ActForEaling and an audience of around 30 people were thrilled to listen to Dr Neil Jennings climate conversation on Thursday night (25th September at Open Ealing) discussing our current understanding of climate change. Dr Jennings works at the Grantham Institute at Imperial college, and is an excellent communicator about both climate science and society’s response to it. The presentation was part of our commitment to Ealing’s Better Living Climate Week.
The content of the “scary stuff section” of the presentation was as we might expect in 2025. Dr Jennings noted that we are still off course to achieving net zero, resulting in ever hotter average temperatures compared to the baseline average, and ever reddening climate stripes for each generation. The ramifications of this are sobering: extreme weather events being more likely and more intense, increased pressures on food production and price inflation, die-off of some habitats (in particular coral reefs) and increased effect on our physical and mental health essentially due to overheating. This is the bad news, and the underlying imperative to ensure that we don’t forget the seriousness of the situation.
Climate Change Solutions
However, the “solutions” part of the presentation offered several reasons for hope.
Dr Jennings pointed out that before the Paris agreement was signed, the world was on track for 4 degrees of warming by 2100, a number that now stands at a significantly reduced 2.5 degrees to 2.9 degrees. So while we are still heading in the wrong direction, the course is being corrected. Some of this course correction results from the phase out of fossil fuels, since global Installed solar energy capacity is increasing exponentially and is on course to overtake gas by 2031 and coal by 2033, while electric vehicles are already replacing petrol engine cars in countries like Norway.
Climate Majority
Dr Jennings also pointed that people care about the climate, noting that that we often seriously underestimate the readiness of those arounds us to support action on climate change. The is the “climate majority” – a majority of people that would like politicians to take stronger action on claim and who would be willing to contribute some of their income to support climate action. Dr Jennings noted that the Climate Change Committee estimate that achieving net zero in the UK by 2050 would cost only 0.2% of GDP – a tiny fraction, significantly less than the cost of doing nothing, and extremely good value for money, if it ensures that we have a habitable, hospitable world to pass on to current and future generations.
At the end of the climate conversation, and in the questions and answers section, we were challenged to think about what this message meant for us. What can we do to ensure that we remain on the right track to reduce carbon emissions and to bring all of society along with us? On a personal level, we can eat less meat and dairy, choose less energy intensive means of travel, try to make our home more energy efficient, and rewild / regreen the landscape around us. But when we have done that, what next? How do we effect wider change?
Make your voice heard
Making our voice heard to those in power is essential, remembering to express our concerns to our MPs, our elected councillors, and even employers or colleagues. It may feel like we are not always heard, or that things do not change quickly enough, but raising climate concerns means that those with the ability and responsibility to effect change are reminded that climate change is a priority and means that they are also given “political cover” for taking appropriate climate related measures.
We should also remember that there is a climate majority, even if this is not always apparent. Conversations about climate change can be challenging, because different people may be concerned about different aspects of climate change and may respond in different ways to messaging. But most people can agree that they want things to be better.
Addressing climate change is not merely an abstract problem to be solved, but translates directly into a better environment for us to live in. It can mean more local and healthier food, better travel options to get to work and move around, greener more pleasant neighbourhoods to live in, and warmer homes and healthier people. These are benefits that surely everyone would like to see, and which directly flow from measures that also address climate change.
Progress is happening, and if we want to see more, the answer is to keep having those conversations, and nudging / supporting those who can effect wider change.
If you would like the slides from the climate conversation presentation, please contact us.
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