In the week the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change released its ‘final warning’ for humanity on the climate crisis, you would think that’s all anybody would be talking about.
If we breach 1.5 degrees, afterall, it means less, more expensive food; water issues; more extreme weather; storms and rising seas.
And then there’s the loss of 14% of the mammals on Earth and massive migration of people from lands that can no longer support them to ones, like ours, which can.
Read more: NI lawyer among 100 pledging not to prosecute peaceful climate protestors
I kid you not, this crisis is coming for every single one of us. It is already impacting our everyday lives and we’re not even at 1.5 degrees yet. But the whole thing, despite its enormity, seems to play out around the edges of society and politics.
Many will have been side tracked this week by brazen truth contortionist Boris Johnson’s display at Westminster’s Privileges Committee and I get why.
He partied while the rest of us locked ourselves up at home and couldn’t see sick and dying relatives - actions that were sickening. Yet he still won’t admit any wrongdoing.
But what’s that got to do with the climate crisis, you ask?
His performance, for that’s what it was, is straight out of the playbook of ‘I know I’m inflicting massive harm in the world, but it’s making me money so I don’t give a shit and I just want you to let me keep on doing what I’m doing despite the cost to everyone else’.
And it gets to the heart of what’s so corrupt and dirty about this world.
Big tobacco did it and big oil and gas are still doing it now, as are the food corporations feeding us rubbish wrapped in plastic, pesticide firms who say their products don’t harm bees and even some in big pharma, like the firm at the heart of the codeine addiction scandal that inspired the series Dopesick.
Much like Boris - greed, ego and perceived legacy are the heart of everything they do, damn the consequences to those hurt by their actions.
People like them have been at it since the dawn of time yet they are still getting away with it, using slight of hand, distraction, obfuscation and when all that doesn’t work, downright lies. But my question to you, is why do we let them?
The French are up in arms and rubbish is piling high in their capital because Macron used his executive powers to hike the age of retirement for his people. That’s the kind of outrage that get’s things done.
I’m not saying climate activists should start petrol bombing our cities and rioting to get politicians' attention - taking to the streets in peaceful protest however and using your votes to get rid of the dinosaurs clinging to business as usual are tools you can use.
Don’t listen to the eejits on social media still shouting #climatescam. The science is clear and we need to get clear about what we want leaders to do about it.
But while we pressurise them to take meaningful and urgent action, we also have a role to play. It really struck a chord with me when our very own IPCC climate scientist, Peter Thorne, highlighted the number of SUVs on our roads.
He told me ahead of the report’s release: “The number of 2023 cars that I see on the road that are big SUVs that are petrol or diesel is alarming and shows a complete lack of understanding by many citizens as to the consequences of their personal decisions.
“If we continue to make these choices, we just double down on the problem.”
The worst of it is that people who can afford Range Rovers and gas guzzling SUVs from the likes of Porche, Audi, Mercedes and more clearly have money to spend so electric vehicles are well within their grasp.
Peter added: “Emissions are the result of our individual actions.
“We are the ultimate consumers, we are the people driving, cycling or walking etc.
“We are beyond the point as the late great Douglas Adams would say ‘climate change can be somebody else’s problem’.
“We have to stop that, we have to act now.”
But he also says making those changes will deliver savings for each and every one of us in the long run.
“I have been personally protected from the worst ravages of the current cost of living crisis by having an electric vehicle, solar panels and a heat pump [and] not using fossil fuels,” he explained.
“We need to get people putting up solar panels, deciding to take public transport or active transport options and where they can’t, use a battery electric vehicle.
“Thinking about the consequences of what they are eating - whether they need to travel to a long distance meeting, whether they can do it by zoom.
“It’s going to be the sum total of small behavioural changes [and] we need leaders in communities that show you can do it.”
I know we’re still waiting on grants and other supports to do those things.
But I would suggest you ask politicians where they are when they are knocking on your door this election season.
We need their help to get there, but we’re not helpless in this either.
Take the car out less, avoid plastic, only buy what you need, shop second hand, walk the kids to school, pressure your council on active travel and cycle lanes.
We all deserve better, but we can’t just expect it to happen if we don’t ask for it and please, I beg you, show politicians the consequences of not delivering by not giving them your vote.
Win of the week
Five people from across Northern Ireland have added their voices to a UK-wide call for “no more harm to nature”.
Decades of damage has pushed wildlife and habitats to the brink, with 38m birds vanishing from our skies since the 1950s and 97% of wildflower meadows lost since WW2.
Experts also believe just 5% of all UK land has been protected for nature.
Buy now the 100-strong citizens assembly have come up with a ‘People’s Plan for Nature’ which will now be delivered to leaders.
Claire from Downpatrick said: “I’m not into nature for nature’s sake. I’m a doctor. I care about people. And the scientific information and the courses that I’ve done have shown me how important nature is for people’s health.
“I’d like to see nature improved so that it would improve our lives.”
Assembly demands include:
- All commercial and policy decisions to account for potential nature impacts
- An overhaul of farming subsidies to prioritise sustainable and nature-friendly farming
- Greater government accountability through a permanent Assembly for Nature made up of NGOs, industry and public expertise
- Access to nature to be recognised as a human right
- A universal quality standard label in supermarkets showing the source and nature impact of products to help consumers make nature-friendly choices
- Urgent restoration of all rivers and wetlands, investment in wastewater infrastructure and establishment of Marine National Parks
- Cross-party commitment to future farming practices that help nature, and incentives for farmers to farm sustainably and help them through this transition
- A national conversation on how and why we should change our diet to support nature, and food hubs to help people access local produce
The process also included 30,000 contributions from the public and marks a step-change.
Eco Tip
Plant a window box if you don’t have a garden and if you do, leave the dandelions for the bees.
Bees get little food from fancy plants that have taken the place of what many view as weeds - but bees need them to survive and without bees, we’d come undone.
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