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Around the world, there is an increased awareness of the importance of climate change as a factor in a range of issues. Many environmental, economic and social issues find common ground in the form of climate change. Individual and political action on climate change can take many forms, most of which have the ultimate goal of limiting and/or reducing the concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.

Political action

Political action can change laws and regulations that relate to climate change, such as tax incentives, greenhouse gas emissions limits or establishing a regulatory framework within which carbon trading markets can operate. Political action can also gain media and public attention to climate change. Political action from the community, however, is often challenged by interests within the fossil fuel industry.^[1][2]. Some climate change sceptic groups are independent of the fossil fuel industry, such as the Australian Youth Climate Change Council (AYCCC)^[3]

There are many forms of political action on climate change including letter writing, direct lobbying, and public shaming of politicians and media organizations. Political action campaigns require building a base of support at local level.

Protest movements

A number of groups from around the world have come together to work on the issue of global warming. Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) from diverse fields of work have united on this issue. A coalition of 50 NGOs called Stop Climate Chaos launched in Britain (September 2005) to highlight the issue of climate change.

The Campaign against Climate Change was created to focus purely on the issue of climate change and to pressure governments into action by building a protest movement of sufficient magnitude to effect political change.

Critical Mass is an event typically held on the last Friday of every month in various cities around the world wherein bicyclists and, less frequently, unicyclists, skateboarders, inline skaters, roller skaters and other self-propelled commuters take to the streets en masse. While the ride was originally founded in San Francisco with the idea of drawing attention to how unfriendly the city was to bicyclists, the leaderless structure of Critical Mass makes it impossible to assign it any one specific goal. In fact, the purpose of Critical Mass is not formalized beyond the direct action of meeting at a set location and time and traveling as a group through city or town streets.

International political frameworks

Kyoto Protocol

The primary international policy framework currently in existence is the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), specifically the Kyoto Protocol, which sets emissions limits for many of the world's most economically developed nations.

The European Union Emissions Trading Scheme

Under Kyoto, countries with targets can elect to reach these targets in co-operation with other countries. The European Union has decided to work as a unit to meet its emissions targets. The European climate change program attempts to do this by utilising an emissions trading scheme known as the European Union Greenhouse Gas Emission Trading Scheme. The principle of this scheme is quite simple: in order to make their legally binding commitments under Kyoto, countries can either make these savings within their own country, or they can buy these emissions reductions from other countries. These other countries would still need to meet their Kyoto targets, but the use of a free market system ensures the reductions are made for the least possible costs. Most reductions are made where these reductions are cheapest, and the excess reductions can be sold on to other countries where such cuts would be less economically viable.

Contraction and Convergence

The concept of Cap, Contraction and Convergence, as a replacement to the Kyoto agreement, has been recently gaining ground. The idea here is that the limits to carbon emissions need to be capped at 450 parts per million, currently considered to produce a raise in world temperatures above pre-industrial levels of about 2 degrees Celsius. It is currently believed that further increases would bring about major positive feedbacks (the burning of forests and the loss of carbon from soils and oceans) which currently limit greenhouse gas emissions, and would lead to a run-away global warming similar to the Eocene period, during which there was no ice at the poles.

To sustain this figure, it is proposed that on equity grounds, all people should be allocated an equal carbon footprint (currently about 2 tonnes per person, which by 2050 could fall to 1.5 tonnes per person through population increase). World per capita carbon emissions, currently in excess of 4 tonnes per person needs to contract to those levels, if these targets are to be met.^[4] As a result, in the name of global and inter-generational equity, policies needing to be instituted need to converge, over a fixed period towards this figure for every country. A trading regime, whereby which countries in excess of these figures (from example the USA at 20 tonnes per capita), purchase carbon credits from a country using less than its allocation (eg Kenya at 1.3 tonnes per capita), is considered by many as the best way of solving this problem.

For example the Contract and Converge strategy has now been adopted by India, China and many African countries as the basis for future negotiations. The UK Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution said in 2000 "the UK should be prepared to accept the contraction and convergence principle is the basis for international agreement on greenhouse gas emissions".^[5]

Sub-national level action

Some states, regions, and cities in the world are taking the lead on developing emissions reduction methods in the absence of federal policy, and may provide models for future national efforts. Their efforts are achieving real measurable emissions reductions and by pursuing policies and programs that have climate benefits, they have promoted state economic development, improved air quality and trimmed their vulnerability to energy price spikes. In the long run, addressing climate change will require comprehensive national policy and international agreements. However, in the absence of federal policy, states and regions are taking the lead on developing policies that may provide models for future national efforts.^[6]

Belgium

Ghent

The city promotes a meat-free day on Thursdays called Veggiedag ^[7][8], with vegetarian-only food in public canteens for civil servants and elected concillors, soon in all schools, and promotion of vegetarian eating options in town (through the distribution of "veggie street maps"). This campaign is linked to the recognition of the detrimental environmental effects of meat production, which the United Nation's Food and Agriculture Organization has established to represent nearly one-fifth of global greenhouse gas emissions.

United Kingdom

The town of Totnes in Devon through its "Transition Town Totnes" Project has adopted an Energy Descent Plan, as a response in answer to the twin problems of greenhouse gas emissions and peak oil. As a result of a series of large, well attended public gatherings with key experts from around the world, and the organisation of a number of special interest groups, the community has come together with lecturers and trainers shared with Schumacher College, through a process of participative strategic planning, to hone their skills in project development. As a result of the initiatives in Totnes, a large number of other communities have started "Transition Town" projects, and there are now more than 100 around the world, ranging from small communities to whole cities (eg. Berlin).

The concepts of including food miles or carbon neutral labels on packaging has been gaining interest in the UK.^[9]

Individual action

Making various personal choices can be an effective method of fighting climate change.^[10]

• A carbon diet is an effective way to understand the amount of impact on the environment and how to make meaningful changes.
• A low carbon diet is a way of reducing impact by choosing food that causes much less pollution.
• Running is the least impactful mode of transportation,^{[citation needed]} followed by the bicycle, whose usage produces no carbon emissions. (The manufacturing of bicycles does emit carbon dioxide and other pollutants.)
• Trees: Protecting forests and planting new trees contributes to the absorption of carbon dioxide from the air. There are many opportunities to plant trees in the yard, along roads, in parks, and in public gardens. In addition, some charities plant fast-growing trees—for as little as $US0.10 per tree—to help people in tropical developing countries restore the productivity of their lands[1]. Conversely, clearing old-growth forests adds to the carbon in the atmosphere, so buying non-old-growth paper is good for the climate as well as the forest.
• Labels: The Energy Star label can be seen on many household appliances, home electronics, office equipment, heating and cooling equipment, windows, residential light fixtures, and other products. Energy Star products use less energy.
• Travel: In the United States, perception towards climate change influenced people to change their travel lifestyle. More than a third of Americans have changed their travel habits in 2008, versus only 14% in 2007.^[11]
• Cars: Purchasing a vehicle which gets high gas mileage helps to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide.
• The wind energy produced in Denmark, for example, provides about 20 percent of the country's total electricity needs.^[12] These methods of energy production emit no greenhouse gases once they are up and running. Many energy suppliers in various countries worldwide have options to purchase part or pure "green energy."
• Carbon offsets: The principle of carbon offset is thus: one decides that they don't want to be responsible for accelerating climate change, and they've already made efforts to reduce their carbon dioxide emissions, so they decide to pay someone else to further reduce their net emissions by planting trees or by taking up low-carbon technologies. Every unit of carbon that is absorbed by trees—or not emitted due to your funding of renewable energy deployment—offsets the emissions from their fossil fuel use. In many cases, funding of renewable energy, energy efficiency, or tree planting—particularly in developing nations—can be a relatively cheap way of making an individual "carbon neutral". Carbon offset providers—some as inexpensive as US$0.11 per metric ton (US$0.10 per US ton) of carbon dioxide—are referenced below under Lifestyle Action.
• Using less animal products: The United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization reports that rearing livestock contributes more greenhouse gases than all fossil fuel burning combined.^[13] A 2006 study from the Department of Geophysical Sciences at the University of Chicago found the difference between a vegan diet and red meat diet is equivalent to driving a sedan compared to a sport utility vehicle.^[14][15]

See also

Environment portal

Energy portal

External links

• Air travel, climate change, and green consumerism at Appropedia

References