Zero Carbon Britain

A couple of weeks after completing the course on "Climate Change challenges and solutions" I was talking to some representatives of neighbouring Transition Towns. I proposed we should adopt "Zero Carbon" as a goal on the premise that this might encourage more people to appreciate and become involved in Transition.

The responses were interesting:

"It's completely unrealistic..."
"It's not what Transition is all about..."
"We'll never persuade politicians...."
"Preserving bio-diversity is important too..."
"How would that encourage local food schemes..."
"Tailor your message to your audience..."

The last response was helpful, and as a start I'm using this blog to explain how I arrived at "Zero Carbon". (To be precise it should really be "Net Zero Carbon", but I don't believe in using three words when two will do).

I've always been a bit of an activist, in fact I believe we all try to persuade and justify our beliefs to others, one way or another, whether it's about religion, politics, how to rear children, diet or exercise regimes, or the latest gizmos. So why "Zero Carbon"?

The short answer is that none of the Transition aims listed above can be achieved - in the long run, for benefit of my offspring - unless we reach "Zero Carbon" in the shortest possible time. There's no chance of feeding a population of 9 billion or preserving bio-diversity unless we stabilise earth's climate.

The difficult thing for many people to grasp is that, even if we could completely halt carbon dioxide emissions today, earth's climate will continue warming for very many years to come. That means other natural processes which contribute to further warming will carry on too, such as: 

• Loss of ice cover reflecting sunlight back into space
• Rainforests drying out so they absorb less carbon dioxide
• Warming of permafrost which releases methane (another powerful greenhouse gas)

"Zero Carbon" is the only way we can start to slow these processes, and give ourselves time to discover how to manage them and take the steps needed to stabilise the climate. The scientific evidence shows that "80% cuts by 2050" just won't hack it. And anyway, even if 80% were enough, what then?

Chart from Zero Carbon Britain, Centre for Alternative Technology   

That's why I believe "Zero Carbon" should be our goal for Transition. Read more in Zero Carbon Britain - a recent report by the Centre for Alternative Technology.