Getting relationships wrong hurts.

And when it’s our relationship with the world we live in it hurts more than just us.

Everything we do affects our world. Smile, don’t smile. Praise, criticise. Vote, stay at home. Buy fair trade, buy the cheapest. Think profit, think it through.

Personal or planet-wide, decisions and actions have consequences.

For example… too many sheep means higher insurance premiums, buying a fur coat costs you more than the price on the ticket, and driving your car increases the cost of bread.

Deforestation and over grazing by sheep in rural areas robs the land of its ability to absorb and retain rainwater. The water’s got to go somewhere … that’ll be rivers. Add too much rainwater going into rivers and you’ve got towns and villages becoming more prone to flooding. After Hue Edwards has slipped off his wellies and returned to the dry safety of Television Centre the less photogenic headline is higher insurance premiums.

In the 1930’s a South American mammal called the Coypu was introduced into the UK in fur farms. A few escaped from a farm in Norfolk and within a year they were destroying crops, digging into river banks and damaging drainage systems and flood defences. It took 50 years of hard work and many millions of pounds to eradicate the Coypu.

When you jump in your car to go to the shops you know that you’re adding the price of the petrol to your shopping bill. But did you also know that you’re increasing the cost of the food you’re buying? Cars release CO2 into the atmosphere and this changes our climate. A changed climate has lead to wheat crops failing in many countries. In particular Australia, one of the world's largest producers of wheat, is suffering from the worst droughts in a century. The failed crops have lead to a global shortage, affecting wheat prices and ultimately putting up the price of a loaf in supermarkets in the UK.

Every action we take can have a negative or positive affect on our relationship with the planet we live on. And just like relationships between humans, when we make a mistake and hurt a friend we rely on, we try to make amends, and so it is with the planet. We rely on the Earth and could not survive without it. So let’s consider our relationship with it and make amends for the hurt we’ve caused.

Pushers of the 'doubt' drug.

Don't call them Climate Deniers.

They’re really 'Pushers' of a Drug called 'Doubt'.

I had a nightmare about deniers. Truth deniers, and how honest people can get drawn to them.

My field of speciality is a big muddy field: humankind’s collective denial (by their actions) that there's any real climate problem. In this muddy field it’s important to remember there are two very distinct types of 'denier' animal that you will encounter. With totally different response strategies needed.

Actually "doubt pusher" may be a better name than 'denier'. Get this:

Doubt is a popular feel-good drug.

Whether we seek escape from the pain of being part of the species that 'allowed' the holocaust, or escape from the dull ache that we are now complicit in mass suicide and the future deaths of billions including our own children, we seek escape, distraction, cold comfort.

These are big emotional 'charges' in the air Dave! But watch out when the climate taboo next crops up in polite conversation. We are talking about (or not talking out) latent near-universal abuse of our own children's Home planet. Hardly small talk :-)

So what are these two types:

My hero Miles Kington used to say "There are two types of people in this world. People who divide people into two types. And people who don't." Think about it. I honestly don't know why but this is one of my favourite sayings of all time!

Here goes:

Type 1 (or Class A!) Upstream - misanthropic - clever - bad - aware they are wrong - the doubt pushers

and

Type 2 (or Class B) The carefully selected victims and prey of Type 1's: infected and used - the smidgeon of doubt addicts

Now it turns out that doubt takers, soon become doubt addicts, and some fast become doubt pedlars. (And of course some pedlars become pushers.)

Pedlars of doubt experience new found or fresh popularity - for the welcome relief they bring (e.g. at dinner parties) to the throbbing headache of dealing with the climate reality backlog. Think David Bellamy - one of my childhood heroes - and someone I still believe to be a good man.

I don't think there are that many Class A's left - but they are very toxic - very clever - motivated - and often superb at hiding what they do.

All we can do is help expose them, and hold them to what they have said.

And we need to hope less Class B's will get infected/poisoned/duped. Which is more likely if we love them. (Class A's are usually immune to this tactic.) This is a big learning point. You won't love a Class A into the light.

What also gives me hope is belief that someone like Ann Widdecombe is not rotten to the core, she's just been duped. (Not at all easy to do in her case, and certainly not easy for her to admit.) She will get there eventually. She might want to listen to the Archbishop of Canterbury. He doesn't suffer fossil fools easily.



Dominic Lawson though - I struggle to give him benefit of doubt. Maybe I'm wrong. But I sense a man who justifies his immoral stance as being in some way 'right'. Extreme right maybe! History will judge Class A's harshly, very harshly indeed.

All we can do is calmly and courageously expose them, and hold them to what they have said.


Dave Hampton is The Carbon Coach. You can sign up to his newsletter, Co2mmunique by visiting the Carbon Coach website and view past issues.

Don’t save the planet – save yourself!

Saving the planet is not really about stopping Planet Earth from dying, exploding or somehow disappearing. It’s about saving our own skins. Pretty much whatever we do Planet Earth will still be here – it’s us (and many other life forms) that are the ones under threat.

So here are three quick and easy eco top tips…

1) Go Veggie. 25 calories of fossil fuel are used to produce just one calorie of meat protein. Vegetable protein requires 30% less energy, 100 times less water and seven times less land area.
Every time you eat a meat free meal you’re helping the environment.

2) Use the car for one less journey this week. Reduce your car use one journey at a time. It all adds up.

Every time you leave the car at home you are helping to reduce global warming and particulate pollution.

3) Take your unwanted clothes, shoes, toys and bric-a-brac to the local charity shop. Millions of tonnes of perfectly good, re-usable items end up in landfill every year.

So don’t add yours to the pile – donate it to charity and save the planet while helping a good cause.

MAIL ME YOUR CARBON!

Hi. I’m Dave Hampton and I’m offering some free help. In schools I’m known as Carbon Dave, or, more professionally - “the carbon coach”.
Pssst. I'm a ‘carbon shrink’. You can tell me!
You speak your weight, and I'll hear you.

I am ‘trialing’ a 'Mail me your carbon' scheme, before I roll it out globally.. and beyond...!

I am offering this to Passion for the Planet listeners and blog readers. (I may have to ‘cap’ the offer, but I will take at least the first 30 to contact me.)

By participating, asking awkward questions or providing challenging feedback, you will be helping me to help others chip away at the carbon fat; leading the way for us all to ‘Cut The Carbon’

At the heart of all this is my conviction that to know our own personal carbon footprint is more important than we might think. Not knowing our number is potentially holding us back in all sorts of ways. Our carbon shadow (the CO2 emissions we are responsible for) without really knowing it - is ‘behind us’. It is much easier to face this shadow once we know it is always following us. Like in the panto!

I strongly recommend that you sign up for the 10:10 campaign as well - if you haven’t already! (10% footprint reduction by this time in 2010).

Mission Possible:

Email me your best estimate of your current overall carbon footprint and what you make of it. There are several carbon footprint 'calculators' but I recommend you use:

The Resurgence Quick Carbon Calculator

It is quick and simple to use – as well as educational and illuminating. It's also very friendly!

You can see the ‘working total’ (bottom line) start to add up, and you can see the carbon mount up - real time - as you enter your data.

Tell me how it worked for you, and which part you'd most like to tackle over the next 12 months.

I will reply. The heroes - in my book - are those who know their number. Confidentiality is assured.

If you find you are a 200 tonner (200 TCO2e per year) but you didn't realise it before, and you tell me, then you'll have made my day, by sharing this with me. Chances are you'll feel better too. After all, a footprint shared is a footprint halved - well almost! And you are nearly in the company of Prince Charles, who last year estimated his Estate at some 2800 tonnes! (And falling year on year impressively.) Don't be downhearted. I can help you find ways to reduce your carbon.

If you find you are a 20 tonner, that’s better, but you are above the UK national average of 13 tonnes.

If you are a 2 tonner, I salute you. We can learn from you.

Who me? Well, since you asked, I am coming in at around 5 tonnes on this estimator, which is around half the national average. And I’m working on further reductions.

Keep a copy of the email you send me - it will come in handy next year when you calculate whether or not you made your 10% reduction, and when you set yourself a new reduction target for next year.

One last thing! Happy Birthday Gandhi!!

On October 2nd it is Gandhi’s birthday and that day is also National Carbon Footprint Day!

Gandhi used to say “Be the Change that you would wish to see in the world” – and nowhere is this more true than with carbon leadership.

National Carbon Footprint Day was launched last year by Donnachadh McCarthy. The website is simple and functional. This time last year I entered my gas, elec, and water actual meter readings - on 2nd October 2008, along with my actual car milometer readings, and details of flight miles. Hey presto – the next year - it feeds all that info back to you - on Gandhi’s birthday, so you can keep track of the longer term trend in your carbon footprint.This is helpful, as you don’t need to keep the meter readings or do the working out.

So I warmly encourage you to make use of this NCFD site: use it to record where you were in 2009. Who knows, in 2012 we may look back with much pride at how much carbon weight we have lost!



For more ways to reduce your carbon, sign up to my newsletter, Co2mmunique.
Past issues can be viewed here.