Yes, I am enjoying the brighter and warmer weather, although I must admit the heat is a bit harder to deal with since the wonderful NHS fitted a stent to my Left Anterior Descending artery – the so-called “widow maker” – alongside my current medication. I went for a walk today, but had to stop several times to re-hydrate and recover.
But I am also increasingly concerned about what the rest of this year, and the years ahead, might hold given this heatwave, the wider warming trend, and the super El Niño now developing in the Pacific. It will definitely mean me moving more slowly, and needing more hydration stops.
Looking at some of the comments on the post I copied in from Facebook above, I understand why people react the way they do. The UK has just had a relatively cool April and May by recent standards – although that is debatable. Weather fluctuates. People naturally compare what they see outside their window with warnings about global heating.
But I still don’t think most people fully grasp the scale of the unfolding climate and nature crises, or the level of existential threat parts of the world already face right now and that we could within our life-times. Our children will definitely be living in a more unstable, violent and resource strapped world.
Floods. Fires. Crop failures. Water shortages. Rising food insecurity. Conflict over resources. Economic instability. Mass displacement. Refugees risking their lives crossing seas because the places they once called home are becoming unliveable. Yes, that means more small boat crossings. And if AMOC collapse we could be the ones needing the boats, becoming climate refugees ourselves.
And many of those suffering first and hardest are in the global south – countries which contributed far less to historic emissions than wealthy industrialised nations like ours.
We also still massively understate our own contribution. The often-repeated claim that the UK produces “less than 1% of global emissions” ignores the emissions embedded in imported goods, international aviation, shipping, finance and supply chains which support our standard of living, which despite a cost of living crisis and hardship in the home front, is still far above many other parts of the world.
I genuinely think if people fully understood the scale and interconnected nature of these crises, they would support a far faster transition to renewable energy, insulation, public transport and decarbonisation.
Especially because renewable energy is now cheaper than fossil fuels, and because electricity demand is rising not falling. We cannot pretend modern economies will function without large amounts of energy.
Unless we collectively decide we want a simpler existence in the UK, without a lot of the things we take for granted now, we will need more electricity. Unfortunately civilisation now runs on electricity, Wi-Fi and people asking AI to draw anime versions of their cats – guilty as charged.
Gideon hanging out in the porch with his mate Ginge
We will have to try to keep up with the rest of the world and build the data centres which in turn can be taxed, replacing income tax, to maintain public services, roads, pensions, NHS, and the welfare state. But maybe it would be better to opt out – some people argue we should simply consume less and live more simply. There is truth in that. A slower, less materialistic society might even be healthier and happier in many ways. But achieving that transition fairly, democratically and globally is an enormous challenge in itself.
The challenge is whether we generate that energy in ways that accelerate collapse, or help stabilise the climate while reducing bills and improving energy security. This comes back to the solar farms argument I’ve previously reviewed – we have to have both roof-top solar and solar farms if we want to survive and thrive.
The first few comments on the original post demonstrate the educational and political challenge we are up against. This is why initiatives like the People’s Emergency Briefing matter so much.
- UK Parliament Petition – National Screening of the People’s Emergency Briefing
- The People’s Emergency Briefing
I also increasingly think many politicians are trapped inside a Westminster system built for short-term headlines, election cycles and lobbying pressure rather than long-term planetary stability and our wellbeing.
That frustration is one reason anti-establishment parties are gaining support across Europe and the UK. People feel unheard. They feel politics is performative. And frankly, much of the media ecosystem makes this worse by rewarding outrage, tribalism and simplistic narratives over honesty and systems thinking. We need more authentic and capabable journalism and meda – check out the Media Sovereignty Act:
I do believe many MPs and councillors are decent people trying to do the right thing. But systems shape behaviour. Westminster rewards caution, short-termism and protecting existing power structures. Funny how those power structures always seem to include oil companies, hedge funds and billionaires who own newspapers.
Perhaps that is one reason so many civilisations eventually struggle or collapse: their institutions become unable to adapt quickly enough to the crises they helped create.
I hope the Green Party wins more MPs and councillors. I hope more people engage with politics locally and nationally. But I also suspect deeper democratic reform is needed – including citizens’ assemblies and more participatory forms of decision-making that are harder for vested interests, and frankly the patriarchy, to dominate.
Because ultimately this is not just about carbon emissions.
It is about whether humanity can redesign its political and economic systems quickly enough to remain a stable, compassionate and functioning civilisation in the century ahead.
Meanwhile, Gideon says he needs aid packages because he is worried about food shortages, especially where Dreamies are concerned. Look, he’s on his last legs, well, his legs are in the air anyway, because he’s so weak, allegedly.
Self Propelled 