Memorandum submitted by Ms Cathy Green
(CRED 8)
I do not wish to appear before the Committee
on 31 January 2007 for the reason that I do not live in Norwich
and so would not want to emit carbon in travelling to Norwich.
I would however like to send the following comments on the "citizen's
agenda" by email:
AWARENESS OF
CLIMATE CHANGE
AND THE
ROLE INDIVIDUALS
CAN PLAY
Despite a year (2006) when climate campaigners
should have been pleased that the topic of global warming became
mainstream and the denial industry took a back seat for once,
the awareness of climate change among the general public remains
appallingly bad. I put this down almost entirely to the media
and other sources of propaganda. There is plenty of information
on the internet from leading climate scientists that if you look
for you can read and find out the real truth about what we are
doing to our climate and the atmosphere but the newspapers and
tv media are not interested in exploring this area, they are only
interested in dramas and so-called "human-interest"
stories. Even Newsnight's "ethical man" is patronising
and completely misses the point about how radical the changes
are we all have to make and yesterday! Because of all this misinformation
and lack of real solid background reporting all the general public
are really aware of now in this country is Recycling! This is
the general level of awareness in my experience, even among people
who consider themselves to be "green"!
Individuals still have no idea how much carbon
they all emit especially us living in the over-developed West
in the UK. The average is supposed to be 10 tonnes of CO2 a year
in the UK, but the Independent newspaper recently quoted
the Carbon Trust as saying it was more like 11 tonnes a year.
Mayer Hillman quotes in his book "How to save the planet"
that each individual is roughly responsible for five tonnes of
CO2 a year in personal emissions (50% of the overall 10 tonnes).
The other five tonnes are emitted in indirect emissions from the
food, goods and services you buy and from your workplace. Individuals
in the UK therefore have control and responsibility for at least
half of the carbon they emit and by my calculations they can easily
slash their personal emissions by 80% immediately to become "One
Tonners"—see my blog at: http://theonetonners.blogspot.co.uk
The idea behind the "One Tonners"
is linked to us all having our "fair share" of the atmosphere—an
idea promoted by the Centre for Alternative Technology and embodied
in the concept championed by the Global Commons Institute called
"Contraction and Convergence". This is the principle
where the over-developed countries have to contract their use
of carbon so that the developing countries can increase their
carbon use so that world-wide we all have the right to emit the
same amount of carbon—this is also known as "Climate
Justice".
There are four things any individual can do
to become a One Tonner = stop flying/drive less and use public
transport more/switch to green electricity/insulate, insulate,
insulate.
However, to quote a certain member of the Government
still currently in office, the key to reaching the hearts and
minds of the general public and getting the real message about
climate change across to them is: education, education, education.
However, you only know that people have really "got"
climate change when they become climate campaigners and if you
look on the internet that is still only a few hundred of us in
the UK, possibly a thousand by now?
It is very difficult to communicate with people
about climate change because most people don't care about the
world or even about the future and definitely not about politics.
The number of people who have responded in the following way when
I have broached the subject is mind-boggling—"the human
race needs to be culled".! Either amoral thinking and behaviour
is natural to humanity or we have bred generations of people lacking
a moral compass. Therefore it is impossible to reach the millions
of people who think like this and also all those millions and
millions in this country who don't even get as far as thinking,
which is where the role of climate campaigners and individuals
wanting to become One Tonners ends and the role of politicians
and governments comes into play—we need strong hard enforced
legislation to ensure that homeowners take responsibility for
reducing their home's carbon emissions/to stop people flying short-haul
flights especially within the UK/to stop people commuting long
distances with one person in each car five days a week, etc etc
etc and to prevent the possible extinction of the human race—what
on earth could be more important and more pressing a task?
THE OBSTACLES
FACED BY
PEOPLE AND
HOUSEHOLDS WHO
ARE TRYING
TO MAKE
A DIFFERENCE
I have covered many of the obstacles above but
the main obstacle I face daily as a voluntary climate campaigner
is the people who really don't care or who think shopping ethically
is the answer. Not shopping at all is a better answer!
Lack of financial backing is not a problem for
climate campaigners as they are all working using the internet
and voluntarily in their spare time. Money should not be an obstacle
for people wanting to go green as for every extra £5k someone
earns they emit on average an extra one tonne of CO2 a year...
so the low income families generally tend to be the low carbon
ones and that's why living the low carbon life is not popular
in today's society. However low income families should be financially
assisted to insulate their homes/fit energy saving devices/purchase
condensing boilers, and locally grown organic food should be made
available in poor inner city areas that are a virtual food desert
because of the power of supermarkets.
Just one last word about Transition Towns in
case they don't come up in any other submissions. Please see the
web-site: www.transitiontowns.org for inspiration as to how the
human race can survive and live into the next century.
By the way I try and point out to people that
becoming a One Tonner really only means reverting to the standard
of living of most people from the late 1980s/early 1990s not going
back to the stone age and living in a cave! We need a cultural
change and shift in people's perceptions of the concept of "progress"
but we need it yesterday and are fast running out of time. As
George Monbiot says we haven't got time to educate children now
we have to educate all the adults...
Ms Cathy Green
January 2007
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