Recently in climate change Category

This is my last post for Community Care, and I'd like to thank all readers, especially the few who have written interesting comments, and my employers at Community Care who have been so good to me.

I want to start this offering with a correction. In my last column ('Our last chance to halt greenhouse gas emissions', Community Care Magazine, 28th May 09) I stated that CFC gases were 'nothing to do with... greenhouse gas emissions'.  Well that is incorrect.  Chlorofluorocarbons, once used as propellants in aerosol cans and still in many fridges and freezers, ARE greenhouse gases.  They aren't as powerful as some, and their contribution to climate change is not nearly as much as the fossil CO2 were pumping out or the methane from cows and rice paddies, but they do add to the anthropogenic warming.  I think it is important to get the science straight!

I found this out because I attended a workshop at the Transition Network Conference about how certain chemical/physical feedback mechanisms are accelerating climate change.  These so-called 'positive' feedbacks (actually not very positive, and better known as accelerating feedbacks) include some which are quite easy to understand, for example: we all know that dark colours absorb more heat than lighter ones, so imagine the north pole of a planet covered in snow and ice.  That reflects sunlight and heat and the area remains cold.  Now warm it up a bit and melt some of the snow and ice, revealing dark rocks and dark sea water. This allows more heat to be absorbed, so the area warms up some more, and more ice melts.  This is one simple accelerating feedback, and Earth has several, amplified by our CO2 and other greenhouse gas emissions.  Anyone interested in learning more about this could check out this 27 page pdf or other bits of the Apollo-Gaia website, such as the video resources. The main thing we must take from this is that we have no time to lose if we're to stop ourselves making ourselves, and most of the other species on Earth, extinct.  We are on our way to making this planet uninhabitable.

I attended another Film Premiere last night, that of a very educational documentary called The End Of The Line which is about the situation facing our fisheries, and overfishing. This is a powerful film which anybody who eats seafood needs to see.  I thought that by not eating seafood (I've been vegetarian for 25 years) I was doing enough to reduce my impact on the World's oceans, but I could be doing more.  I firmly believe that we in the developed countries, with access to lots of fruit, vegetables, grains, seeds and beans, do not need to eat any animals, but I understand that the majority of people like eating fish, and for between 1 and 2 billion people, fish is a key part of their diet. So, if you want to be able to continue eating fish (and this film shows that there won't be any left by about 2048, as we will have eaten them all) you can do your bit by asking your supplier about where the fish came from, how they were caught and are they from sustainable sources?  There is a great website called fishonline which has a list of fish which are not endangered (fish to eat) and those to avoid.

And don't think that eating farmed fish is the answer either, as one kilo of farmed salmon uses 5kg of anchovies as food.  Far better to use the anchovies direct, if you eat fish at all, that is!  Some fish farmers are exploring using vegetable protein to feed their fish, and this means soya beans, often planted where rainforest used to be.  So your farmed fish might be responsible for destroying the oceans or the rianforests... which do you prefer?  You might now understand why I don't eat fish!

The film is now on release and will probably be on our small screens soon.  Well worth watching as it has lots of information which should help us to preserve fish stocks for future generations.

Coal's in the news a bit recently.  The G20 protests, some of which were about the lack of action to combat climate change, and the disgusting response from some of the police has put images of last year's Kingsnorth policing back on our screens.  And then there is the pre-emptive policing of a proposed protest on Ratcliffe on Soar power station... another coal-burning electricity generator.

But this blog isn't about policing, however interesting that is.  It's about Coal.  Coal is fossilised plant remains from millions of years ago, and as such, is carbon which was sucked out of the atmosphere by those plants. When we mine coal, and burn it, that carbon is released right back into today's atmosphere.  Whilst coal is underground, it is in an oxygen-free environment.  When we dig it up, the methane (natural gas or 'firedamp') which is in the coal also gets into our atmosphere, and this gas is even more powerful than carbon dioxide for the global greenhouse.  When the coal comes in contact with the air, reactions take place on the surfaces oxidising the carbon, so releasing carbon dioxide even before the coal is burnt, which of course releases ALL of the carbon it contains.

Supporters of he coal industry talk about 'carbon capture and storage', an experimental technology in it's early infancy.  The theory might look good... take the carbon dioxide out of the gas leaving the chimney, pressurise it into liquid and pump this into empty gas fields, oil wells and aquifers... But large scale CCS is years if not decades away, and we really don't have that kind of time scale to continue trashing this planet.  We have existing technology which would stem our carbon haemorrhage... insulation, switching things off, A-rated appliances, renewable generation... and I believe that some of the investment in CCS could (should) be spent on these proven technologies.  I think that CCS does have it's part to play in a sustainable future, but I despair about disinvestment in renewables (for instance, what happened to Pelamis).

So, I want to invite you to participate in the Coal Caravan, a cycle trip from Nottingham to Blyth, starting on 24th April and finishing on 5th May, and taking in some of the biggest of the UK's coal mining communities.   There's cycling during the day, and nature walks, visits to open cast coal mines, and then meetings with discussion or film showings in the evening.  I hope to join them as they pass near to York, just for part of the day, to support the riders.

If some of you think that I'm being alarmist about climate change, then read what experts say in this website, 100 months. Some of the so-called' tipping points' seem to have already started... for instance there are disturbing reports of permafrost melting and raised methane levels in the arctic....  So, time is short.  What are YOU doing to be a responsible ancestor?

There are many ways to convey a message.  And when it comes to climate change and overconsumption, there are blogs, protest marches, films, and I've just discovered poetry.

So, I'd like you to click on this link: http://www.myspace.com/dannychivers and then click on the poem 'Consumed' by Danny Chivers, and listen, whilst you read the text.  But as I'm inexperienced in this bloggy webby thing, I've discovered that clicking on this opens Danny's page in the same window so you'll have to open a new window with this page in to read the poem at the same time.  Getting the message across isn't always that easy!

These days there are hundeds of campaigns, schemes and groups aiming to 'save the planet', all of then well-meaning but of varying effectiveness.  I don't actually like the term 'save the planet', as I tend to take things literally and in my view, the planet will be around for a long time... I prefer to think of these ideas as 'keep the planet habitable for humans and other life-forms' but that's much less catchy....

One such scheme is Earth Hour, which this year takes place on Saturday 28th March at 8.30pm.  The idea is that for one hour, around the globe, all participating individuals, businesses, local authorities etc switch off their lights, computers and other electrical appliances for one hour.  All well and good... it's not asking anything too difficult or complicated, it saves energy, gives people a sense of participation, and yes, this has made it one of the most popular campaigns around.

This year it is being labelled as 'Vote Earth' and the website claims that 930 cities and towns in 80 countries are participating; the aim is to involve a billion people. It started in Sydney, Australia, in 2007, with about 2.2 million homes switching off their lights, and last year an estimated 50 million people joined in.  So, during that hour, a lot of energy was not used which would have been if things had gone on as normal.

The popularity of this event is evident when doing a search on Facebook for 'Earth Hour'... I counted up to 300 groups dedicated to it before I gave up.  Some were for individual towns and cities, some for states or countries, some for supporters and fans.  However, this search also showed a handful of groups with names like 'Anti Earth Hour', 'Earth Hour Sucks', 'People against Earth Hour', 'Earth Hour was Useless', and 'F*ck Earth Hour'.  These groups fall into two broad categories, the so-called 'climate deniers' who think that the broad scientific consensus that man-made gas emissions are altering the planet's atmosphere is wrong, and that any observable warming is part of some 'natural cycle', and those who feel that just switching off your lights for one hour per year is a complete waste of time when what we actually need to do is to cut our total emissions by 80%.  This view is promoted by the various Facebook groups such as 'Earth Hour Every Month' and the more radical 'Earth Hour Every Week'.  Maybe I should start a Facebook Group called 'Earth Hour Every Hour'?

Unfortunately, I will be unable to 'attend' Earth Hour this year as I have a ticket to go and see the Ukuele Orchestra, and my guess is that they'll need amplification which is of course, based on electric power.  I'll stick to my Earth Hour Every Hour concept, I think!

Earlier this week I took the train up to Middlesborough to do some filming wih the BBC, for the programme 'Inside Out' which has local editions for the different regions.  I'd been asked to go and help a radio presenter, John Foster, start a week of living on a pound a day.  This was inspired by a book by Kath Kelly called How I Lived a Year On Just a Pound A Day.

As the Green movement gathers speed and more and more people realise they should be part of the solution, as if they are not, they are part of the problem, more networking websites pop up.  I don't know how long it's been in existence, but I've discovered ooffoo.  This is hosted by The Natural Collection, and is a platform which allows people to swap and recycle, share information or ideas, read reviews and discuss things.  It is restricted to things which benefit the Planet and people... and I've listed my compost as an 'offer'.  And if you were wondering where 'ooffoo' came from... it's HTML programming speak for the colour green!

I attended a York in Transition meeting last night, the first Solar Panel Buyers Club. I was planning to extol the benefits of bulk buying this type of hot water system, but news this Monday morning from another airport protest means that some of this post will be discussing that too.

I subscribe to a number of email newsletters, and one came through last week with news of an eco-calendar which has caused a bit of controversy. Ethical Junction member Flipside Vision have produced a 'Calendar of Climate Change' for 2009 with a plethora of wonderful images depicting our world, many of which have significant connections to climate change themes.  For instance, February has an image of a Dutch painting of a windmill and a canal, and alongside this, a smaller picture of modern windmills which generate electricity.

The current 'Credit Crunch' combined with high energy prices is seemingly causing a recession... a period of no economic growth or contraction.  Part of me welcomes this, despite the discomfort we will all experience (such as reduced entertainment bookings for me) as in a greener world we'd consume less, and in a recession we do just that.  One of the weird effects of this economic situation is that with reduced demand, some prices will fall... so I'm not suprised to see the fuel prices dip temporarily.