Time for Action?

This is, of course, the difficult bit. The easy option is to suggest that we can’t individually have enough effect to be worth a damn, but that is wrong. The most important thing you can do is help to define the government’s agenda. They have ignored the Garnaut Report and the science to propose a ridiculous 5% reduction to one of the highest per capita emissions in the world, as well as giving away massive amounts to the current big polluters against Garnaut’s recommendation. Just to underline how poor our offering is, the British Government has just been blasted by the Tyndall Centre for Climate Research which called their 34% cut by 2020 “dangerously optimistic” and said it left a 50% chance of warming over 2 degrees. Separately Scotland has just announced a 42% target for 2020.

Our government will need to be pushed into serious action. But they do pay close attention to opinion polls, and assume that for every person who writes to them there are several hundred who feel the same way and can’t be bothered. It’s well past time to call for serious cuts that can’t be fiddled by industry, or even a national emergency response.

Below is a three step process, in increasing order of effort. The first and most important step should take less than an hour, while the third step is a lifetime commitment. Even this only needs an incremental effort, doesn’t cost the earth, won’t force you to live in a cave and eat soya milk porridge, and is likely to make you healthier and maybe even happier.

If we act seriously now, we can probably retain much of our current lifestyle. However the longer we wait, the larger the problems will become, and we will probably have fewer resources to combat the problem. Economists from Stern to Garnaut have concluded that quick action will be considerably cheaper than delay.

Step One – Help Change Government Policy. About 60 minutes effort.

Step Two – Review and reduce your Carbon Emissions. 6-8 hours effort over several weeks and up to $70 expense.

Step Three – Make a major change in your Carbon Emissions. A consistent but minor effort over the rest of your life.