Robin Wilton's esoterica

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04 May · Fri 2007

Climate Change and middle-class angst

This is what I was going to blog earlier. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has just published the third of its current global assessment reports, as part of the programme it has been undertaking since 1990.

According to this report and graphic, they look at seven key areas in which carbon emissions could be reduced. What interests me as a consumer is that, assuming one has some control over one's own domestic heating and insulation, "Buildings" is the category which offers the most scope for reduction - while "Travel" (the first-world bugbear of the day) comes a lowly sixth out of seven.

Indeed, only 3 out of 7 categories look like ones in which the consumer can play a direct part (buildings, travel and waste), and in each of those the consumer is far from the only actor. It would be interesting to see if the full report breaks those categories down further into "domestic" and "industrial".

If the Bank Holiday weather stays fair in the UK, sales of spring barbecues will rocket and the prospects of a carbon-neutral weekend will take a beating. But then, I didn't see an IPCC category for "Barbecues", so I guess we're in the clear.

Posted by racingsnake @ 02:59 PM GMT+00:00 [ Comments [3] ]

Comments:

As you probably know, one of my favourite devices for reasoning is Reductio ad Absurdum... One of the central topics around which this year's Reith Lectures revolves is population. Applying the brevity that Scott Adams employed when he also blogged on this line of reasoning the other day, if you don't have children, they (and their further nonexistent offspring, and so on for non-generations to come) won't have a carbon footprint. I wonder when the IPCC will propose that child tax should replace child allowance, and if this is done, whether political backpedalling will be provoked such that folk look hard at orbital mechanics as well as carbon dioxide...

Posted by Dave Walker on May 04, 2007 at 03:46 PM GMT+00:00 #

I think the weather may break, or at least be cool, so barbecue sales might remain in the doldrums. Fortunately, perhaps; as a non meat-eater the smell of burnt flesh, with a hint of paraffin, wafting over the neighbouhood is one of the less attractive signs of summer.

Surprised that Forestry figures in the chart at all, given that planting trees is one of the Good Things to come out of 'carbon offsetting'. Unless they're talking about not cutting down so many.

But I wish the Powers That Be would talk less about emissions and more about consumption. Energy sources as we know them are going to run out, whereas I believe the causal link between CO2 increase and GW is not proven. Governments have hijacked – perhaps even influenced – the scientific debate to suit their own agendas. When the energy runs out it won't be a problem any more anyway!

Posted by John Sandell on May 04, 2007 at 04:03 PM GMT+00:00 #

Unfortunately there's scope for an awful lot more problems between now and when the current energy sources do run out. I mean, we've seen the first "energy wars" already, and that's before energy constraints have really started to have a significant impact on the life of the average citizen of the 'developed nations'.

Posted by Robin Wilton on May 04, 2007 at 04:11 PM GMT+00:00 #

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