TalkClimateChange

2007 was a big year in Climate Change, which saw the US u-turn on climate policy (on the surface at least), the emergence of the EU and the UK as world climate leaders, continued climate record breaking as temperatures soared and the North West passage was opened up, the worldwide release of An Inconvenient Truth, the award of the Nobel Prize to Al Gore and the IPCC, the Bali Summit meeting, and last but not least, the further emergence of some very serious and hard to ignore questions from climate sceptics and the growing body of evidence suggesting that climate change might not be man-made after all.

What did I learn from 2007, and what do we need for 2008?

TalkClimateChange has always believed 4 things:

1. That the climate is certainly changing - irrespective of the cause
2. That there is some credible science to suggest mankind’s greatest achievement (the industrial revolution) is the cause of this
3. That there is some credible science that suggests exactly the opposite
4. That all of our lives will change as a result of the ensuing political and social and economic mayhem as the world comes to realise how big a deal a changing climate might be for us
5. That it is usually better to prepare for change rather than just wait for it to happen

(more on our climate change beliefs)

With these points in mind - and considering the increased attention and focus that climate change received during 2007 - what were my personal climate conscience related experiences during the past year?

I used commercial air transportation more than ever before

(minus 5 good climate citizen points)

Unfortunately my personal circumstances demanded this, which tells me that arguments to limit air travel are wrong. People need to travel for many different practical reasons, more and more so as our worlds become global. I believe that preventing climate change shouldn’t (and doesn’t have to) come at the expense of world development. Globalization is a good thing - it is generating the wealth to fight poverty and inequality - and with a global environment comes the need for global travel. (more thoughts on climate change and aviation)

I failed to fix the thermostats in my apartment which make it a permanently too warm

(minus 5 good climate citizen points)

No excuses on this one, other than laziness and the fact that the first repairman failed to bring any replacement thermostats with him after being asked to “come and replace the thermostats”. I guess I could always figure out how to do this myself however. I’ll most probably learn when the heating bill arrives.

I failed to turn my apartment into a CFL, tastefully lit and low energy environment

(minus 5 good climate citizen points)

Despite encouraging news of advanced low energy LED lighting and advances in CFLs (compact fluorescent light bulbs) which allow use with dimmer switches, most of my apartment is lit with incandescent or halogen bulbs.

Why? Because despite the hype, the low energy wonder bulbs are just not easily available. I can’t find bulbs with more than an equivalent of 120 watts output, and I can’t find any that will work with dimmer switches. Admittedly I haven’t looked very far, but the world won’t go green if everybody has to drive to the next city to buy simple green commodities.

I took two long haul holidays

(minus 10 good climate citizen points)

No excuse. I needed a break. Twice. However, it was during the first holiday that I came up with the idea of TalkClimateChange, and during the second that I decided not to shut it down again.

I didn’t get into Audio or e-Books

(minus 5 good climate citizen points)

Audio and e-Books were recently hailed as a great green invention with the potential to save the millions of trees required to carry the printed word by conventional means. I remember that the ‘electronic office’ was supposed to do the same thing. (see more thoughts on whether the internet is really a green technology). I did however convert my entire music collection to MP3 and no longer use or buy CD’s. Admittedly this was driven purely by convenience and will have an absolutely minimal effect on Co2 emissions..

I continued to walk to work every day instead of driving

(plus 5 good climate citizen points)

This one was an easy win; since I am one of the few fortunate (or unfortunate) enough to live close to where I work. If I lived further away then the reality (for me and 90% of the population) is that I would take the most convenient method of transport, which (also for 90% of the population) is the car.

So I have a net ‘good climate citizen’ score of minus 25 points. What will this mean for 2008?

The easy thing would be to believe that point 3 above is true (that there is credible evidence suggesting that climate change is notmanmade) instead of point 2 (that climate change is manmade). But this would be too easy. And it is much more fun to play both beliefs against each other.

What this really means for 2008 is that it is still too hard for many people to make sensible green choices. For all of the government rhetoric about fighting climate change, and for all of the good work carried out by campaigners, climate change prevention still hasn’t become mainstream - meaning that ordinary people don’t have easy access to green options: Some examples based on my 2007 experiences;

Air travel - It is essential for many people. But, for example, the UK government has increased aviation tax as a token disincentive which hasn’t stopped people flying, but just made people feel more pain. How about putting that extra tax into offset schemes instead? Or better still - providing properly regulated offset schemes, or demanding that airlines make offsetting easy and transparent? Or improving antiquated air traffic control systems which waste fuel through inefficient air traffic management?

Low energy light bulbs - why is it so difficult to find low energy alternatives for all uses other than the light in the broom cupboard? I live in a major city so I don’t understand why these things are so hard to find.

Transportation - options for public transportation in most areas are simply woeful. People will never give up the car whilst public transport is just so bad. Some countries have made public transport stress free, cheap and efficient to the point that taking the car is a nuisance. Why do so many others turn the use of public transport into some kind of masochism?

One can always make an effort, as I could. But my point is that very few people will go too far out of their way.

So, New Year’s resolutions for 2008 - make more effort to lead a more sustainable lifestyle, preferably aiming for a ‘good climate citizen’ score of 0 or higher.

New Year’s wishes - that after all the very positive statements of 2007, some positive and sensible and achievable initiatives take place to make the green world easy to live in.

What are your new year’s reflections, resolutions and wishes? Leave a comment and let us know.