Climate/ecological breakdown

I’d be aiming to return via China and the stans :grinning: or possibly Vietnam as I really fancy taking the Kunming to Hanoi railway seeing my great-grandfather built it (not single handedly, obv).

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We should definitely not wait! But the real point is that consumer choice and political action are not mutually exclusive: both are essential.

Recalcitrant politicians and corporations like to focus on ‘consumer choice’, because it lets them off the hook - but it’s often irrelevant. Consumers simply can’t tell how environmentally damaging most products or services are - it’s essential that governments regulate and tax to curtail environmental damage in just the same way that they should legislate for other kinds of safety.

Good example today of why government action as well as individual consumer action is essential - how would you ever know if the beef, wood, palm oil, soy, coffee, cocoa, etc - indeed everything you buy - has been linked with deforestation?

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And a decent, balanced article (albeit a bit American) on how we approach the crisis…

Beef I can probably live without, but coffee…:tired_face::tired_face::tired_face::tired_face:

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They’re not banning it all Mark - just imports linked with current deforestation!

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Thanks Geof, I’ve had time to read it now! I’m a bit dismayed that I’ve got to stop eating Mcvities chocolate digestives as they’re made using palm oil (in the chocolate?)

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Just think of your waistline!

And the reduction in cancer risk!

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I think food labels should be a lot more honest of where things are coming from. Meat says British but it only needs to spend a short time in the country and be butchered to claim that, could easily be from bad de forested areas.
Responsibly sourced salmon, should say irresponsibly farmed, the most toxic food on the planet.
People get mediaralised about their EV battery coming from china but their food, chicken especially can also be intensively farmed anywhere from the far east and as for the large prawns, you wouldn’t wash your feet in the water they are reared in!
Maybe some change is good, bring things nearer to home, where ever that may be.

…so I thought I would try again just now for third time …really to tell them they should stop sending us health reminders, flu reminders etc to save them money and effort… was 27th in the phone queue, can’t belive how bad it is…so now won’t bother to try and be helpful.

Can you press 1 to get them to call you back when you reach the top of the queue?

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Makes me laugh with companies these days.
“We are experiencing a higher number of calls than usual” the message says, I think, well you had plenty of time to record that message and set up the phone with it so its not new, you are just understaffed or thing customers having nothing else to do!

If I didn’t eat anything that came with a health warning in a report in the last 20 years I would most likely be starving, everything seems to have a a big risk associated with it, one year it’s good, the next it’s bad the year after the middle ground, so take in moderation :face_with_raised_eyebrow::thinking:
Nothing surer than that I’m going to die of something, so may as well enjoy myself before I do :yum:

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With 50% getting cancer you are most probably correct. Funny how people are scared of Covid but not of cancer and heart disease but they kill more.

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Already been there with a tumour on my spine and radiotherapy so I am passed that stage.

Me to but can’t help being interested, especially as most of the dodgy compounds seem to appear in industrial food where profit is king.

Really important study here…

That message is permanent most places I dial now. And was there before Covid. Especially, especially on the customer support lines of the mobile phone networks.

The only difference now is that unlike most of the English company phone-answering systems, more French ones don’t just play you their permanent message about “we have unusually high call volumes right now”. The systems waste your time and money playing you that message. They may then keep you on hold 1 minute or 40 minutes or 0 minutes. But then they cut you off.

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So what do we do?

We could destroy the machines that destroy this planet. If someone has planted a time bomb in your home, you are entitled to dismantle it. More to the point, if someone has placed an incendiary device inside the high-rise building where you live, and if the foundations are already on fire and people are dying in the cellars, then many would believe that you have an obligation to put the device out of action.

This is the moral case which, I would argue, justifies destroying fossil fuel property. That is completely separate from harming human bodies, for which there is no moral case.

And this particular moral case for direct action is, I believe, overwhelmingly strong, if the realities of the climate catastrophe are recognised.