Climate Change Book Club - May

@Victoria Richards  Ah !  -  I can see why you wrote yours as a single paragraph now !  Could we have a nicer editor please ?  Hope you can disentangle my comments in the previous message.

@Victoria Richards  >It is never one or the other, I think having a focus on adaptation is a bit like an interest only loan; it will never go away. Mitigation would be analogous to repayment of the capital. But analogies / allegories are always a bit flaky. >however we are unfortunately committed to a certain amount of climate change no matter what. Agreed. >We are wholeheartedly doing as much as possible to undertake net zero projects, zero waste and circular economy, and nature recovery to mitigate our impact : )  You probably are. Less convinced by the council as a whole. We all have to balance our priorities, and for local authorities, the sustainability objectives are generally likely to be in conflict with the economic growth objectives. It's a very crude model, but think of the A and T terms in I=PAT for a start.

So here is my book review 😊 Learning to Live with Climate Change Written by Post Doctoral researcher Blanche Verlie 2022  This book has a complicated premise and is heavy with academic terminology. As such, I apologise for those who tackled this if it was challenging. If you didn’t, I will summarise and share my thoughts with you.   With Climate Change we often get hung up on whether it is human induced or not, but the scientific evidence for the changes and challenges ahead is now well documented. As such the argument is not who or what caused it, but how are we going to adapt to it, cope with it, and live with it going forwards. We laugh about how often we talk about the weather, but the more than human impact of nature and in particular weather and climate patterns, is the core of this discussion.  The author refers to this as affective entanglement, which means that changes to the weather affect our mood and wellbeing. You may think this is obvious and say, ‘so what!’ but discussing Climate Change through this lens of feelings and emotions is a fairly new approach. Instead, it has mostly been a scientific experiment or discussion followed by political debate. This removes it from public engagement and distances the problem as long as the impacts are not experienced directly. As such there is a global north, global south rift with climate change where it sometimes feels like only half or only some of the world is impacted. The prime example of ‘not my problem’! It is not relatable and separated from ‘real-life’.   By separating humans from nature, we as a society and culture have failed to recognise our impact on the environment, and its impact on us, believing that we are above it or masters of it. We have inherited cultures that are omnicidal (world killing) if nothing changes, the habits and behaviours are complicit in causing the end of life as we know it. Climate Change makes us feel: anxious, frustrated, confused, uncertain, cynical, scared, overwhelmed, emotional, devastated, depressed, frightened, angry, gloomy, resentful, challenged, isolated, desperate, disheartened, shocked, concerned, confronted, unsettled, bitter, sad, sick, upset, perplexed, guilty, stressed, amazed, daunted, defeated, dismayed, pessimistic, uneasy, tired, appalled and terrified…..  It is no wonder that we find it difficult to confront our vulnerability and complicity in climate change. However, it is only through facing this that we will be able to transform ourselves and our world. Feeling complicit in a high-carbon society often causes guilt and becomes a political hot topic. A politics of privilege, progress, and control, centred upon the myth of eternal economic growth. ‘Reality’ is contentious term as whose reality are we talking about!? Plus, the norms and society that created our current predicament are the very ‘reality’ we need to challenge! Everyone, depending on their history, experiences, and demographic will have a different ‘reality’ and experience climate change differently. It is easier for some people to ignore and deny change longer than others. Often, we witness, and notice different changes and challenges, only when we experience it ourselves does it become ‘real’.   Rather than shy away from this unsettling feeling, we need to talk about it more and be proactive. In our everyday conversation, sharing our stories and shared experiences, and exploring new ideas and solutions through books, poems, tv and film. So often this is demonstrated only through a negative lens, focusing on dystopic disaster fuelled narratives. By highlighting the emotional aspect of weather and our experience of longer climate changes the author recognises that the stories we tell ourselves and others are of vital importance to sharing our response to the climate crisis. What story do we tell? What do we dream or expect for the future? Are we brave enough to make sci-fi real and focus on utopia not dystopia!?  Most of us are consumers rather than creators of climate stories with scientists, politicians, deniers and the media offering competing monologues. Green or eco living is often perceived to be a fad, hippy, a luxury etc., it all depends on the story told. Dehumanising nature removes us from the problem and the solution, whether it’s true or not. Equally, the idea that whether climate change is human induced is still a debate is besides the point. It is measured and happening and we will be impacted. Without witnessing changes and accepting their acceleration and challenges, it is easy to distance ourselves from the impacts by distance and time, its pacific islands, or our grandchildren who will be affected. Again, these are stories we tell to remove ourselves from the problem. Significant changes a likely by 2050 or even earlier. In 2050 I will be 62 and still working. Climate change therefore will affect not only grandchildren, but children, and myself. The buck cannot be passed on any further!  We have to do the work to create the future we want to live in. Labour to birth a new reality, a positive vision for shared prosperity environmentally, socially and global governance. The future remains unknowable but instead of being a scary black hole, or an eternal present, we have the opportunity to change the narrative and forge something new. Reclaim the mystery and adventure of the future, new horizons and frontiers. If you’re affected and feel the impacts of climate change in any way – all the more reason to act and create and learn how to co-habit better with each other and with nature. Embracing change with purpose. Investing in our own futures. We need to be unsettled and, in that space, decide what we want to create. Please let me know what you think let's get the conversation going! Our June book will be:  Dieter Helm's 'Net Zero: How We Stop Causing Climate Change' Victoria 😊

@John Beardmore I totally agree. It is never one or the other, however we are unfortunately committed to a certain amount of climate change no matter what. We are wholeheartedly doing as much as possible to undertake net zero projects, zero waste and circular economy, and nature recovery to mitigate our impact. 

I know we need to learn to live with climate change, but think our main focus always needs to be reducing the amount of climate change we have to live with. That means reducing emissions, starting with the most cost effective measures, but also undertaking projects with net zero compatible components now, rather than intermediate solutions which will require further upgrade before 2050.

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