Things we need to do

To start to combat climate change there are many things we can all do both locally at home and work in our daily lives and there are things that need to happen on a global scale.

Local Actions

Don't under estimate how much difference you can make... it has been calculated that home energy use accounts for 30% of the UK carbon emissions, if we add in the carbon from our own transport then the figure goes up to 50%.  Your choices at home affect 50% of the UK carbon emissions.  A good way to start taking action is to run through one of the carbon calculator web sites to get a feel for where your actions are responsible for the most carbon dioxide production and how these may be reduced, also look at the home energy saving optionon the menu to the left. The sort of area to consider;

Energy saving at home 

  • insulation
  • heating
  • lighting
  • water use

 Transport   

  • car use
  • public transport
  • choice of car

Recycling   

  • buying products with less packaging
  • recycling as much waste as possible
  • buying recycled products
  • buying products made from renewable materials

Things at work  

  • energy use in production plants
  • transport of materials and  products
  • purchasing policy
  • obtaining environmental accreditation

 

Global Actions

This is where we need to encourage governments that we think environmental matters are important and are worth spending time and money on or else we wont vote for them next time!  Policies need to be developed that encourage people and business to act in an environmentally responsible manner for example they provide a motivation to use electricity generated from a renewable resource such as wind or tidal or solar panels.

The scale of the action needed on a world wide basis can be seen from considering the Contraction and Convergence Theory, follow the link or see the brief outline below.


Contraction and Convergence

This way of thinking originated from the Global Commons Institute in 1990.  It has two guiding principals

1/ CO2 emissions need to be reduced to an agreed level

2/ This level of emission is distributed fairly amongst the world population


Principle 1 requires international agreement on how much further the atmospheric level of  CO2 is allowed to rise.  Following from that comes the figure of how much emissions have to be cut by. Contraction

The Global Commons Institute has calculated that the maximum permissible level of CO2 in the atmosphere should be 450 ppm.  But to get a feel of the scale of actions needed to achieve this it has been calculated that to reach a level of 550 ppm (double the level pre industrial revolution) would require a contraction of world wide emissions of 60% from 1990 level within 100 years.  In the UK this would mean 60% cut by 2050 and 80% cut by 2100.  To achieve this large scale actions need to be taken now.

This allowable emission level needs to be shared out per capita of the world population - Principle 2  It follows that some countries must cut emissions whilst others may be able to increase such as those countries that are at a low level of industrial development and therefore have low emissions at present.  Contraction

Without the second principle in place it is unlikely that the non-developed nations will sign up to any international agreement but the effects are world wide

  • Increased temperatures
  • Increase in storm numbers and intensity
  • Increased number of floods
  • Increased number of droughts
  • Loss of biodiversity
  • Difficulty in growing foods
  • Stress on the human population

A timescale urgently needs to be put on the achieving the required contraction but there are many ways to go about it.  A possible principal to adopt would be “polluter pays” leading to a system of tradable permits quotas.

One thing seems clear – we all have = rights to a clean atmosphere therefore we should all receive = allocation

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