Culture and Sustainability - Why is change so hard – yet sometimes so easy?

 The climate emergency requires us all to make substantial changes in our lives – and sometimes they are easy but sometimes they are hard. A lot of this is to do with aspects of our culture influencing  how and why we do things. We each belong to several cultures at different levels – our friends, our family culture, our workplace, where we live, the way we are supported and constrained by our finances and the state. The result is that often well-meaning policy changes fail spectacularly while other efforts can succeed dramatically. It’s complicated!  So I am looking forward to hearing directly from an expert, Janet Stephenson, having read (large parts of) her book ‘Culture and Sustainability’. On June 20th she is coming to Cambridge and has agreed to give a talk and answer questions.

Climate justice – personal actions

There are huge differences between carbon footprints of people in different countries. Here in the UK we are worse than average but by no means the worst. However there are also huge differences between people within the UK, even in Cambridge. What are each of us doing and how does this vary by income?

How income and wealth affects what we can do

Sometimes when I am on an outreach stall I use an actions survey – you tick the actions you are doing. The answers we get are affected by how well-off people are. Less well-off people tick fewer boxes. This is partly because some of the actions do not apply, and partly to do with cost. 

Well-off people often tick: solar panels, or even low carbon heating; eating vegetarian or vegan, and buying from a local farm shop. They may say they walk or cycle for short trips. Hardly anyone ticks car sharing but they often say they have cut down on air travel.

Less well-off people cannot afford solar panels and their diet choices are constrained by cost (good quality veggie burgers and sausages tend to cost more). Also less well-off people are often time poor which means they use more convenience foods and less farm shops. They may not have a car at all and rarely go on holiday abroad, but if they do they fly because the trains are more expensive.

Good and bad tipping points

It has been a difficult year. Just when we thought we were past the worst with Covid, we get the war in Ukraine with devastating impacts on the supply of fuel, grain and other food goods. 

Climate change does not let up. Last year looks to be the warmest on record for the UK and in July the record for highest temperature in the UK was topped by an alarming 1.6°C [1]. We also had drought with river flows at record lows [2]. Worldwide, 2022 saw catastrophic floods in Pakistan [3], record forest fires across Europe [4], and extraordinarily sudden cold across large parts of North America (a drop of 23°C in one hour in Cheyenne, Wyoming) [5].

It reminds us of the danger of climate tipping points. Tipping points are moments when some part of the climate system changes in such a massive way that there’s no going back. Apparently there are several that may have already happened: melting ice sheets, the death of coral reefs, melting permafrost releasing methane and the loss of sea ice in the Barents Sea [6].

These tipping points are dangerous. However, tipping points can trigger changes for the good too. The war in Ukraine has shown how easy it is to weaponise supply of fossil fuels [7], triggering a rapid increase in investment in renewable energy worldwide. For the same reason we have seen much more action on energy efficiency, here and across Europe [8]. People are turning down thermostats and putting on more clothes to reduce bills [9]. (See also TC members tips). Solar PV installers are struggling to keep up with a spike in orders [10], and demand for heat pumps, which use electricity to heat buildings instead of gas, has also surged [11].

When we are close to a tipping point, little nudges can produce large changes in the way we think, feel and do things.

How is a reindeer's nose like a condensing boiler?

I am sure it has not escaped your notice that the weather recently has been unusually cold for the time of year. How have you been keeping warm? In our house we have turned down the heating a bit, because with the energy shortage due to the war in Ukraine it is very important to reduce our energy consumption as much as possible, to keep the prices down. (Even with the price guarantee, we will pay for it eventually, probably through our taxes.) As always it is worth taking a look at the natural world for tips. Since it is Christmas, reindeer are a good start. How do reindeer keep warm?

Working with contractors - pooled experiences

Are you considering getting builders in for any retrofit work? Or installing low carbon heating? How do you find a contractor to do the work (or part of the work if you want to do it DIY?) Do you need a project manager? This question comes up time and time again and there are no definitive answers. However, the energy group had a discussion about this at their last meeting and we now have an advice page which is a synthesis of our experience. 

Your energy saving tips

The energy saving survey is concluded now - thanks to all of you who filled it in and especially to those of you who gave us your tips. 

But first a reminder/plea from me - please do not just breathe a sigh of relief at the energy price cap and carry on as normal - the cap is supported by a subsidy and it still costs us money, albeit via taxes or reduced services. Fundamentally, the problem is an energy shortage and inevitably some people will have to use less; for fairness, this should not be the poorest and most vulnerable who have already cut their energy use to the bare minimum.

Now for your tips there are too many to list all of them but I have done my best.

Most renewable electricity tariffs are pointless

Do you get your electricity with a “100% renewable” electricity contract? Most of these contracts do nothing to promote renewable electricity and some of them make use of power with higher emissions than average on the grid. A few retailers genuinely supply renewable power. You may need to pay a bit more, (or maybe these days, a bit less, since they do not use gas)!

The energy group learned about this at our last meeting. One of our members, Adam, has just completed an MSc on the subject and explained all. Thanks Adam! This post was written by another member, Chris - thank you too!

What is renewable electricity?

Electricity is generated and pushed into the National Grid by “generator” companies. Some of them use gas, coal and nuclear power to generate electricity, which we call “non-renewable” because it is extracted from the Earth and can be used up. Gas and coal also contain carbon which they release (as carbon dioxide) when burned, which contributes to climate change (global heating).

Some generators use solar, wind, hydro, biomass (wood chip) or tidal power, which we call “renewable” because the Sun is constantly powering them, so they won’t run out. Building them emits carbon dioxide too, but they don’t usually emit any while operating (or, in the case of biomass, re-emit carbon dioxide that they recently removed from the air). We consider that they contribute much less to climate change.