footprint blog: helping people and organisations thrive on the journey to a more sustainable future.

Low Carbon Route Maps: a great place to start

osbert@osbert.org (Osbert Lancaster) — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 13:55:35 +0000

Low Carbon Route Maps "a great place to start" says, Peter Lipman, Policy Director, Sustrans and Chair, Transition Network:

It is crucial that we all respond appropriately to the climate change challenges we face. To do that communities need clear, usable guides, setting the context and enabling them to start out with both practical actions and an idea of what can be achieved. The Low Carbon Route Maps are a great place to start.

The Low Carbon Route Maps guide communities through the process of developing carbon reduction projects. They cover technical and behavioural aspects from project planning and feasibility studies, to travel, energy and food production and consumption:

Project Planning Route Map
Feasibility Study Route Map
Energy Route Map
Travel Route Map
Food Route Map and Annex
Community Buildings Route Map

Developed by Footprint for communities applying to the Scottish Government's Climate Challenge Fund, they will also be useful more widely for community led carbon reduction projects. Background here.

If you've used the route maps and found them useful (or not!) please use the comments to tell us!

Swap Alcohol for Heroin? The Nuclear Choice.

dave@footprintconsulting.org (Dave Key) — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 09:52:58 +0000

I know it's complicated and I really want to understand it but I just can't make sense of the government's latest proposal for new nuclear power plants. It simply doesn't add up...

Uranium production is forecast to peak in 2040, just ten years after the UKERC say that, in the absolute best case scenario, oil production will peak. In essence, we swap one finite resource for another - with at very best a ten year window.
If oil peaks earlier - UKERC suggest as early as 2016 is possible - then there simply isn't enough time to operationalise a new generation of nuclear power plants anyway.
Using new nuclear to reduce GHG emissions is nonsense. New nuclear capacity forecast by the government will just keep up with projected demand for electricity only if combined with existing or increased levels of fossil fuel generation.
Can you even begin to imagine how much Scope 3 (embodied) carbon there is in building a nuclear power station? No? Neither can the government... it's almost impossible to count Scope 3. Not exactly a good evidence base for commissioning nuclear power stations to reduce GHG emissions.
The government's plans for dealing with nuclear waste is a metaphor for their attitude to the issue: dig a hole and bury it.The scale and longitude of the implications of this go way beyond any reasonable degree of certainty. It's the most profound act of denial in modern state history.

I've said this before and I love the metaphor - opting for nuclear power is like trying to kick alcohol addiction by starting to use heroin instead.

None of this is to say anything about leaving our waste for future generations to deal with; the proven human health implications of nuclear power plants and waste storage; the risk of catastrophic nuclear accidents or; the potential of diverting the £4bn per power plant towards genuinely renewable, GHG reducing, energy projects.

What are the alternatives? Well, it's another one of those inconvenient truths: there is actually only one way we can ultimately deal with the energy crisis in a sustainable way. We have to use about 88% less energy¹. Not possible? It will have to be because that, ultimately, is the ecological truth of our situation.

1. See McLaren, Duncan, Simon Bullock, Nusrat Yousuf (1998) Tomorrow's World, Britain's share in a sustainable future. London: Earthscan.

Psychology is the missing link in the climate change debate

dave@footprintconsulting.org (Dave Key) — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 09:35:00 +0000

Psychology is the missing link in the climate change debate: Without a deeper insight into people's behaviour and motivations, a low-carbon world will remain out of reach. Not unpredictably, the Guardian is the first broadsheet to spot the fundamental importance of psychology in meeting the challenges of climate change.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/cif-green/2009/oct/26/psychology-of-climate-change

Pathfinder for Universities that Count

osbert@osbert.org (Osbert Lancaster) — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 14:41:03 +0000

Footprint's Pathfinder programme is now offered in partnership with the Environmental Association of Universities and Colleges. Pathfinder is a subtle blend of training, mentoring and consulting - all focussed on solving a challenging problem, developing a real project and/or implementing a process of change within an organisation, or among its stakeholders.

We've developed a programme to help universities get maximum value from their participation in Universities that Count for the Environmental Association of Universities and Colleges - the emerging standard for benchmarking sustainability and social responsibility in UK Higher Education Institutions.

We've been supporting the University of Edinburgh's social responsibility and sustainability agenda, and their 2009 UTC submission. David Somervell, Sustainability Adviser, University of Edinburgh said:

“Osbert Lancaster has given our social responsibility, sustainability & climate change agenda a real lift — bringing perspective, experience and a critical eye to bear on our thinking.”

The Pathfinder approach makes explicit something we've always believed is important: the journey is just as important as the destination. This has always informed our work as we've helped a wide range of organisations address a variety of challenges, over many years.

The Pathfinder programme:

Delivers real life outcomes, not just training outcomes;
Creates actual change, not just a report;
Leaves a legacy of relevant knowledge, skills and experience, not just a resource pack;
Doesn’t do case studies. It helps organisations solve problems, develop projects and implement change processes that matter. For real.

For universities and colleges: Universities that Count Pathfinder

For businesses, public agencies, NGOs and community groups: Pathfinder programme

Natural Change Faciliators' Course

dave@footprintconsulting.org (Dave Key) — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 09:36:03 +0000

We've had an amazing response to the Natural Change Project that we designed and led for WWF-Scotland. Many people have also asked to learn more about how the programme is facilitated...

One of the issues with running future Natural Change programmes is having the capacity to lead them. We are very keen to build this capacity and to find new potential facilitators.

We have therefore set up the first Natural Change Facilitators' training course which will be run at Knoydart on the north west coast of Scotland in April 2010.

Find out about the course here.

Download a Leaflet.
Download an Application Form.

Or contact us for more information.

Podcast on Resilience

dave@footprintconsulting.org (Dave Key) — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 11:44:48 +0000

I was recently interviewed for a podcast on 'Resilience' by Nick Wilding at a recent conference on sense of place at the Eden Project. There are some other interesting podcasts in the list too...

Find more music like this on FierySpirits.com

It's about Love, Stupid

osbert@osbert.org (Osbert Lancaster) — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 14:41:34 +0000

"When asked if I am pessimistic or optimistic about the future, my answer is always the same: If you look at the science about what is happening on earth and aren't pessimistic, you don't understand the data.

"But if you meet the people who are working to restore this earth and the lives of the poor, and you aren't optimistic, you haven't got a pulse."

So says Paul Hawken, one of my sustainability heroes. I expect these words resonate for many of us - we know things are bad but we're still inspired and encouraged by the action that so many people are taking.

We often feel that if only more people knew the facts, they too would wake up, act differently and help bring about the change that is so urgently needed.

Unfortunately there's little evidence that just giving people the 'facts' actually changes their beliefs or their behaviour.

If rational argument doesn't work, what does? Emotion?

Some argue that if people are frightened enough of climate change, then they'll believe and take action.

"Age of Stupid" takes this approach. My, admittedly anecdotal, evidence from speaking to people who've seen the film is that "Age of Stupid" does motivate still further people who are already convinced of the need to address climate change - because it reinforces their existing beliefs. But people who don't already 'get it' just come away depressed and demotivated.

If fear doesn't work, how about love?

This is the approach taken with "Home", a film by Yann Arthus-Bertrand, best known for his photographs of 'the Earth from above'.

I can't help seeing "Home" as a tragic love story of how, in dominating our beloved, beautiful Earth, we are destroying everything that makes her special.

And how only now are we realising that we depend on her absolutely.

The film is deceptively simple with just three elements: awe-inspiring film footage of the world taken from helicopter and hot air balloon; the narrator's voice telling a simple, factual story of the Earth since the birth of live; and beautiful haunting music.

The story is simple too:

The world is beautiful and 'wonder-full'.

Humans and all forms of life are intimately interconnected and dependent on each other.

Our ways of life are destroying this world, our home, of which we are a part, and on which we depend.

Now it's time to be inspired by the many examples of ecological and social renewal.

"Be the change you want to see in the world" - Gandhi

What I find really interesting about "Home" is how the film embodies Gandhi's precept in the way it communicates. If you want people to treat the Earth with respect, treat them with respect - don't tell them they're stupid. If you want people to be hopeful, give them hope - not fear. If want to encourage people, don't blame them.

"Home" doesn't blame anyone for the mess we've collectively got ourselves into.

The changes we've inflicted on the Earth were largely done with good intentions...

...and indeed are often magnificent, if perhaps misguided, human achievements.

But what's happened has happened - there's no point in blaming others, or beating ourselves up about it.

It's time to open our eyes to the beauty and wonder of the Earth.

It's time to work with and for the Earth to save ourselves.

It's time to stop dominating the Earth, and instead to respect and love the Earth for what she is.

It's time for Home

I found "Home" a powerful and inspiring film. The style and message may not touch everyone in the same way, but do watch it and see what you make of it.

"Home" is freely available on YouTube in (surprisingly) High Definition. It's worth making time to watch at least a chunk of the film - just dipping in for thirty seconds between emails won't do the film justice.

Like most films about the environmental and social challenges we face, a group screening would really benefit from a discussion afterwards. I'd be happy - if it doesn't involve too much traveling - to facilitate a discussion exploring what the film means for us and how, in the face of the data, we can try to move forward with hope.

http://www.youtube.com/homeproject

All photographs copyright Film HOME – une coproduction ELZEVIR FILMS / EUROPACORP

Paul Hawken quote from his Commencement Address to the Class of 2009, University of Portland, 3rd May 2009

Means without Meaning

dave@footprintconsulting.org (Dave Key) — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 13:53:45 +0000

In his incredible book, 'Man's Search for Meaning' Victor Frankl writes:

'People have enough to live by but nothing to live for; they have the means but no meaning.'

I think this quotation unleashes huge potential for the environmental movement.

If we can harness the growing realisation in people that consumerism is meaningless and that material wealth is only truly helpful up to a point (beyond which, research shows, we are increasingly likely to suffer from mental health problems), then we could replace this 'existential vacuum' with meaningful action towards sustainable living. Frankl suggests that such action is a key ingredient in having a meaningful life.

Living more sustainably can bring joy to our lives, as well as securing our survival.

Panarchy in Social and Ecological Systems

dave@footprintconsulting.org (Dave Key) — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 14:01:50 +0000

Many of our current technological and institutional responses to climate change are actually making us less resilient to coping with it.

This fascinating academic paper on 'Panarchy' and complex systems suggests that the more interconnected and efficient a system is, the less capacity it has to cope with change - turning contemporary approaches to building social resilience on their head...

http://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol14/iss1/art15/

Temporary Recession or the End of Growth?

dave@footprintconsulting.org (Dave Key) — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 13:28:41 +0000

Richard Heinberg's August newsletter makes very interesting reading,

'But why are both the U.S. economy and the larger global economy ailing? Among the mainstream media, world leaders, and America’s economists-in-chief (Treasury Secretary Geithner and Federal Reserve Chairman Bernanke) there is near-unanimity of opinion: these recent troubles are primarily due to a combination of bad real estate loans and poor regulation of financial derivatives...

...But what if this diagnosis is fundamentally flawed?'

See the full article: http://heinberg.wordpress.com/