Monday, 14 October 2019

Environment Monday - Why change is necessary and how we effect it

We are in the middle of the Extinction Rebellion London protests. Whatever you may think of the protests, it is pretty clear that they are serious, committed and will not go away any time soon. Most people recognise that they have a point, what is perhaps not quite received with such consensus is whether they've got their facts right. Do we really only have less than ten years to fix our behaviour, before we reach an irreversible tipping point that will see mass destruction and mass extinction?

I was asked by one of the many people who, perhaps wrongly, trust my judgement on such matters whether this was right. I guess the reason people trust me, is they know I am honest about such matters. My response was that, in common with just about everyone else on the planet, I genuinely don't know. What I can say with 100% certainty, is that there is enough of a risk to make it worth taking serious and radical action as soon as possible. Lets, for argument sake, say that there is a one in four probability that XR have their timescales spot on. As a gambling man those odds are high enough to convince me that action is worthwhile.

Some of the comment I've seen over the weekend is typical of what people say when they want to deflect an argument that they know they are losing. One stated that global warming was not the reason for the decline of many species that we are seeing. Whilst if you take an extremely narrow view, this is true. Lets take the Orang Utang. This is facing a threat due to the destruction of its rain forest habitat. Now strictly speaking, this is not global warming, but only an idiot would argue that this isn't part of the bigger picture of environmental damage. The destruction of the rainforests contributes to global warming, as the trees no longer soak up the CO2.

Likewise, the proliferation of plastics is not directly responsible for raising the amount of CO2 in the environment, but is a massive part of the picture of how our activities as a species is damaging the planet.

We need to change our ways. It is not just to reduce our carbon footprint. It is to start caring about the environment. It is to make a few small sacrifices that will make huge differences. Consumer behaviour massively influences corporate behaviour. Whilst if we all went vegan, went everywhere on bicycles or on our feet and only ate locally produced food which had no packaging, it would almost instantly start reverse the effects of global warming and the damage we are doing, for most, that is far too big a challenge. But what if we made a few rules? What if we said, I can't do everything, but I'll do what I can. If we all did the following ten things, then it would start to move us towards a more sustainable lifestyle.

1. Walk or cycle for all journeys under one mile
2. Cut meat and fish intake to only use organic/sustainable and have a couple of days off a week.
3. When you are going out with friends, use public transport, share cars or walk.
4. If you are going on a holiday involving flying, choose an airline that uses modern planes which produce less pollution.
5. Turn off lights and appliances in your house when you are not using them. Get timer switches
6. Improve the insulation in your home.
7. Buy locally produced food if possible.
8. Drive your car economically, moderate acceleration, speed and braking (can reduce CO2 emissions by up to 20% from your car and cut your car fuel bills by the same amount)
9. Recycle products, get a water bottle, don't buy bottled water.
10. Plant trees if you have a garden, these are the best consumers of CO2.

Now I know many of my friends at XR will say that much of this is tokenism and by no means enough. To some extent, I'd agree, but the first step is we need to make sensible changes and explain the effects. Once we get people thinking about their lifestyle and once people realise that you can make changes and it won't make your life materially worse.

Of course, the biggest problem is that the UK is just one small part of the picture. We are responsible for 2% of the worlds CO2 production, so you may say "why bother?". That is rather missing the point. The UK has huge soft power. If we can show that a difference can be made and it can work for business as well. If our supermarkets realise that cutting packaging increases profits, then this will soon be adopted elsewhere. If oil companies start to see that their sales are falling, they will seek other technologies to make money that are less damaging. If we produce better household insulators, then there will be a huge global market for these.

Over the last 20 years, we've actually seen massive improvements in how we use energy. We've moved towards energy saving LED bulbs, our appliances have an energy rating and the homes are being built are far more efficient. All of this has come about due to consumer pressure. Politicians only take action if they think there are votes in it. The fact that two of the last three elections in the UK have resulted in hung Parliaments show that parties can be influenced. We really should consider what a candidate has to say about the environment when we cast our vote. Sadly in Barnet, our three Conservative MP's do not have great records. In all cases, they are susceptible to losing if a small percentage of local people decide that they do not care about the planet.

Here is some information that may help inform your decision

How Mike Freer voted on Environmental Issues #


How Matthew Offord voted on Environmental Issues #


How Theresa Villiers voted on Environmental Issues #

If you want to change things, the next General election is a good place to start. I personally think the record of our local MP's are totally disgraceful. Of course I am biased, but the facts back up my proposition.



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