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| Six ways you can help stop climate change | Six ways you can help stop climate change |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| Hiding behind the sofa definitely isn’t the best course of action, but it might be the first thing that comes to mind when contemplating the latest round of immense and frightening findings from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). It’s important to read carefully though. Its new report also tells us that solutions are available, even affordable – so what is one small human being to do? Here, to get you started, are a few suggestions. | Hiding behind the sofa definitely isn’t the best course of action, but it might be the first thing that comes to mind when contemplating the latest round of immense and frightening findings from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). It’s important to read carefully though. Its new report also tells us that solutions are available, even affordable – so what is one small human being to do? Here, to get you started, are a few suggestions. |
| 1. Talk about climate change | 1. Talk about climate change |
| Yes, that’s right, just talk. Over the past few years we’ve talked less and less about this subject, according to the Climate Outreach and Information Network (Coin), and as a result we’re all underestimating the amount of support there is out there for climate change policies. “Most people think that about half the population is opposed to renewables, for example,” says Adam Corner of Coin. “In fact about 70-80% are in favour. If we start having conversations about this we can really build up a bedrock of support for this subject.” (The organisation 10:10 has been running its massively cheering It’s Happening thread with this in mind - have a look.) | Yes, that’s right, just talk. Over the past few years we’ve talked less and less about this subject, according to the Climate Outreach and Information Network (Coin), and as a result we’re all underestimating the amount of support there is out there for climate change policies. “Most people think that about half the population is opposed to renewables, for example,” says Adam Corner of Coin. “In fact about 70-80% are in favour. If we start having conversations about this we can really build up a bedrock of support for this subject.” (The organisation 10:10 has been running its massively cheering It’s Happening thread with this in mind - have a look.) |
| 2. Take a look at your diet | 2. Take a look at your diet |
| Just throwing away less food and eating less meat means you can make a significant dent in your carbon footprint. The Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations did some sums last year and worked out that if food wastage was a country, it would be the third highest carbon emitter globally after the US and China. You don’t need to give up meat completely, just reduce the amount you eat, or even just try cutting out the steaks. One calorie of steak requires 160 times more land than a calorie of potato, a study showed earlier this year, and meanwhile we are subsidising the whole meat industry to the tune of billions of pounds, as Vicki Hird of Friends of the Earth points out in her Atlas of Meat. | Just throwing away less food and eating less meat means you can make a significant dent in your carbon footprint. The Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations did some sums last year and worked out that if food wastage was a country, it would be the third highest carbon emitter globally after the US and China. You don’t need to give up meat completely, just reduce the amount you eat, or even just try cutting out the steaks. One calorie of steak requires 160 times more land than a calorie of potato, a study showed earlier this year, and meanwhile we are subsidising the whole meat industry to the tune of billions of pounds, as Vicki Hird of Friends of the Earth points out in her Atlas of Meat. |
| 3. Reclaim the streets | 3. Reclaim the streets |
| A joyful development in global public policy in recent years has been a move away from road-building, towards handing back streets and spaces to pedestrians and cyclists. For example, Auckland – which has the highest ownership of cars per capita in the world and used to be known as the City of Cars – has been implementing a “shared street policy” to encourage pedestrians, which has had an extremely positive public response. In fact this is happening all over the place, and it comes in many forms. In the UK you can join your local Playing Out group to shut down your street for an afternoon so that the children can take over, or you can talk to the charity Sustrans, which helps people travel by foot, bike or public transport, about some amazing local traffic calming initiatives. You can also support cycle campaigns; despite a huge amount of activism on this front recently, cycling in the UK declined last year, but proper infrastructure could quickly change that. Working towards long-term infrastructure change is a positive long-term contribution, and also makes us feel better about the issue in the short-term. | A joyful development in global public policy in recent years has been a move away from road-building, towards handing back streets and spaces to pedestrians and cyclists. For example, Auckland – which has the highest ownership of cars per capita in the world and used to be known as the City of Cars – has been implementing a “shared street policy” to encourage pedestrians, which has had an extremely positive public response. In fact this is happening all over the place, and it comes in many forms. In the UK you can join your local Playing Out group to shut down your street for an afternoon so that the children can take over, or you can talk to the charity Sustrans, which helps people travel by foot, bike or public transport, about some amazing local traffic calming initiatives. You can also support cycle campaigns; despite a huge amount of activism on this front recently, cycling in the UK declined last year, but proper infrastructure could quickly change that. Working towards long-term infrastructure change is a positive long-term contribution, and also makes us feel better about the issue in the short-term. |
| 4. Change to LED lightbulbs | 4. Change to LED lightbulbs |
| These are the new wave of energy-saving bulbs, and they’ve come on a long way from the blue-tinged alien life forms they once were. You can now buy them in a spectrum of colours and they save on average about £40 a year compared with all-halogen bulbs. And this is just the start. A whole-house energy audit may ensue … There are hundreds of useful tips at the Energy Savings Trust. | These are the new wave of energy-saving bulbs, and they’ve come on a long way from the blue-tinged alien life forms they once were. You can now buy them in a spectrum of colours and they save on average about £40 a year compared with all-halogen bulbs. And this is just the start. A whole-house energy audit may ensue … There are hundreds of useful tips at the Energy Savings Trust. |
| 5. Get involved with a community energy project | 5. Get involved with a community energy project |
| There is something tremendously satisfying about the idea of reclaiming control of our energy from the “big six” energy companies, even if only partially. “It pays so many dividends simultaneously – carbon, environmental, economic and social,” says Ed Gillespie of Futerra. Nick Dearden of the World Development Movement says we should be learning from the success of Germany’s Energiewende programme, which gives “more power to communities and ‘ordinary people’ to control systems of renewable energy production and distribution”. This community model really is working in Germany and here in the UK the Solar Schools project is a great starting point. Studies show that after raising money for solar panels for their local school the majority of people feel closer to their community, and are far more likely to get solar panels themselves. | |
| 6. Lobby your MP | 6. Lobby your MP |
| Pop along to WritetoThem.com and drop your MP a line asking what they are doing and saying about climate change. You don’t have to be an expert – just let them know you’re out there. But if you want to go a step further, the Green party leader, Natalie Bennett, suggests asking them whether they support the energy bill revolution, for example, a campaign to step up the greening of our national housing stock. Corner says: “If MPs don’t hear about these subjects from constituents, they don’t know that you care about it.” Telling your MP that this is an issue that you are passionate about, and are following closely, gives them motivation to be more active in Westminster. | Pop along to WritetoThem.com and drop your MP a line asking what they are doing and saying about climate change. You don’t have to be an expert – just let them know you’re out there. But if you want to go a step further, the Green party leader, Natalie Bennett, suggests asking them whether they support the energy bill revolution, for example, a campaign to step up the greening of our national housing stock. Corner says: “If MPs don’t hear about these subjects from constituents, they don’t know that you care about it.” Telling your MP that this is an issue that you are passionate about, and are following closely, gives them motivation to be more active in Westminster. |
| That’s six ideas, but there are so many other exciting possibilities. What are you currently doing to address climate change – and what do you think is the most important change you can make as an individual? | That’s six ideas, but there are so many other exciting possibilities. What are you currently doing to address climate change – and what do you think is the most important change you can make as an individual? |