All entries for Monday 25 January 2010

Diary of a Permaculturalist 16: 100 Months: A letter from Mario Petrucci

Follow-up to Diary of a Permaculturalist 14: Greenpeace Scales Parliament from George Ttoouli, Warwick Writing Programme

Mario Petrucci emailed the other day, with a sound a wonderful perspective on the current state of climate change. He kindly gave me permission to pass it on in full, below.

If you're busy, scroll down to the ten points he lists in the middle, and if you're feeling the urgency as well, copy, paste and post on your own blog.

And while I'm in utopia-mode: wouldn't it be nice if every website in the world added a sidebar menu link to ways of reducing carbon? This is a good link. At least for starters. I'm on approx 5 tonnes/year, and it gives a range of suggestions for cutting that to a recommended 4 tonnes.

And bear in mind also that the '100 months', while a contested figure, was released last year. So if you agree with it, we've more like 84 months to act. Or seven years.

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100 months: a letter from Mario Petrucci [ecologist, physicist, writer]

The IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) has estimated we have just 100 months left before Climate Change is irreversible. What they mean is that we'll probably not be able to contain CC, thereafter, at 2deg above pre-industrial levels. That could prove pretty serious.

As a scientist and ecologist, I can assure you that such vast alterations to global systems may well be much more catastrophic and rapid than our science predicts. What's just about certain, now, is that we're already past the point of getting off 'scot free'. On an unimaginable scale, it's Russian Roulette we're playing.

A key problem, for me, is that awareness can only be part of the response. Many of us are strongly informed on Climate Change and would do much more if we could - but we have commitments, families, difficult jobs to maintain, and so on. Also, some of us may have reservations about the whole issue, eg the possibility of CC itself becoming big business manipulated by powerful interest groups, or a sense of unease over who that 'we' in the political rhetoric might turn out to be. And, somewhere deep down, secretly, I find it easier to hope that the 'authorities', companies and NGOs are getting on with it. Meanwhile, another part of me is somewhat resigned to the powerful historical evidence of ongoing human folly.

But I've come to realise that fear, apathy or skeptical reticence have (for me) now become luxuries in this context. If you feel the same, may I propose some of the following actions, which don't take very long at all and could, if enough people got on board, who knows, begin to swing it...?

1. Share any news/ information you have on CC with colleagues and friends - everyone

2. Make CC a frequent topic of conversation, even at dinner parties and at work

3. Include CC as a major issue in any suitable talks, lectures and readings you give

4. Educate and prepare (but not frighten) our teenagers with regard to the issues (though many of them are already far ahead of us in terms of willingness to respond...)

5. Be alert to any opportunity to raise CC in the ordinary turn of daily events

Most importantly, seize on anything that can systemise the political and economic pressure for change, anything that acts as an amplifier for the individual will...

6. Lobby your MP; raise CC with anyone knocking on your door for a vote; ask them about 'Transition Towns', energy, or how they might encourage local initiatives over big business

7. Mention CC as a core concern in any relevant questionnaires you fill in (local council, etc)

8. Join Green organisations to swell their numbers and coffers (along with Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth, CND, etc. there are many reputable organisations such as 'Scientists for Global Responsibility')

9. Transfer some savings to genuinely eco-aware banks; buy eco-friendly products

10. Invest, if you can, in wind companies and other alternative energy initiatives, or in local consortiums such as 'The Good Fuel Co-op' (ironically, some of these may well become important ventures in the future (if there is one) which will reward the canny investor)

Many of you, I'm sure, will already be doing much of this; if so, apologies for the distraction. I just feel that, somehow, acting for the future has to made easier. And I believe, on good days, that the post-carbon world needn't be a terrifying, brutal place.

It seems to me that my little boy was only just born, and already he's 11 months old. 11% of that IPCC deadline. No deadline is definite, of course: there may be much more time than that; or much less. Which is why I've overcome my reticence in sending this out. If you agree with the message, please feel free to forward this e-mail to your e-list. It might just be the prompt someone needs; and maybe it will start something that spreads beyond our control (in a good way, for once).

Probably, you're hellishly busy. I know I am. Then give the 10 steps just 10 minutes? 10 minutes, let alone 100 months, can be a long time in politics, or to a species. Please, redouble your efforts. The time for mere awareness has passed.

George Ttoouli : 25 Jan 2010 09:00 |  Tags: Creative Writing Permaculture |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem