Our Climate Conversation

Don't Look Up

In the Netflix block-buster comedy, two astronomers go on a giant media tour to warn mankind of an approaching asteroid ( a metaphor for the Climate Chaos we are currently experiencing ) that will destroy planet earth. How is it that we have a social contract with nearly everyone to look away and ignore this existential crisis? Part of the answer is indeed to do with distraction – the pandemic and all the other items that papers, radio, television, and social media consider news-worthy. What else can we expect when the media reflects its owner’s views and at least one (Murdock) also sits on the board of a fossil fuel company. These fossil fuel companies make enormous profits whilst knowingly polluting the planet by buying off the media, politicians and financial system. They pretend to be involved with green initiatives but in reality are intent on expanding extraction activities: this is called ‘green washing’.

What can be done by us ordinary people? As individuals, the simplest and most effective thing we can do is to talk to other people – friends, family, and work colleagues about the problem. We can also divest our saved money, switch to a clean energy provider, reduce consumption of meat and dairy, and choose a green method of travel. Ultimately we have the power of the vote, and we must use it wisely.
Many people would consider doing short local journeys by bicycle if they were not so exposed to car traffic, if we had something of the infrastructure in Holland with separate bike lanes. At the start the Dutch had to fight their car lobby too, of course. We must convince our local politicians of the need and persuade them to set up trials. It comes down to communication again – we must have good mechanisms to reach our decision makers to express visions for improvement. A cycle ride away is our sister County, Herefordshire, where things are very different: they have just set up a Citizens Assembly to guide their Council with policies to tackle Climate Breakdown. Some forward-thinking places across Britain have used Citizens Juries in a similar way. Whatever the mechanism, we need a means to involve the wider public in the discussion.

The UK Government wants to ‘Level-Up’ the economy but this cannot be done without significant investment in a Green New Deal We need to invest public money worth at least 2% of the UK’s gross domestic product every year during the 2020s to cut our carbon emissions while raising living standards, and creating at least 1 million well-paid, future-proof jobs.