Young people in Perthshire fear it is too late to save our planet from climate chaos.
When our COP26 climate road trip reached Perth and Auchterarder, it became obvious that many among the younger generation believe their predecessors have damaged Earth beyond repair.
Sean Hester, 24, said: “A lot of my friends tell me we’re basically making a big, giant ball of death.
“Hopefully it doesn’t turn that way.”
Sean and Lucy Haldane, 21, who are local to Auchterarder, echoed what a number of people had told us.
They said the efforts of individuals are not nearly enough to make a dent in climate change.
“I was watching something a few weeks back,” said Sean.
“They said even if someone did everything they could for the environment individually, for 70 years of their life, it wouldn’t even count for one second of the stuff that gets done to the atmosphere by these bigger corporations.”
Lucy said she was aware that the climate had changed “quite a lot, even in our short lifetimes”.
‘We have to be optimistic’
While in Auchterarder, we also spoke to Ian Gourlay.
Ian, 54, had a less gloomy outlook.
He said he had “extremely high hopes” for the outcome of COP26.
“Because there’s nothing more important.
“Having said all that, my real hopes have probably been beaten down a bit by the reality of what we’re hearing in the lead up to it.
“But I think we have to be optimistic.”
Climate challenge for farmers
The Perthshire town is surrounded by farmland.
And Ian said farmers would be some of the hardest hit by climate change.
“It rains here a lot but this summer we’ve had low levels of water in the rivers. It’s been surprisingly dry actually.
“So there you are. There’s climate change maybe hitting us.
“Agriculture’s very big in this area. Agriculture’s going to have to change to make things work under global warming.
“I would have thought the farming community would be affected around here.”
But he added “we’ve all got change coming”.
“Houses, they all leak heat like there’s no tomorrow. So we need to do something about our insulation.
“There’s hardly a house in Auchterarder that isn’t affected by that.”
In Perth, 18-year-old Kelly Smith said people felt powerless to make a difference.
And she also described the planet as “dying”.
She said it had got to the point where “everything is going wrong” – from natural disasters to species becoming extinct.
“It does give you anxiety because this is our world. This is where we live.
‘Dramatic’ weather changes
“It’s dying. Everyone says we’ve got more time, but people can see it’s getting hotter.
“Every time there’s a change in the weather it’s so dramatic.
“You can literally feel it happening.
“If you don’t believe it you’re an idiot.”
Kelly said the rich and powerful had a responsibility to reduce their carbon footprint.
She said people on minimum wage jobs were being told to stop using plastic products, “then it’s like Jeff Bezos sending people up to space.”
Kelly added: “The younger generation have so much climate anxiety.
“It puts you in a bad mindset because you feel like you’re somehow responsible.
“Even if you try your best. You use a reusable water bottle, you take down your carbon emissions, you walk to work.
“It’s really not going to make that much of a difference.”
