Operation Noah's Solutions

Content:

The Solution, Part 1: Collective Action not Voluntarism
The Solution, Part 2: Leadership
The Solution, Part 3: A goal of 1 tonne per person by 2030

The Solution, Part 1: Collective Action not Voluntarism

"What must be junked is not the individual's wish to do his or
her bit but the very idea that this alone can be the answer."
Julian Glover, The Guardian, 8th September 2007

Everywhere we look - on television, in magazines, on billboards - we, as individuals, are being asked to make changes in our lives for the sake of tackling climate change. We are asked, for example, to change our lightbulbs, change our energy supplier, insulate our lofts.

Changing personal behaviour is a crucial part of growing individual and public awareness, of doing the right thing, and of adapting to new circumstances, in which we cannot burn fossil fuels in an unregulated way, nor carry on consuming endlessly. And yet, instinctively, when we hear how grave and how global the threat from climate change is, we fear these individual, voluntary measures won't be enough. The very scale of global warming can be paralysing. It leaves people feeling that what they do in their own lives won't make the difference because their neighbours may be doing nothing. We can all empathise with the feeling, "so what if I change all my lightbulbs when my neighbour flies to Rome for the weekend?"

And even if someone wanted to reduce their 'carbon footprint' substantially they would have a hard time achieving it within the UK's economic system and infrastructure over which individuals have no direct control.

Operation Noah believes firmly that global warming is a threat to our security and to the security of future generations that is too big and too urgent to dispel through voluntary action or a 'DIY Global Repairs' approach. We know we are facing a crisis which demands an unprecedented level of collective action.

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The Solution, Part 2: Leadership

"The only safe ship in a storm is leadership."
Faye Wattleton, American activist

The task at hand demands an almost unprecedented level of cohesion and collective action within society and the only way to achieve that is through bold societal and governmental leadership - so that everyone takes action.

Operation Noah is campaigning for both the churches and the government to exercise true leadership in tackling global warming.

You may ask why the churches should lead on this issue.

It is because global warming is not just a scientific or political issue but above all a moral and spiritual issue. On receiving the Nobel Peace Prize in October 2007 for his work on climate change, Al Gore said, "We face a true planetary emergency. The climate crisis is not a political issue, it is a moral and spiritual challenge to all of humanity."

Global warming is a wake-up call to all, reminding us of our responsibility to protect all of God's creation, both now and into the future. It is as much a spiritual crisis as an environmental one because it is our greedy, energy-hungry lifestyles which have diseased the earth's climate system.

Operation Noah believes that churches and other faith organisations should be taking the lead in their local and national communities, and demonstrating that following the example of Christ in living more simply will both improve well-being, and help save the gift of our planet which is God's creation both now and for future generations.

Faith organisations are uniquely placed to mobilise large numbers of people, bolstered by the moral awareness surrounding climate change, to persuade government to lead on behalf of us all. People of faith did this with the Jubilee 2000 debt campaign, in the face of the injustice of low-income countries' indebtedness to the west. They achieved profound results. This time, the challenge is even deeper. It is about our very survival and the survival of our children and most of life on earth.

The British government, along with other governments, is currently joining in the calls for individuals to take responsibility for climate change. We need to mobilise in order to persuade the government that it must lead society. The government will not take the difficult and courageous steps needed, against strong vested interests in the status quo, unless we build the political momentum. In turn, our mobilisation will give the government the mandate it needs to lead.

Operation Noah believes that the British government must urgently implement a strong legislative framework to tackle UK emissions through regulation and rationing of greenhouse gas emissions. This framework should make the necessary, deep-rooted and coordinated transformation to our economic systems that will enable us to drive down emissions to a sustainable level.

And the legislative framework must spread the burden of adjustment fairly and equitably among the population. The sacrifices required of the wealthy, who consume more energy and resources, must be greater than those required of the poor.

Operation Noah is convinced that action by Britain is not only right morally but will set an example to the world that will rapidly be taken up by other governments.

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The Solution, Part 3:A goal of 1 tonne per person by 2030

"It is very clear now that those people that are emitting at very high levels, of which the UK is one nation, will have to make very substantial reductions almost immediately in their current emissions."
Dr. Kevin Anderson of the Tyndall Centre, giving evidence to Parliament's Joint Committee on the draft Climate Change Bill, May 2007.

Operation Noah's aim is for UK carbon dioxide, CO2, emissions to be reduced from the current level of around 9.5 tonnes per person per year, to around 1 tonne by 2030. That is a 90% cut over 22 years. By contrast the government's current proposals in its draft Climate Change Bill envisage a 60% cut over 42 years - widely agreed by scientists to be wholly inadequate.

Our goal has been framed on the basis of strong evidence:

1. Danger in Delay: Many distinguished scientists emphasise the need to start cutting emissions deeply right now. They fear that delaying action is the most dangerous scenario and will incur much higher financial and human costs. The Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research states that "The real challenge we face is in making the radical shift onto a low-carbon pathway by 2010-2012, and thereafter driving down carbon intensity at an unprecedented 9% per year for up to 2 decades."

2. Avoiding Catastrophic Warming: Scientists estimate that the current concentration of GHGs in the atmosphere has already reached the level widely accepted as ushering in a global temperature rise of 2ºC, (a consensus in the science suggests that once the global average temperature rises by more than 2°C, the effects will be catastrophic). The earth only absorbs around half of the emissions currently being pumped out. Logic would tell us, therefore, that to remain at 2ºC of heating, we should halve the global amount of fossil fuels we burn as of now, so the earth can absorb all that we emit.

But the Hadley Centre estimates that the earth's absorptive capacity will have fallen by a third by 2030, and the world's population will have risen by about a third. All in all, this means that each person on earth in 2030 can only emit around 1 tonne of carbon dioxide if we want to have a chance of keeping the temperature rise within 2ºC.

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