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CLIMATE CHANGE: A Vision Worth Fighting For

Stephen Leahy*

BROOKLIN, Canada, Apr 3 2008 (IPS) - Sweeping societal change is a slow and erratic business. The civil rights movement in the United States went nowhere for decades and then exploded in the 1960s. Not long ago, smokers could light up anywhere they pleased in Canada and the U.S. Now they are mostly confined to a few outdoor areas and as a consequence, far fewer people smoke.

"There&#39s been a major shift in values regarding smoking," said Anthony Leiserowitz, director of the Yale Project on Climate Change at Yale University.

Anti-smoking laws, higher taxes, and knowledge about the health impacts of second-hand smoke were all factors driving the shift, Leiserowitz told IPS.

While most people are concerned about climate change, they view it as a largely abstract problem, and fail to equate it with devastating weather events such as Hurricane Katrina in August 2005, he said.

However, that might be changing. Australians suffering record droughts made more intense by climate change elected a new prime minister in 2007 in part because the incumbent refused to act on carbon dioxide emissions.

"Arguably, John Howard (the former prime minister) was the first national leader to lose their job over climate," Leiserowitz said.

Howard could have plenty of company in the decade ahead as people begin to open their eyes to the subtle and dramatic impacts of climate change. The latter will become what is known as "focusing events", not unlike the terror attacks on the U.S. of Sep. 11, 2001, and which result in huge societal shifts.

Paradoxically, the looming U.S. recession may spur a stronger desire for action, Leiserowitz believes. When the general perception is that all is well, people are much more resistant to change. "If the system is perceived to be broken, then people are more open to change things to make things better," he said.

This makes it a good time to integrate the three principles of climate-safe living: first, reduce fossil fuel consumption everywhere; second, eliminate all non-essential activities and products that involve burning fossil fuel; and third, demand that business and government provide transport, activities and products that minimise fossil fuel use.

Opportunities to cut costs and emissions exist everywhere. Buying local food can substantially reduce the fuel burned to ship goods over long distances. And if local food is not cheaper than food traveling thousands of kilometres, consumers can demand to know why that should be.

Removing institutional barriers to climate-safe living is also crucial, experts say. People can&#39t choose to use public transit if there is none or it is of poor quality. Hence the need for principle three: Demand public transport that is comfortable, affordable, efficient and easy to use.

"Making it easy" is a crucial ingredient to create mass change, Leiserowitz stressed. Some airlines today include an option when buying a ticket to offset the CO2 emissions of a flight by paying a small fee that will go towards planting trees to absorb the equivalent amount of CO2. Most people don&#39t do it not because of the cost or lack of concern regarding climate change, but because they have to make a decision, he says.

If this "carbon offset" fee were part of the normal airline ticketing process – and even if travelers could opt out of paying without penalty – nearly everyone would offset their emissions, he argued. Few people would make the decision not to pay the small fee.

"Policy-makers and business leaders need to recognise they way people work," he said, adding that, "Social change can happen extremely quickly."

For example, 10 years ago, few would have thought smoking could be banned in workplaces, restaurants, bars and other indoor public spaces. Now such regulations are a normal part of life in dozens of countries around the world.

The transition to the new norm of a "safe-climate lifestyle", as writer Dan Bloom calls it, won&#39t be smooth. Even after the shift has begun – and it may have already – there will be many years of dangerous and extreme climate events that appear to reject our best efforts to reduce emissions. It will be discouraging.

People&#39s attention will need to be directed toward positive social change, said Susanne Moser, research scientist with the Institute for the Study of Society and Environment at the National Centre for Atmospheric Research in Boulder Colorado.

"We need to give people a positive vision that&#39s worth fighting for… It will be looking at a sustainable community where there&#39s a lot of social interaction, where we love, you know, being with each other…despite a difficult climate, despite a difficult world," Moser said in a podcast hosted by Oregon State University. "I think that&#39s a really important thing."

Climate change worsens with every passing day. Individual actions are important but can the global community act in time to avert the worst? Discover the answer in the final article in this series.

*This story is part three of a four-part examination of the psychological and behavioural changes needed to dial down the temperature on our global greenhouse. Parts one and two appeared on Apr. 1 and 2, 2008.