Climate change and us

Andy Johnson
Thursday, January 7th 2010

IN early August last year, the London Times published a full page advertisement, a message really, informing its readers about some of the things it and other UK corporations had been doing to effect a change in the way Britons protect the environment.

The newspaper reported that it had already reduced to zero its own contribution to the carbon footprint. It said diners in the UK were being advised to eat less lamb. A bus company in Bristol had put on trial vehicles which run on old cooking oil. Marks and Spencer, the giant department store chain, had launched a range of school uniforms made out of old plastic bottles. The Manchester City Council had suggested that a local crematorium use the heat it generates to power its boiler. The Church of England was urging Christians to give up using their dishwashers for lent. And Helen Storey, a designer, had developed a dress which disintegrates in the wash.

Coca-Cola, the iconic American soft-drink manufacturer, had proudly announced itself as the ’official recycling provider’ for the Democratic National Convention in Denver the August before. That was the convention which chose Barack Obama as the party’s candidate for the US presidency. Its messages included information cards among the material inserted in kits for delegates and media, pointing to its commitments on such matters as sustainable packaging and recycling, energy conservation, climate change and water stewardship. It was designing a packaging operation that would have saved 100 million pounds of plastic in the US in 2008 alone. The company said it had a plan to return 100 per cent of the water it used in producing its beverages back to nature. And working with its partners, it said it had developed the largest heavy-duty hybrid electricity delivery fleet in North America. It was then operating 140 such trucks in the US, improving fuel efficiency by 32 per cent and reducing emissions by 37 per cent, among other touted benefits. On a card which was said to have been made from 100 per cent recycled paper, an enterprise known as EcoDriving USA was also advising conventioneers about how they could work towards reducing fuel use, save money at the gas pumps and reduce carbon emissions at the same time. The card would grow if it were planted, the distributors said. It was said to have been embedded with wild sunflower seeds. ’Read it, plant it, water it, grow it,’ readers were advised. Readers were being advised not to tailgate nor race to the next stop sign and urged to maintain an optimum highway speed for good mileage, check tyre pressures monthly and remove excess weight from their vehicles. All of these initiatives were found to be simple, practical things which ordinary people can do to help protect the environment from the damage which leads to global warming and climate change, the disaster that is said to be almost upon us, and about which world leaders have grappled for workable solutions. The UWI professor who contended in November that many people may not yet even know what the term ’climate change’ means may well have been right. But certain responses to such a situation-that therefore they have nothing to worry about, or that we do nothing to protect ourselves and preserve the earth-could not be more wrong-headed. Undisturbed, the Network of NGOs for the Advancement of Women in Trinidad and Tobago, has just published a calendar on what ordinary people here can and must do to make our own difference, as we must. Many of the bits and pieces of advice in the publication mirror some of those highlighted by the public and private campaigns featured above. Helpful tips about what citizens can and should do at home, at work, on the roads, at school and at play are presented in formats that are tailor-made for local consumption. TCL, the cement company, felt obligated to associate itself with the publication, informing customers and consumers of its own environmentally friendly commitments. ’Greener than before,’ it calls its new operation, referring to the production of its ’Premium Plus’ Portland cement. Its properties and its production process render it more environmentally friendly, the company says. In mid-last year also, Robert Riley, the Trinidadian who is chairman and CEO of bpTT, ventured his own list of dos and don’ts, advising on a change of behaviour in our use of energy. Simple actions such as unplugging toasters and microwave ovens, cellphone chargers and unattended radio and TV sets, he said, could add up to contributions that are substantial. Acting individually and in concert, the Network Calendar 2010 on Climate Change and the Environment, is encouraging us to believe we can make a difference. It makes the case for how individual action will give moral force to the call for political action in avoiding the dangers of climate change. It is a crusade we must join. Source: http://www.trinidadexpress.com/index.pl/article_opinion?id=161579076