Likewise - and I spent a couple of hours in the pool every day in top of the daily hour or so of normal games so I had a buzz cut (because I hated wearing a swimming hat, in any case I think the chlorine would have eaten my hair 
)
I sympathise with @SuePJ . It is hard not to feel beaten down by the relentless pounding of the climate-doom drum. Iâve been wrestling with my own feelings of powerlessness and, yes, exhaustion ( despair in a word). Iâve been involved in various sorts of activism for years, but I take no pleasure in the Cassandraâs bitter recompense of having been right all along. I remind myself that if the bad news is now ubiquitous whereas for years it was difficult to even get people to talk about climate change or mass extinction, itâs because weâve hit the point where it canât be ignored. Folks who might have been able to ignore the situation before are now rightly freaked out. As for the mediaâŠ
The American activist/journalist Bill McKibben makes a distinction between what he considers to be useful or necessary information and âapocalypse porn.â Iâm paraphrasing McKibben here, but pretty faithful to his general idea. While the sort of horror stories we see about the environmental crisis are accurate for the most part (and itâs actually a shame that some scientists havenât felt safe to âcome outâ until now), I try to remember that crime and disaster attract attention by inciting strong emotions. And attention is what the news outlets & advertisers, especially online, are buying and selling.
As for shaming the general public - no, obviously it doesnât work or we wouldnât be here. Personally, I think we could do with more naming and shaming of lobbyists, corporate executives and politicians at least as a means to put blame where it belongs. And no, I canât stop Bolsonaro from destroying the Amazon. I canât stop Total & the Chinese state from building the worldâs biggest heated crude-oil pipeline across Uganda. But I can continue, to the modest degree that Iâm able, to support people who are trying to stop them. Otherwise I try to also support young people engaged in positive projects (housing, agriculture, energy etc) that might give them some kind of future.
Sorry for the long post! One last thingâŠa younger friend who is a deeply committed, full-time activist told me she now avoids the disaster stories (she knowsâŠ) and advised me to try and put myself on a ânews diet.â She recommended the following website:
https://www.positive.news
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are you following our âcheerful newsâ thread⊠well worth a glance and perhaps adding a magic moment of your ownâŠ
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Dearest David,
I think you must have missed the point that @SuePJ was trying to make; which is WHAT CAN YOU DO, not what you canât or wonât⊠green flys aside.
@SuePJ was trying to present a valid point, and searching for further information. She deserves all the respect in the world!
@SuePJ, I love the buckets idea!!! Never heard that before but it makes sense.
I live in GERS, and at this point we are still allowed to water our potagers.
I am using a LOT OF mulching - hemp straw, but any sort of mulch would work, cardboard for example is great to help keep the water in the ground for root systems rather than evaporating with the canicule.
I have been successful this year with a good variety of tomatoes- red, or gold beef hearts, zebras and ananas. Also, round courgettes which are both better flavour and can take the heat with less watering than their long fingered cousins.
Haricots were doing fine until the last caniculeâŠ
Growing lettuce in a shady spot, a good variety of peppers Including the famed espelete are loving the sun, and growing well without much water at all.
For gardens of any size Mulch with passion!!! 
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Dearest Stella,
As you are providing a simple food for birds as well as water, I wouldnât at all be surprised at an influx!
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The whole idea of this thread is to look for positive solutions as shaming in any form just turns people off.
What works for one person wonât for someone else. Apologies @David_Spardo if Iâm sounding flippant about the bucket in the shower. In fact even in my small shower I managed to squeeze a bucket alongside me and was amazed to find that the run-off (from me!) filled two containers very quickly. Firstly the bucket and then a washing up bowl which I DO stand in (and I have big feet). I put one foot in at a time - why? because I donât have a bath and my feet get filthy from being in sandals in the garden and the washing up bowl is a way of (briefly) soaking each foot and then scrubbing them with a scrubbing brush.
Again, sorry if this sounds silly / flippant but two buckets of water from my shower mean a lot to me and I now know I can get a third. I have plants in pots all along our terrace (including hydrangeas - heaven help me!) and they have been there for years. I am desperately trying to keep them alive. They are like friends now and I will water them as best I can.
What is important and works for me will not be appropriate or important for others - but please share constructive ideas / suggestions.
I realise this is an emotive subject and I would be grateful if this thread does not deteriorate, Thanks.
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Thanks for the suggestion, Stella. I will indeed take a look at that thread and try to share a magic moment myself!
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If I put a bucket in the shower I would probably kick it (over)
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Just remembered the other really big thing we can all easily do is stop buying new stuff !
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All in favour of recycling⊠by that I mean going through my cupboards, wardrobes, drawers etc and pulling out stuff not seen the light of day for a long time.
A lot is given away⊠and other stuff is on the âwear itâ rail in my bedroomâŠ
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The tiny amount of water used by me once or twice a week washing my hair (only the central jet used for 2 minutes) will do no good for the planet at all. I do not have flowers or vegetables to feed. Also I have just âwastedâ 2 litres of water testing how much I use in the bidet and wash basin. That is how much I use a day, 2 litres.
@Mark Exactly and I have already made that point, for elderly people especially it is wrong to suggest wobbling about from one leg to another in the shower.
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@Tiaré I have sent you a private message. You will find there is a dark blue dot on the LH side of your avatar. Click on your avatar and you will see a drop down menu with a short reference to my message. Click on that and you can read it.
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OK now Iâm going to shock you all. I do have frequent showers (though not every day) - but i donât use toiletries. Any. At all. OK I use soap on my hands and very occasionally elsewhere if Iâm particularly dirty. And bio-toothpaste. I havenât washed my hair for maybe 30 years (except with water) - you really donât need to, you know.
So this isnât relevant to you then. Many of us do have vegetables, and our veg garden usually manages to keep us stocked though the winter with potato and pumpkin, plus bottled tomatoes and beans, frozen peas and lots of fruit, etc
So I bucket of water a day is the difference between my live tomato plants and dead ones. And quite frankly at 3pm today after cleaning 3 bedrooms, two bathrooms, and living areas, plus preparing all the rooms, and tidying the garden in 30+ degrees heat I stank! I was soaked to the skin in sweat so not someone you would want sat on your armchair without a shower!
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Iâm not really sure what âclimate shamingâ means - but I think the disconnect between the science - with its descriptions of the mess weâre making - and what we can practically do about it comes down to scientistsâ skill set.
The problem is that the changes we need to make are mostly economic changes, but most climate scientists, environmentalists, etc, are not economists.
So we hear a lot about how fast the climate is changing, by exactly how much we need to reduce emissions, how habitats and species are disappearing, etc - but little about how we need to change company law and corporate governance, how we support people through the inevitable job losses that the necessary economic restructuring implies, how we actually build comprehensive public transport networks, precisely how we make ecological living more fashionable than âconspicuous consumptionââŠ
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Me too.
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Geoff, I have tried that so many times and it ends with an itchy and inflamed scalp. Then back to washing it with shampoo.
Same here - although I donât have much hair on my head now days!
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if I put one in the shower, Iâd probably kick it⊠
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