&
TEN YEARS TO SAVE THE PLANET FROM MANKING



The Stern Report reveals that if governments do nothing, climate
change will cost more than both world wars and render swathes of the
planet uninhabitable. Can the world find the will to act? Gaby
Hinsliff reports

THE OBSERVER
http://www.guardian.co.uk/
Guardian Unlimited





In an age in which even Britons spend £130 million on ghoulish
Halloween fripperies, Rachel may seem to be swimming against the tide.
In fact, she is part of a new and growing movement.
She belongs to Compact, an American group dedicated to avoiding buying
unnecessary products; shopping locally, rather than buying goods
shipped thousands of miles; and combating the 'negative global,
environment and socio-economic impacts of US consumer culture'. It
models itself on the Founding Fathers' pledge of piety as they stepped
ashore from the Mayflower, not the American Dream of shopping until
you drop.

Similar beliefs are echoed in Britain by the 'voluntary simplicity'
movement - a mix of greens, anti-corporate activists and downshifting
professionals who either resist shopping or at least shop more
thoughtfully. Their frugality might be familiar to pensioners raised
during wartime but, for the new generation of thrifters, it is about
principles, not economic necessity. They can afford the gas-guzzling
luxuries of modern life: they just don't want them, now that they
recognise their environmental cost. The woman refusing yet another
plastic supermarket carrier bag or the businessman taking the Eurostar
rather than flying to Paris are, in a smaller way, adopting voluntary
simplicity.

But after tomorrow, many may be asking: what is the point? The
economist Sir Nicholas Stern's report on climate change will paint an
apocalyptic picture over 700 pages of where global warming could lead,
arguing that, unless we act, it will cost more than two world wars and
the Great Depression of the Thirties and render swaths of the planet
uninhabitable. Even if the world stopped all pollution tomorrow, the
slow-growing effects of carbon already pumped into the atmosphere
would mean continued climate change for another 30 years - with sea
levels rising for a century.

Nor, he will say, is unilateral action by one country enough: if
Britain closed all its power stations tomorrow, within 13 months China
would fill the gap left in global emissions. Given that the effects
will be felt around the world - from the collapse of the Amazonian
rainforest to the melting of Greenland's ice sheet and changes in the
Indian monsoon - the response must be global, too.

§
SNIP
§


So what are the answers, and how will our lives change as a result?

Gerry Acher has a passion for speed. The businessman, recently made
chairman of the Royal Society for the Arts, lives a comfortable life
in commuter-belt Surrey: his indulgence is cars, and he has been
eagerly awaiting the sporty Mini Cooper S he recently ordered.

That was until he began spearheading Carbondaq, a project that aims to
get the RSA's 26,000 fellows to reduce their emissions of carbon
dioxide. After discovering that his own projected carbon emissions
next year were 25 tonnes - nearly three times the national average -
he cancelled the car for a slower model with lower emissions, and is
now preparing to ration his foreign holidays. 'I thought, if I commit
myself to driving at the speed limit [which reduces emissions], why am
I getting a Mini Cooper Sport?' he says, wistfully.

Acher's decisions matter because Carbondaq is essentially a dry run to
see whether others could be persuaded into green altruism: it is
designed to test whether so-called personal carbon allowances,
advocated by the Environment Secretary, David Miliband, would work.

Under the scheme, all adults get a free annual 'carbon ration', stored
on a swipecard: every time they consume something that contributes to
global warming - buying petrol, or booking a flight - an equivalent
amount of carbon is deducted. Once the credits are finished, people
either pay for extra credits or forego a gas-guzzling activity.

'In my own mind, there is no doubt that [personal carbon allowances]
will come,' says Acher. 'This will help us understand people's
behaviour, what are going to be the difficult areas.' One of the first
to sign up was Miliband himself: if it works, personal carbon
allocation could transform the way we shop and - above all - travel.

Cheap short-haul flights are at the top of the green target list. Leo
Murray of Plane Stupid, a direct action group, says aviation emissions
are the obvious target because they doubled between 1990 and 2000,
while emissions from other sectors such as industry fell. He dismisses
carbon offsetting - paying penance for flights by contributing towards
eco-friendly projects such as tree-planting. Plane Stupid just wants
travellers to take the train to Paris or Newcastle.

§
ETC
§

brought to you courtesy
Sir Jean-Paul Turcaud
Australia Mining Pioneer
Discoverer of Telfer, Nifty & Kintyre mines in the Great Sandy Desert

Exploration Geologist & Offshore Consultant
Mobile +33 650 171 464
Founder of the True Geology

~ Ignorance is the Cosmic Sin, the One never Forgiven ~


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