agfc – What are we trying to do?

Simon Gibbon – CASaV Steering Group Member / Waste Group Leader

I have realised that while we can all make a difference, but we are not the problem. It is no coincidence that the concept of a personal carbon footprint was developed by BP.

To solve the problem of climate change we have to demand that the multi-national companies and the world’s governments take action now and don’t just talk green while in fact continuing business as usual – producing fossil fuels, building new roads, …., and not investing in public transport.

So I hope that by the things we try to do, repair cafes, we all start to think differently, then act differently and become activists pushing for the change in society which our world urgently requires.

I know that my not flying won’t solve climate change, but it will make the world a tiny bit better for everybody, including me, so a billion micro-goods is doing the right thing.

A Gift for Conversation – Chapter 6 – What do I do about it?

Barry Warrington – CASaV Steering Group Member / Transport Group Leader

Some of the things I do are things that I have almost always done but I now realise that they are positive things. Almost as a natural hoarder I have a very strong commitment to not wasting things and will try and re-use or modify things for another purpose. Even as a very amateur gardener I have always been committed to the importance of composting. As a keen leisure cyclists I have taken a number of holidays via bike, using the European Bike Express (Bus)to get to France, Switzerland and then venturing further afield to Vienna. It needs to be said that such trips were not taken with Climate action in mind but they were extremely enjoyable – in many respects a happy positive.

With the regular reports from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change outlining a significantly deteriorating position one is stimulated to try and do more. I have invested in solar panels and in a system to heat the water from the solar panels. I have invested in the most efficient boiler – investing in a heat source pump was beyond budget.

The last time I flew was 7 years ago – I endeavour to avoid flying in the future; given the potential for disruption, not such a difficult decision.

With each, almost daily report, of the consequences of the climate crisis, whether in terms of tropical storms or wild fires or coastal erosion, or drought ones is left with feeling that no matter what one needs to do more.

A Gift for Conversation – Chapter 6 – What do I do about it?

This is page is our part of Dr Louis Keal’s book A Gift for Conversation.