What's the point?

Is there any point in going green? Well is there? We think we do enough don't we? hastily haul our green boxes and bins of recycling onto the pavement fortnightly, buy the occasional 'loose' tomato maybe even consider glamping by the sea for our holidays this year. We feel great, but then...despondency can easily sink in. If some of us are making sacrifices but the majority aren't it feels like a losing battle in the attempt to reduce the impact of climate change.

It's the classic free rider problem: what's the point if no-one else is going to bother. It gets worse when you consider the whole world, let alone your neighbours. If we can't get people to re-cycle on our street then how on earth are we going to get China and India to make their sacrifice?

Al Gore discussed this issue in his seminal movie An Inconvenient Truth. He argued that, first, there will be climate change deniers (a summary of their arguments can be seen here.) But when confronted with the overwhelming evidence that climate change is here and happening right now Gore believed that a second shift would occur with many people feeling despondent and apathetic.

It feels that we're beginning to reach this point. We're getting upset with the government about oil prices, food prices and floods and so on, but there's less of the climate change denial and much more anger. And there's a lot to be angry about. As governments fail to show a lead in climate change, the market will do it for them. Insurance claims will rise for those near flood plains, food prices will rise as supply remains static or even falling, peak oil may have been reached. It's hitting our pockets hard.

In many ways the market may quicken the need to change as people looking to save money and resources will look to those that are pioneers in reducing their carbon footprint. It feels that being green is still a minority lifestyle, but saving money and going green will be huge in the next few years and glamping, eating local food, growing your own and electric/hybrid cars will become increasingly common.

This leads us to what we hope will be the third phase: optimism and belief. That solidarity, the harnessing of green technology, the growth of carbon neutral businesses and good governance will steer us through a turbulent time. We're optimistic, are you?