If everyone takes action to rid atmospheric carbon emissions from their lives, I believe we can stabilise and then save the Arctic and Antarctic. We could save around four out of every five species currently under threat, limit the extent of extreme weather events and reduce, almost to zero, the possibility of any of the three great disasters occurring this century, especially the collapse of the Gulf Stream and the destruction of the Amazon.
But for that to happen, everyone needs to act on climate change now: the delay of even a decade is far too much. Some big things are beyond the control of any single individual. We shouldn’t, for instance, build or expand any old-fashioned coal-fired power plants. Indeed we must begin shutting them down. Those decisions will be made by governments, but government is much more likely to make the right decision if people demand it.
Whether you are old enough to vote or not, you can make politicians aware of your views. And if you’ve taken action in your own life to reduce emissions, you can ask others what they personally are doing to reduce theirs.
This is the single most important thing I want to say: there is no need to wait for government to act. You can do it yourself. The technology exists to reduce the carbon emissions of almost every household on the planet.
You can in a few months easily attain the 70 per cent reduction in emissions required to stabilise the Earth’s climate. All it takes are a few changes to your life and your family’s life, none of which requires serious sacrifices.
Understanding how you use electricity is the most powerful tool in your armoury, for that allows you to make effective decisions about reducing your personal emissions of CO2.
Have you ever looked at your family’s electricity bill? If not, ask to see it and read it carefully. Is there a green power option, where the electricity company guarantees that the power that flows into your home will come from renewable sources like wind or solar or hydro? The green power option can cost as little as a dollar per week, yet is highly effective in reducing emissions.
If your electricity company does not offer a suitable green option, suggest your family dump them and call a competitor. Changing your power supplier is usually a matter of a single phone call, involving no interruption of supply or inconvenience in billing.
It is possible then, in switching to green power, for your family to reduce its household emissions to zero. All as the result of a single phone call.
What about hot water? In the developed world, roughly one third of CO2 emissions result from domestic power, and one third of a typical domestic power bill is spent on heating water. This is crazy, since the Sun will heat your water for free if you have the right device.
Your family will need to make an initial outlay, but such are the benefits that it is well worth taking out a loan to do so, for in sunny climates like Australia or California or southern Europe the payback period is around two or three years. The solar heating devices usually carry a ten-year guarantee, so you will get at least seven to eight years of free hot water. Even in cloudy regions such as Germany and Britain you will still get several years’ worth of hot water for free.
Then there’s air conditioning, heating and refrigeration which chew up the most power. Make sure your family researches the most energy-efficient model available. It may be cheaper to install insulation rather than buying and running a larger heater or cooler.
Suggest that your family reads its power bill together and set a target for reduction. If you meet the target the savings could go towards a family holiday.
I became so outraged at the irresponsibility of the coal burners that I decided to generate my own electricity, which has proved to be one of the most satisfying things I’ve ever done. For the average family, solar panels are the best way to do this. Twelve 80-watt panels is the number I granted myself, and the amount of power this generates in Australia is sufficient to run the house.
To survive on this amount, our family is vigilant about energy use, and we cook with gas. And I’m fitter than before because I use hand tools rather than the electrical variety to make and fix things. Solar panels have a twenty-five-year guarantee (and often last for up to forty years). I’ll be enjoying the free power they provide well into retirement.
The town of Schoenau in Germany offers a different example of direct action. Some of its families were so alarmed by the Chernobyl disaster that they decided to do something to reduce their dependence on nuclear power. It started with a group of ten parents who gave prizes for energy savings. This proved so successful that it soon bloomed into a citizens’ group determined to take control of the town’s power supply from KWR, the monopoly that supplied them.
They put together their own study, then raised the money to build their own green power scheme. Eventually they raised enough to purchase the power supply, grid and all, from KWR. Today the town not only runs its own power supply but a successful consulting business which advises on how to ‘green’ the grid right across the country. Each year Schoenau’s power supply becomes greener, and even the big power users, such as a plastics recycling factory situated in the town, are happy with the result.
Wouldn’t it be wonderful if you could start a movement like this in your town or neighbourhood?
It is not possible right now for most of us to do away with burning fossil fuels for transport, but we can greatly reduce their use. Walking or riding a bicycle wherever possible—to school or work or to the shops—is highly effective, as is taking public transport. If your family trades in its four-wheel-drive or SUV for a medium-sized hybrid fuel car you will have cut your personal transport emissions by 70 per cent overnight.
For those who cannot or do not wish to drive a hybrid, a good rule is for your family to buy the smallest vehicle capable of doing the job it most often requires. You can always rent for the rare occasions you need something larger. A few years from now, if you have invested in solar power, you should be able to purchase an electric or compressed-air vehicle. Then, your family can forget all of those power and petrol bills.
Despite the way it often feels, students and employees wield considerable influence in schools and workplaces. To become more greenhouse aware, ask for an energy audit or review to be done. That’s how you can be sure your use of energy is as efficient as possible.
And remember, if you can cut your personal emissions by 70 per cent, so can schools, companies, farms and many other organisations.
Society desperately needs advocates—people who understand the issues and will act and serve as witnesses to what can and should be done. By taking such public actions you will be achieving results that extend way beyond their local impact.
As you read through this list of actions to combat climate change, you might doubt that such steps can make such a big difference. But if enough of us buy green power, solar panels, solar hot water systems and hybrid vehicles, the cost of these items will fall. This will encourage the sale of yet more panels and wind generators, and soon the bulk of domestic power will be generated by renewable technologies.
In turn, energy-hungry companies will be compelled to maximise efficiency and switch to clean power generation. Renewables will become even more affordable. As a result, the developing world—including China and India—will be able to afford clean power rather than filthy coal.
With a little help from you, right now, the developing giants of Asia might even avoid the full carbon catastrophe which we, in the industrialised world, have created for ourselves.
As these challenges suggest, we are all fated to live in the most interesting of times, for now we are the weather makers, and the future of biodiversity and civilisation hangs on our actions.
I have done my best to provide a user’s manual for the climate of planet Earth. Now it’s over to you.