy and a sheep named Penelope my mom kept for their wool, to spin it, which a lot of people disagree with, and is definitely not vegan. Penelope was shorn yearly (I think) and we brushed Nissy for her fur almost daily). Ironically, I don't know if I would have developed such a deep concern about animal life if it were not for this early exposure and emphasis that we as humans are responsible for safeguarding the welfare of the animals in our possession/care.

I apologize if the mention of shearing has caused anyone

To me, the question of animal welfare is inseparable from the problem of climate change. Living in a hot climate, I am convinced that baking to death would be a horrible way to die.

Another thing I don't do if I can avoid it is use air conditioning. I know that freon and other refrigerants are really bad for our environment when they get loose, which they do. I have seen refrigerator repair people stand back and watch (laughing) as freon gushes out of an appliance.

I am fortunate to live in a home with a swamp cooler (that I am responsible for maintaining) and to live in a climate where it is mostly workable to use it--though there are some days in August and September that we are lucky to keep it below 82 F inside.

 

[Emma JC]

I dislike air conditioning, and dislike the effect on the environment, and yet I do use ours, when I have to, which is a cold water based heat pump - I do keep our temperature high 25-26 (77-79F) most of the time - at night before bed I bring the temp down to 23C (73F) and then turn it up to 26 again so that it doesn't kick in overnight. I am fortunate that we do not have to use the heat in the winter as the surrounding apartments keeps it warm enough and usually around 23C - if it drops to 20 then I will turn it on for a short time but that hasn't happened in a couple of years.

Emma JC
Find your vegan soulmate or just a friend. www.spiritualmatchmaking.com