Climate change is so vast, with such potentially catastrophic consequences for the human race and other life on this planet, that it's very hard to think about it and not be sucked into despair. What can one person do? Why not just enjoy ourselves and leave future generations to sort it out? Unfortunately, the only chance of stopping it is to do something now - in the next 5-10 years.
If I do small things such as changing lightbulbs, switching the TV off standby, or bigger things such as avoiding flying, it makes me feel a bit better. In reality, however, the impact on the world's carbon emissions is infinitessimal. But what if I talk to my friends about how cheap it was to insulate my loft, or how great my journey on the Eurostar was, and why these changes are important? Suddenly I'm helping create societal change.
If I find a couple of environmentally-minded people in my office, and together we push forward a plan to save money by being greener, it won't just be us turning off computer monitors, trying not to waste paper, etc.
A lot of the important decisions that affect how much the UK contributes to climate change are taken by government departments that are simply not taking the issue seriously. But this is an elected government. In China, people may be arrested if they campaign politically, but we have the freedom to do so - and the responsibility to use that opportunity. So I can join up with organisations that are campaigning on these issues, write to my MP, make a fuss!
I hope this blog will be useful and interesting to those like me who would like, to use a cliche, to be part of the solution, not part of the problem.
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