Nine messages that will make action happen

The Canadian heat dome was a turning point in public opinion on climate change. People are ready to listen, and ready to act. What we say - the messages we convey - is more important than ever. It’s the difference between action and apathy; hopelessness and a burning desire for change. We need to move on from the mistakes of the past. We have to get this right.

1) We don’t need to wait for governments and business

We are not helpless. We do not need to wait for governments and business to catch up. Every single one of us can make a difference, starting right now.

We can consume less stuff.

Of course, if you want you can lobby businesses and campaign for shareholder action, then go for it. We desperately need those people. But you don’t have to.

Every single one of us, in our day-to-day lives, can quietly get on with making a difference.

2) It’s not hard

Apparently climate change is a complex, difficult problem to solve.

It’s not.

And neither is ocean plastic pollution, nor even the loss of wildlife. It’s like screwing in a screw. It’s only difficult when we try to use a hammer.

Solving our environmental problems is only difficult when we adopt the wrong solutions.

The reason it’s so hard to stop burning fossil fuels is because business and governments are pursuing the wrong solution. We don’t have to.

If we continue to pick up £30 worth of bits and bobs from the shop, when we only went for a pint of milk; accept plastic tat on the front of kids magazines; buy 20 pairs of shoes when we need five - yes, we’re going to need fossil fuels to keep up with our habits.

If we change how much energy we choose to use, by consuming less stuff? The amount of fossil fuels we need will nosedive.

It really is that simple.

3) Going eco isn’t about swaps

It’s not about swapping a single use plastic straw for a single use paper straw. It’s about not using a straw (unless you have to).

It’s not even about swapping your fossil fuelled car for an electric car.

It’s about driving less, in a smaller car, that you keep for longer. Or, better still, not even owning a car. It’s about making choices - about where you live, work and go to school - that mean you rarely need a car. And when you do need one? You rent it.

Going eco isn’t about swaps. It’s about consuming less.

Image by Jasmin Sessler via Unsplash

4) It’s not expensive

Eco swaps - ‘sustainable’ clothing, organic food, electric cars - are expensive. But consuming less? That saves money. It leaves you with more money to spend on the things that matter. And it gives you the time to enjoy them, too.

5) And it’s not about sacrifice

Changing our behaviour is usually framed as a negative. It’s about ‘sacrifice’. We’re told that we’ll have to take a hit in our standard of living.

But living with less? That’s not a sacrifice - or it doesn’t have to be.

When we change our behaviour then things will be different. Like any change, there will be pros and cons. But that’s not the same as sacrifice.

Some things might take longer; or take a little more planning. But other things will be easier, and calmer. More money from buying less - and more time to enjoy it? That sounds like a pretty good quality of life for most of us.

6) Recycling is a sticking plaster, not a solution

Recycling is a last resort, not a go-to solution.

Every time something goes in the recycling bin there’s energy associated with transporting it to the recycling plant, sorting it, reprocessing it, transporting it again...

Recycling is a ‘least bad’ solution. It’s not the gold standard. If we want to make our world healthy again, then reducing our consumption, and reusing what’s already been created, are what we need to do.

Granny really did know best.

7) We need to change our thinking around convenience

For decades, we’ve been sold the benefits of convenience. Somewhere down the line, that convenience has become a right.

What we want, when we want it, has become an expectation.

But let’s imagine it’s your next door neighbour’s child. She has a tablet, but wants a phone, too. She wants a new bike, even when her old one is fine. She wants more chocolate, regardless of the cavities it will give her. Her quick moment of pleasure is more important.

Our desire for convenience has made us spoiled. We take what we want, regardless of the impact.

We’re like a pre-school full of spoiled brats - clamouring for everything to be exactly as we want it, regardless of the impact on ourselves and those around us.

And our governments are like the ineffectual parents trying to placate and please us; so desperate for us to like them in the short term, that they irresponsibly ignore the effects.

The spoiled child’s parents have finite resources and cannot give her everything she wants.

Our planet has finite resources too - and we’re demanding too much.

We cannot carry on like this. We might not want to hear ‘No’. But it’s for our own good.

8) It’s not about climate change, or plastic pollution

Climate change, plastic pollution, coral reefs dying and bees under threat. These aren’t separate problems. They are symptoms of a single problem. The problem is that we consume too much.

When we tackle the symptoms it’s difficult and confusing.

We buy an electric car because we think it’s going to make a difference to climate change - only to find it’s contributing to ecosystem destruction.

But if we buy a smaller car, that we keep for longer and use less frequently? Then we’re minimising our impact.

Any time you hear a debate about plastic versus paper, or electric versus hydrogen, it’s worth staking a step back. The real issue is rarely about which materials are better.

The real issue is almost always how to reduce demand for materials.

9) Change for the better?

Consuming less doesn’t mean living in caves.

Change is a chance to make things better.

Perhaps it looks like a world where children can play out in the street, because there are fewer cars on the roads. Where their interactions and activities give them their childhoods back - traditional games like clapping and skipping; play and friendship. Where they learn social skills that help them communicate and negotiate, and build the resilience that protects them from mental illness. Where they’re no longer overwhelmed by stuff, which stifles their creativity and imagination. Where they eat less junk, and run and skip more; meaning they’re no longer obese and have a life expectancy that’s comparable to their parents. Where their asthma and hay fever disappear, thanks to the cleaner air they breathe.

Where their parents spend less time at work, and instead meet at the community garden, picking free, organic fruit and having a real chat with a real person - because they no longer need to work 50 hour weeks just to pay for stuff. Because the house is clean and tidy - a place of calm, rather than a dumping ground for stuff that demands a constant cycle of sorting, tidying, cleaning and disposal. Where Saturdays are made for bike rides and barbecues with friends, rather than sorting all that stuff (or shopping for more).

Where there is time to indulge passions and take up hobbies; to indulge our creativity and spend time with those we love.

Where we finish the day in our comfortable homes that are warm in winter and cool in summer (and it costs us next to nothing to keep it that way).

Saving the world? It doesn’t sound too bad, after all.