RealClimate blog by
climatologists. This responds to news in or out of the scientific
community on climate change.
2. Second Vital Behavior—Stand
on an
accurate greenhouse gas (GHG) scale. Work with others to reduce your
GHG emissions 10% this year. This gives the activist a realistic sense
of what helps and what blocks voluntary behavior change, which is a
necessary part of the solution.
Calculate your air emissions at atmosfair. A
straight accounting of GHG for air travel doesn't account for water
vapor, etc, dumped high in the atmosphere. This site pays more
attention to details of your flight.
3. Third Vital Behavior—Find
a
solution that Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) says is
necessary and important, ideally one that makes you uncomfortable.
Learn why policy analysts say it's necessary, and advocate for it. The
goal is to move away from choosing solutions we want, to working for
solutions that are recognized as essential.
Hard issues
There are a number of hard issues that legislators can't tackle until
the public does.
The easiest are technology choices. Nuclear power and carbon
capture and storage will be important parts of the solution. Yet some
still want to address climate change without the largest solutions.
Addressing climate change will
cost money. International Energy Agency Energy Technology Perspectives
estimates perhaps $1 trillion/year between now and 2050, part of which
will be returned as lower fuel costs. The alternative is more
expensive, but pretending that addressing climate change is cheap. US
GDP is about 22%
of world GDP, so Americans would pay $750 per capita per year.
Finding policies that will change our behavior. What will it take
to convince YOU to decrease fllying? Or stop altogether?
Invite us to give a presentation (The whole series is
Sessions I - VII):
Vital Behavior 1: Teach the science and impacts of climate
change, and hold people emotionally during theprocess.
Session I: Climate Change This
session covers the science, with actual and likely impacts of global
warming, and ties those impacts to Friends testimonies, taking an
initial look at what we can do to make a difference.
Session II: Truth Mandala
What
feelings arise in us when we consider the effects of climate change? We
will speak our fear, sadness, anger, and emptiness. A la Joanna Macy
Vital Behavior 2: Stand on an accurate
greenhouse gas scale. Make a plan to
reduce your GHG emissions 10% in the coming year, and work with others
to reduce theirs.
Session III: How we make choices
An exercise looking at the advantages and disadvantages of our current
choices, and how we go about making changes in our lives. This will be
followed by a worshipful consideration: in what spirit do we take on
the task of addressing climate change, from negative or positive
emotions? What kinds of support might we give each other, or do we want
for ourselves?
Session IV: Our own GHG emissions
We will look at our own greenhouse gas emissions, based on your answers
to a questionnaire distributed in Session I. Some will use this as a
tool to know where to focus on reducing their own GHG footprint. All of
us will learn about the behaviors that policies must address. This
exercise also provides us with a baseline to assess over time whether
our behavior is changing in response to our climate concerns.
Vital Behavior 3: Find a solution policy experts say is both
necessary and important, one that makes you uncomfortable. Learn why it
is needed, and advocate for it.
Session V: Technology and
Policy
What are the policy solutions that will make a difference? What do we
look for in legislation? We will also examine near- and long-term
potential for technology choices.
Session VI: Nuclear Power in a
Warming
World Does nuclear power make sense in a carbon-constrained
world?
Summary
Session VII: What can I do now?
What
can we do now? An opportunity to reconsider our responses to
questions about our options for taking individual and corporate action.
This is a time to ask for and offer support.