THE WORLD as we know it (the age of fossil fuels) is coming to an end and it is up to us to define how the future should look.
We know what we must do – the climate summit which recently concluded in Glasgow identified we need to concentrate on this decade and halve our emissions by 2030 to bequest the chance of a decent future to our children.
We must radically reduce our use of fossil fuels by that date.
The Covid-19 pandemic is proof that if we take a crisis seriously then we can change the way we live almost overnight, dramatically, globally – we have the resources and all the technology we need.
Climate breakdown is a crisis on a completely different scale.
Globally it is set to kill far more people than the pandemic and cause famine, population migration and huge ecological and environmental damage.
It is indeed existential and the immediate cost of addressing this Crisis (reckoned in UK to be one to two per cent of GDP. Where is your commitment Chancellor?) is only dwarfed by the cost of NOT doing so.
We still have time to choose the best rather than the worst scenarios, though the longer we wait the harder it gets, and the more dramatic the measures are required. The only obstacles are political and imaginative.
When I ask people what they’re doing about the climate crisis, they often describe virtuous lifestyle choices, such as going vegan or not flying.
Those are good things to do. They are also relatively insignificant. The world must change, but it won’t happen because one person does or does not consume something.
Fundamentally we need systems to change, it’s far too late for changes by individuals alone. We need to work at the community, district and national level to put in place infrastructure changes so people can move around efficiently or have suitable alternatives to heat their homes for example.
We all have a responsibility to participate. As citizens massed together, we have the power to effect change, and it is only on that scale that enough change can happen.
It is those things we do passionately, and together, that will count the most.
So let us join movements, campaigns, organisations, alliances and networks to put pressure on elites, governments, corporations and councils to make sure these changes occur.
Change can happen suddenly and unexpectedly.
Our actions really do matter.
