A few weeks ago I was on the Carbon Rationing Action Groups website and up popped a message saying "use your tiny carbon footprint to get into the corridors of power". Curious, I clicked on the link, and arrived at the Oxfam website. They had a competition to find three people with small carbon footprints, and these people would be invited to meet Hilary Benn and his shadow counterparts Peter Ainsworth and Steve Webb at Westminster. To enter the competition, I had to do the Government's Carbon Calculator 'Act On CO2'. I had filled in a few other carbon calculators before but not the 'official government CO2 calculator' so I was pleased to give it a go. It was easy and fun, and came up with a household footprint of 1.8 tonnes, and then I realised I had to submit an individual footprint so I re-did it and it came to 0.46 tonnes/year. This only covers home energy, heating and transport, so the average UK citizen's score would be about 6 tonnes.
A tiny footprint
I submitted my 'tiny footprint' and got on with life. Then last week I got a phone call from a woman at Oxfam telling me that my score was one of the lowest and that could I do the online calculator again, with her, so she could check my 'tiny footprint'? Doing this with her resulted in my 'official footprint' of 0.45 tonnes, as I do not use my children's computer they have in the loft, just my laptop. A couple of days later she called and asked if I was available on 19th of March to go to London!!! I had won! I discovered through some information she gave to my local paper that my footprint was the lowest of the 108 entries submitted!
Big day out
So I've bought an Oxfam outfit, shirt and trousers, and am getting ready to visit London. I'm looking forward to meeting up with two other 'low carbon lifestyle' people (both members of CRAGs, one from Peckham, London, one from Glasgow) and spending some time with MPs. We'll talk about issues of climate change, personal carbon allowances and carbon trading, sea level rise, displacement and 'climate refugees', droughts, floods and extreme weather events, biodiversity and conservation, future energy generation and lots more. It should be a fascinatng day out.
Bigger than war
For me and many others, climate change is THE issue of the day, the decade, the century... It is bigger than any war, more people will be affected than in World War 1 and the Holocaust together. It will affect us all, and generations after us. It is imperative that we all address how we are playing our part in behaving responsibly, in becoming 'sustainable'. Doing a carbon calculator such as ActOnCO2 is a must, as it gives you a start-point, something to work from. The other area that we can help with is to encourage our work places to reduce energy and resource use, increase recycling and address other related issues. All Local Authorities and other employers should be setting a good example and leading the way. Employees can drive this process, and I think that the role of the social worker should probably include helping to reduce the impacts of climate change.
Don't be on your own
You need not be on your own trying to reduce your carbon footprint. The Carbon Rationing Action Group people are there to help others reduce their emissions, and the website explains the many ways this can be done. There may also be an Energy Efficiency Advice Centre near you, always free and friendly.
If you do any of the above, I hope you'll let me know through this website. It's good to know if I'm having a positive effect!
Comments (1)
Dear John
I hope you have a useful meeting. If you visit www.together.com you will find out lots of easy and affordable ways we can all make a difference in our everyday lives on climate change.
'Together’ (www.together.com) is a consumer engagement campaign which helps UK households reduce CO2 emissions by one tonne over three years. Many of the UK's favourite brands are united behind the campaign to provide millions of customers with a growing range of new products and ideas that make it easier or more affordable to reduce their CO2 emissions. Based on data provided by our partners, the campaign has so far saved over a quarter of a million tonnes of CO2. The campaign was launched in 2007 and has been endorsed by UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown, former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair, and former US Vice President Al Gore.
Campaign partners include B&Q, Barclaycard, British Gas, BSkyB, Marks & Spencer, More Th>n, National Express, O2 and Tesco. The campaign is also supported by The Mayor of London, The Church of England, the Energy Saving Trust, Defra, the National Consumer Council, Live Earth and Stop Climate Chaos.
Posted by Tom Howard | March 10, 2008 10:31 AM
Posted on March 10, 2008 10:31