Transition Nottingham

Well at least there is some agreement; climate change of some sort is happening. This is great news; we can now all act together and curb our carbon emissions and in the nick of time prevent a planetary meltdown. The human race can then pat ourselves on the back and say to each other ”we did it” then we can all have a party with future generations and feel good and righteous. There is one problem at this party; the DJ has got “it wasn’t me” by Shaggy playing on continuous loop and a lot of party goers have now started singing “it wasn’t me” as some kind of tribal battle cry. Things are getting ugly……

This last week in the build up to Copenhagen there has been so much “it’s not us” flying about the media that it would be really easy to feel depressed, angry and despondent. Yes there is global warming but humans didn’t cause it with burning of fossil fuels and basically trashing the place like a load of teenagers. No we didn’t cause the greenhouse effect, rising sea levels, melting ice caps and that poor little drowning polar bear. We didn’t do it, it’s all Natural! It wasn’t me. There has been so much reinterpretation of the facts and figures; there was a mini ice age in medieval times followed by a period of warming. The same thing is happening now don’t you know; in the 1970’s the earth cooled and now there is a natural period of warming. Simple. There have been all sorts of reasoning being reasoned, one of my favourites is that we haven’t been keeping records that long so how can we build up a true picture of history of climatic shifts.

All this of course is the foundations for the main argument which is we don’t have to do anything. As global warming is a natural phenomena there is Nothing we can do about it. We are as helpless babes and Mother Nature is just having her time of the millennium. After feeling completely gobsmacked by this take on planetary problems, I started shouting at the numptys on the telly, (who it had to be said, had taken to shouting over the sound of incredulousness) and then after all this shouting, I did a little bit of thinking and what I thought was that this denial doesn’t matter. All this wasn’t me business when so obliviously caught in the act; well let them think like that if it makes them feel better for now. Because pretty soon we are all going to be savaged by a rabid beast called peak oil and seems as though we are the only species on the planet that use oil, there can be no cry of it wasn’t me.

What is happening at the moment is quite interesting if we don’t act on carbon emission reduction to help reduce the warming effects of greenhouse gasses, then the earth is just going to shut off our supply of the black stuff. Different problems climate change and peak oil but the endgame is the same; a reduction in the burning and use of fossil fuels. The difference is reduction through choice with climate change or reduction through no options left, peak oil. Of course one is a lot more painful than the other and there would be not a lot left of our beautiful home which Nature has provided for us. We are being presented with a carrot or a stick and I know which one I prefer.

We have been given the perfect double whammy with climate change and peak oil and sooner or later they are going to hit us hard. The good news is that we have been given loads of warning to prepare, train, and cue Rocky music. The bad news is that we don’t have much time.  This is why movements like Transition are so important, because we can “do something” ourselves and not have to be at the mercy of the deniers. We have a whole gym of ideas to train in but like all gyms there is the first excitement of joining and then the love affair dies off and all that is left is a flabby body and wasted money for the membership.  It doesn’t matter what happens at Copenhagen, whatever happens there it will not be enough to really affect changes that are needed. What does matter is the choices that you and I take, the support that we give to each other and the preparation that we do in Transition Gym.

Clare Davies