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Is the climate for change upon us?

Global warming, the green house effect, climate change all phrases we hear in the news but perhaps pay little attention to.

Since 1992 the vast majority of the global community has agreed that the environmental impacts of human actions are having a detrimental effect on the planet and need to be curtailed. It is all too easy to dismiss the problem and put it down to big business, multi-nationals and government to solve but everyone has a part to play. Individual actions can collectively make a difference and lessen the effect in the future. Ultimately it is ethically and morally right to allow future generations to experience the same choices that previous generations have been lucky enough to have. But do our actions facilitate this? How many unique habitats and areas of natural beauty have been destroyed in place of a road or building?

So what does this all mean to you and what can be done to turn the trend around? Well in theory it can mean as much or as little as you want it to and feel able or obliged to do. From buying your food locally or ensuring that your energy supply company puts you on a green tariff to getting a grant to insulate your home, installing a solar water heating system or deciding not to fly on a plane to get to your holiday destination. All of these actions will reduce your reliance on fossil fuels, in turn reduce your personal carbon emissions and ultimately lessen your impact on the environment and contribution to climate change.

So what is the possible worse case scenario? In the short term our growing global economy means that our finite reserves of oil and gas will be more sought after and therefore command a much higher price. We will all notice this at the filling station pumps, on our fuel bills and on the goods and services we buy. Many people will be forced into fuel poverty (defined as when a household spends more than 10% of its income on heating and lighting their home, approximately 6 millions are classified as fuel poor) and isolated communities will find it harder to access amenities and get the essentials for life. Winters will be colder and wetter and summers will be hotter and dryer. We have seen the effects of an unexpected hot summer in 2003 which resulted in thousands of deaths across Europe.

Further into the future we all will be forced to rely on alternative, carbon neutral and possibly nuclear energy sources as fossil fuel reserves deplete and do not satisfy global demand. The movement to alternative and carbon neutral energy production is not a bad thing to contemplate but nuclear is certainly more daunting. That said unless we all make positive steps to reduce our carbon emissions then our high energy usage will ultimately force us to use zero carbon energy production technologies such as nuclear that will produce high levels of reliable energy but with a potential for large scale accidents and a waste legacy.

The alternative to this gloomy picture is to take action now, do all the things that don’t cost us a penny and make small investments that will environmentally and financial give us all a return. If we all insist on well insulated, warm homes where the energy is generated locally from sources such as bio-mass which stimulates a local economy, reduces the need to transport fuels by road and negates our acceptance of transmission losses associated with producing energy centrally and wiring it to our homes then we can be more sustainable.

If we produce food locally where the farm workers are paid a fair wage, where the produce has minimal or no packaging and our transport options have ultra low emissions and that are accessible then we can be more sustainable.

It’s not too late and our individual, what seem to be insignificant, actions can and will make a difference. We can force the large supermarkets, their suppliers and the government to provide what we want in the way we choose and not dictate what they think we want. Each month I intend to examine many of the issues mentioned in my first article and offer you options to help you mitigate and adapt to climate change.

Sustainable living is now fast becoming the norm and the materialist, throw away, selfish existence which is currently accepted will become a minority pursuit.