Time to act and adapt (From The Argus)

Time to act and adapt

6:00am Saturday 20th June 2009

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This week, 3,000 people will gather in Brussels for the 2009 Green Week conference where non-governmental organisations, businesses, the public and various levels of government will be discussing what the world needs to do next. The conference is not just about acting to avoid climate change. All the best evidence suggests this is now an impossibility and the tag line of the event “act and adapt” is a telling indictment of how our current environment policies have under-achieved.

Even if we stopped all greenhouse gas emissions today, the latest report from the Intergovernmental Panel On Climate Change says we are committed to at least a meter rise in sea levels by the end of the century. It is clear we will have to adapt, in Sussex as everywhere else.

And it is becoming gradually more clear what these changes will have to be: behaviour and technological change with regard to the way we handle our transport, waste, energy and food systems, and a reworking of our core societal values.

But how they will all come about is much less obvious.

Philip Mulligan, from Brighton-based charity Environmental Protection UK, says: “People are still really wedded to a 20th-century way of doing things, so for most of the population there will be shocks along the way.”

According to Philip, legislation is the most effective way of bringing about positive environmental change.

He points to the 1956 Clean Air Act, which while hugely unpopular with business, led to rapid improvements in air quality over a short period of time.

He adds: “If the Transition Town movement really works, that’s your model of how it could and should be. Local communities coming together. There is inspiration there, but it’s still at the stage of good intentions, like the LETS Local Exchange Trading Schemes.

“If you want your chakra realigned it’s no problem, but if you want your oven fixed it’s a bit harder. Joe Public isn’t out there yet.”

Without widespread public engagement, a smooth and gradual adaptation doesn’t seem all that likely and the changes we have to adapt to are huge.

In March, the Government’s chief scientific advisor, Professor John Beddington, predicted the world will face a “perfect storm” of food shortages, water shortages and a lack of energy by 2030.

With the global population set to increase by 50% by 2050, sea level rises taking out much of our low-lying and fertile food production land and an oncoming energy crisis, it can feel as though we are staring in to an abyss.

But as oil supplies peak and begin to peter out, change will be forced, as resources become more expensive and alternatives more manageable, and Philip is optimistic.

“I’m continually amazed at the innovation and technology that already exists. The problem is the cost and getting it to scale. But it’s not doom and gloom because we already have so many solutions.

We’re not starting with a blank piece of paper.”

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