YOU HAVE THE POWER
Last summer when in Takayna (the Tarkine in Tasmania), sipping tea, I was recommended the Carbon Almanac.
The book is one of the most wonderful books on climate change, climate justice and climate action with a page dedicated to a particular issue and links to further references (how aptly named an almanac). This book won data visualisation awards in 2022 for good reason. The book leads the reader to the Carbon Almanac website and a sign up to The Daily Difference emails. Though occasionally American centric they nearly always inspire.
I really appreciated this recent message:
You Have Power
You have more power than you think.
You matter.
Because you can organise. You can communicate. You can establish standards for how we live and for what comes next.
Your ancestors are proud of you. The seven generations to come are grateful.
You may feel like a small drop in the ocean, but together we create currents of change.
Systemic change happens with multiplied action. Change happens with multiplied action.
You.
You matter. Just ask a kid.
And a message last year about how I could better align my actions to be more effective. I highly recommend signing up to The Daily Difference.
Stop recycling?
OK, don’t actually stop recycling, but stop thinking it will fix climate change. In their Climate Change Perils of Perception study IPSOS reported that 7 out of 10 people agreed with the statement: “I understand what actions I need to take to play my part in tackling climate change”. But when asked what those actions were, the most popular reply was “Recycling as much as possible”. 59% gave this as their top answer.
The reality is that recycling is not even near the top of the list of things that you can do and can potentially only save 0.2 tonnes of CO2 in a year. Actions like recycling, hang-drying and using low energy light bulbs are overestimated compared to not having a car at all or avoiding long-distance flights.
Imperial College London lists these nine things that have the most impact on climate change:
- Make your voice heard by those in power
- Eat less meat and dairy
- Cut back on flying
- Leave the car at home
- Reduce your energy use, and bills
- Respect and protect green spaces
- Invest your money responsibly
- Cut consumption – and waste
- Talk about the changes you make
- But seriously, don’t stop recycling. Every little bit helps.
