The Problem: There is a lack of clarity in the messaging about what people should do to help fight climate change.
The Solution: Create the equivalent of a Reduce, Re-Use, Recycle, mantra for climate change.
This idea was prompted after speaking to people about the Extinction Rebellion protests in London over the past week and finding that they were aware of the issue of climate change but were unaware of the best actions they could take to reduce their own carbon emissions and reach net-zero in their own lives.
I am a firm believer that raising awareness is, at most, one tenth of the battle; the other 90% is about enabling change, by being clear on what needs to be done and making it as easy as possible.
As such, I propose a climate change equivalent of the reduce, re-use, recycle mantra that has been around for years and is widely known; something simple and clear to understand, with three key actions to take.
As such, I propose the concept of becoming PRO-Climate:
1) Plants – make more meals each week plant-based.
2) Renewable Energy (or Renergy if one word is needed) – purchase renewable energy for your home (and workplace if you have influence over it).
3) Offset – offset all aeroplane travel (at the least, and ideally offset your total annual emissions, about 8 tonnes for the average UK citizen, which would cost about £1.50 a week to offset).
All of the actions are positive (they are not about stopping eating meat or not flying) and focus on the solution not the problem, which is much easier for the mind to process.
They are also as simple as possible: not asking people to go vegan, just getting them to increase the percentage of their diets that are plant-based; not asking people to turn off the heating, just asking them to switch to renewable energy; and not asking people to stop flying, just asking them to offset air travel.
Some people will say the above doesn’t go far enough, but it’s a start, and at least it would give clarity on the key actions people can take to stop climate change. Knowing there are three actions that are quite easy to take, do not cost much, and which can make a positive contribution to stopping climate change gives people direction. It also enables one message to be pushed by everyone in the climate change movement to give clarity to the public about the behaviour changes we need to achieve to stop climate change.
Indeed, being fully PRO-Climate (eating more plants, purchasing renewable energy and offsetting all remaining emissions) would have a big impact on the global fight against climate change.
In the UK, assuming the changes were adopted by 50 million adults and reduced average emissions by 2 tonnes per year, it would lead to a reduction of 100 million tonnes per year, and would also provide £3 billion a year (assuming 6 tonnes per person offset at £10/tonne) to fund projects to take carbon out of the atmosphere.
For three simple actions, that is a big impact.
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