Buzzing like a Breaking Bad fly

There is an episode in the television series Breaking Bad which features Walter White, the show’s central character, obsessively trying to catch a fly which he feels is contaminating his crystal meth lab.

If you’ve not the seen the show, Walter’s cancer diagnosis sets him on a dangerous journey from middle-aged family man and inspirational High School teacher to master meth cook and scheming drug kingpin.

The fly featured in the episode symbolises Walter’s attack of conscience over the desperate actions he has taken and the dark choices he has made to stay alive and, as he tells himself, to provide for his family.

I liken myself to the Breaking Bad fly as I buzz persistently and annoyingly around the consciences of the politicians elected to represent me. The fly Walter White takes extreme measures and suffers harm to silence is a reminder to him of the nefarious actions he has taken to secure a future for his family. In the same way, I have pestered my MP, MSPs and the Scottish government with emails and the occasional visit to their surgery in an attempt to rouse them from their immoral inaction on climate change and remind them of their duty to act now to safeguard the future of my family.

Contacting members of Parliament does have an effect. On their own, emails like mine are easily swatted away but a swarm of voices persistently buzzing in the ear of our politicians cannot be ignored. Roseanna Cunningham, the Scottish Cabinet Secretary for Climate Change, acknowledged the influence of the voices of Scottish people when she announced on 2nd May more ambitious targets to tackle the climate emergency, “There is a global climate emergency and people across Scotland have been calling, rightly, for more ambition to tackle it and safeguard our planet for future generations.”

The Breaking Bad episode ended with the lab fly dead and a distraught Walter White in bed at home, kept awake by the sound of a fly buzzing around the darkened room.

Climate change has reached the end of an episode too. Scottish and UK Governments have both now committed to net zero emissions by 2045 and 2050 respectively. This does not clear our politicians’ consciences. The targets have taken too long to set and are meaningless without actions to back them up. I will still be emailing my elected representatives to ask what specific measures they are now pushing for to combat the climate crisis. I am now the fly buzzing around Walter White’s bedroom.

‘Not a lame duck’ PM but still not a role model person

I tell my boys it is important to acknowledge their mistakes, rectify them if possible and learn from them always. I also think it is important to follow the principles I teach.

So, I acknowledge a mistake I made in writing my last post, rectify it in this post by making an apology and promise to learn from my mistake by only publishing in future posts things that I can back up with fact and reason.

In my last post, I called Theresa May “our lame duck Prime Minister”. In this post: I acknowledge calling May a lame duck is factually incorrect, I apologise to the Prime Minister for wrongly calling her a lame duck and I learn from my mistake by checking definitions before I publish.

The dictionary definition of ‘lame duck’ is ‘a politician or government in the final period of office, after a successor has been elected.’ Due to the current state of British politics, a successor to Theresa May is still to be elected. On this basis, Theresa May cannot be accurately described as a ‘lame duck’.

I felt justified using the term without checking its definition because I believed Theresa May would not have any authority in her final few weeks as Prime Minister to make any decisions or effect any change. On this more substantial point I was also wrong.

The ‘not a lame duck’ Prime Minister made a big announcement which claimed legislation introduced by her will eradicate the UK’s net contribution to climate change by 2050.

The statutory instrument to implement this will be laid in Parliament today, Wednesday 12 June. This will amend the Climate Change Act 2008.

Statutory Instruments (SIs) are regularly used to amend existing laws without Parliament having to go through the lengthy process of passing an Act. Around, 3,500 SIs are made every year. The change in law will automatically take effect unless there is an objection within a fixed period – usually 40 days – after SIs have been laid.

This legislation will mean that the UK is on track to become the first G7 country to legislate for net zero emissions. 

‘Not a lame duck’ Prime Minister Theresa May said, “Now is the time to go further and faster to safeguard the environment for our children. This country led the world in innovation during the Industrial Revolution, and now we must lead the world to a cleaner, greener form of growth.”

Perhaps Theresa May is also acknowledging mistakes and learning lessons from her time as Prime Minister?

May’s downfall has been attributed to her unwillingness to listen. Well, it appears she has listened to the Committee on Climate Change (CCC) the government’s independent advisory body, when they said about legislating for zero emissions, “Do it Now.”

May has legislated and her announcement today commits future governments to keep listening to the people who are likely to be most affected by the effects of climate change.

The change to the law laid down by the ‘Not a lame duck’ Prime Minister sets a target. Future governments will determine the precise direction of future climate policy but May also announced young people will have the chance to shape policy through the Youth Steering Group. The Group, led by the British Youth Council, will advise Government on priorities for environmental action and give a view on progress to date against existing commitments on climate, waste and recycling, and biodiversity loss.

However, May has not fully taken on board the lessons of her mistakes as Prime Minister. The ability to use International Carbon Credits is still retained as a tool to eradicate the UK’s net contribution to climate change. This means the UK can meet its legally binding target by trading excess emissions to other, usually less developed, nations. The CCC advised it was “essential” that such credits were not used.

The ‘Not a Lame Duck’ Prime Minister also promised a further assessment of the target will be conducted within 5 years to ensure UK industries do not face unfair competition if other countries do not follow suit.

“Reaching net zero by 2050 is an ambitious target, but it is crucial that we achieve it to ensure we protect our planet for future generations.” May’s words ring hollow when she disregards the advice of the government’s scientific advisers and provides loopholes for the UK not actually reaching net zero emissions by 2050.

May has shown I was wrong to call her a ‘lame duck’ for which I apologise and learn my lesson (I have tried my best to understand about Statutory Instruments and International Carbon Credits). Her action to set net zero emission targets is welcome but it is not strong enough to safeguard future generations as she claims….or make her a good role model for my boys.

We need a new ‘ist’

The ‘Moneyists’ have taken us to the edge of the cliff and seem determined to drive us over. “Money makes the world go round,” is a line from a musical but has become a core belief for the ‘Moneyists’ who have successfully shaped the way the world works around this mantra.

I don’t need to be an astrophysicist to know it’s not true. I am certain, even with my basic knowledge of physics, that the world will keep spinning on its axis as it orbits the sun without the man-made creation of money. However, ‘Moneyists’, like Philip Hammond, Chancellor of the Exchequer, reject the laws of physics and, instead, choose to follow a school of thought that places money at the centre of our universe.

Hammond, an important figure in the UK chapter of ‘Moneyists’, made the news headlines this week when a letter written by him to Theresa May, our lame-duck UK Prime Minister, was seen by journalists at the Financial Times. The letter to May followed recent advice given by the Committee on Climate Change (CCC), the government’s independent advisory body on climate change. The CCC set the UK Government a target to reach net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 to limit the effects of climate change. Net zero means any greenhouse gases put into the atmosphere must be taken back out. In his letter, Hammond warned the cost of achieving net zero emissions by 2050 is “likely to be well in excess of a trillion pounds.” 

Spreadsheet Phil, as the Chancellor is unaffectionately known even amongst his Conservative party colleagues, also warned the war against climate change would mean less money for schools, hospitals, police and other public spending and some industries would become “economically uncompetitive.” Hammond even suggested an “explicit review point” , or get out clause as the Financial Times labelled it, should be agreed to allow the government to move the target if it is costing too much money to save us from catastrophic climate change.

In Hammond’s world, the financial bottom line is the key measure of human life. Hammond does not include in his spreadsheet autosum the climate change impacts on people, such as health and well-being, that are felt by continuing with ‘business as usual’.

The cost of greenhouse gas emissions on human health is laid out in a World Health Organisation (WHO) report launched at the United Nations Conference on Climate Change in December. In the report, leading health experts told governments that meeting climate change targets could save 1 million lives a year from reduced air pollution alone.

How do you account for 1 million lives in a spreadsheet? The WHO included in their report translations to a language that would be understood by ‘Moneyists’, like Philip Hammond, who reject the laws of physics and believe instead in the forces of financial markets. The report states exposure to air pollution causes 7 million deaths worldwide every year and costs an estimated US$ 5.11 trillion in welfare losses globally. The report also calculates for the ‘Moneyists’ that countries with the largest greenhouse emissions, including the UK, would save four times the amount in health spending than the amount spent to reduce air pollution.

“The true cost of climate change is felt in our hospitals and in our lungs,” said Dr Maria Neira, WHO Director of Public Health, Environmental and Social Determinants of Health, at the launch of the report.

The WHO report called for governments to include health when weighing up the costs and benefits of measures to fight the war against climate change. “When health is taken into account, climate change mitigation is an opportunity, not a cost,” translated Dr Neira.

Hammond, whose spreadsheet thinking represents the interest of the ‘Moneyists’ first, appears to lack the vision and breadth of thinking needed to wage war on the causes of climate change. Phil can only focus as far the next spending review and cannot imagine beyond ‘business as usual’ economic measures.

A new way of thinking about money is needed to tackle the roots of climate change. Money should not be an end in itself as we have allowed the ‘Moneyists’ to convince us. Money should be a means to healthier, happier ends for individuals and a sustainable future for the planet.

We need a new kind of ‘ist’ to steer us away from the climate change precipice and onwards to a new, bright, sustainable future. Perhaps a ‘Precipist’ , or maybe a ‘Peopleist’, what about a ‘Planetist’? Whatever the ‘ist’ is it has to put the people and planet at the centre of what we do…whilst keeping sight of the laws of physics.

Pay Attention Politicians Before Time Runs Out

The Brexit green light has failed to go on. Meanwhile, the climate change red light is flashing furiously. Instead of reacting urgently to the warning about catastrophic climate change, our political leaders are still consumed by Brexit and its fallout. 

“Attention, as it turns out, is a scarce resource: if you focus on one thing, you will lose awareness of other things,” posited Matthew Syed in his bestselling book Black Box Thinking.

Syed recounts in his book the disaster of United Airlines 173, which in 1978 crashed on approach to Oregon Airport tragically killing ten people on board, to draw a lesson that perception of time is lost when too much focus is given to one task at the expense of the bigger picture.

An air accident investigation established the cause of the crash; the plane which had been circling the airport in a holding pattern had run out of fuel.

So what caused an aircraft flown by an experienced pilot to crash in close range of the airport because the fuel tanks had emptied? Two reasons are suggested by Syed: 1. The Captain lost track of time and 2. The established hierarchy of the cockpit.

As United Airlines 173 made its approach for landing, a loud noise had been heard when the landing gear was released and the green light in the cockpit that normally signals the wheels have lowered into position had not illuminated. The experienced aircraft Captain, correctly, wanted to make sure the plane was safe to land and radioed Air Traffic Control for extra flying time to investigate. The aircraft was put into a holding pattern high above the city of Portland. While he wrestled with the problem of the green light not switching on, another more critical problem loomed. The engineer in the cockpit was concerned fuel, which was being quickly burned as the plane continued circling the city, was now dangerously low and alerted the pilot. Still fixated by the first less critical problem, the repeated warnings did not register.  By the time they did, it was too late to avoid catastrophe.

The Captain was so focused on one problem he was incapable of giving attention to another far more important issue. The Engineer was aware of the bigger danger but felt so constrained by the cockpit hierarchy he was unable to confront the authority of the pilot and take control of the situation.

Our political leaders must not fall into the same psychological trap that ensnared the Captain of United Airlines Flight 173 causing a plane to crash. Nor must we be as passive as the engineer on the flight whose reticence to challenge his Captain ultimately cost him his life. 

Scientists have lit up the climate change red light on the global dashboard by warning we have less than 10 years to prevent a climate and ecological catastrophe. We must assertively speak up now. We must insist our political leaders turn their attention from the ideological issues of Brexit and Scottish Independence to sustaining the critical life systems of our planet.  

Forget Brexit. Forget Scottish independence. Focus fully on the climate challenge. Or time will run out on us all before we know it. 

Another record breaking year. Another warning from scientists.

Scientists are working hard to alert us to the harm we are doing to our planet. Scientific data on the impact of human activity on climate and ecological systems is churned out thick and fast. The reports published constantly and consistently warn of the growing danger of climate and ecological breakdown.

The latest record breaking data was published on 4th June by scientists at The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere continued its rapid rise in 2019, with the average for May peaking at 414.7 parts per million at NOAA’s Mauna Loa Atmospheric Baseline Observatory.

This is the highest seasonal peak recorded in 61 years of observations on top of Hawaii’s largest volcano, and the seventh consecutive year of steep global increases in concentrations of CO2. The 2019 peak value was 3.5 parts per million (ppm) higher than the 411.2 ppm peak reached in May 2018; it represents the second-highest annual jump on record. 

The highest monthly CO2 value of the year occurs in May, just before plants start to remove large amounts of CO2 from the atmosphere during the northern hemisphere growing season. In the northern autumn, winter, and early spring, plants and soils give off CO2, causing levels to rise through May. This is known as The Keeling Curve after Charles Keeling who set up the measurement of carbon dioxide from the top of the Mauna Loa volcano in 1958 and was first to observe the seasonal rise and subsequent fall in CO2 levels.

The levels of CO2 measured in the atmosphere have grown every year since Keeling took his first measurement. “The growth rate is still very high,” said Keeling’s son, geochemist Ralph Keeling who now runs the program at Mauna Loa. “The increase from last May was  3.5 ppm,  which is well above the average for the past decade.  We’re likely seeing the effect of mild El Niño conditions on top of record fossil fuel use.”

The latest warning to accompany the scientific data was given by Pieter Tans, senior scientist with NOAA’s Global Monitoring Division: “Many proposals have been made to mitigate global warming, but without a rapid decrease of  CO2 emissions from fossil fuels they are pretty much futile.”

The data from the Hawaiian observatory adds to the stack of authoritative reports on the distressed state of our eco-systems produced by leading scientists in the last few months. The reports include:

1. The UN review of Global emissions
The UN Environment Deputy Executive Director Joyce Msuya said, “The science is clear; for all the ambitious climate action we’ve seen – governments need to move faster and with greater urgency. We’re feeding this fire while the means to extinguish it are within reach.”
The report offers some optimism for our future if policy makers embrace fiscal policy measures and innovative solutions to reduce carbon emissions. 

2. World Meteorological Organisation’s State of Climate 2018
The statement provides climate data showing a trend to catastrophic climate change. The WMO warned that, on current trends, warming could reach 3C to 5C by the end of this century. This is another alarm raised by another scientific body demanding ambitious targets and immediate action.


3. World Wildlife Fund The Living Planet Report 2018
This report found humanity has wiped out 60% of mammals, birds, fish and reptiles since 1970. The findings contained in this report and the actions required to avoid mass extinctions overlap Climate Change. 
Prof Johan Rockström, a global sustainability expert at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research in Germany said, “Only by addressing both ecosystems and climate do we stand a chance of safeguarding a stable planet for humanity’s future on Earth.”

4. UN Report on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services

The landmark report warns, “Nature is declining globally at rates unprecedented in human history – and the rate of species extinctions is accelerating, with grave impacts on people around the world now likely.”

For the first time at this scale and based on a thorough analysis of the available evidence, the five direct drivers of change in nature with the largest relative global impacts so far were ranked. These culprits are, in descending order: (1) changes in land and sea use; (2) direct exploitation of organisms; (3) climate change; (4) pollution and (5) invasive alien species.

The Report notes that, since 1980, greenhouse gas emissions have doubled and the impacts of climate change are expected to increase over the coming decades, in some cases surpassing the impact of land and sea use change.

Hope is offered by Sir Roberst Watson, chair of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services: “The report tells us that it is not too late to make a difference, but only if we start now at every level from local to global,” he said said. “Through ‘transformative change’, nature can still be conserved, restored and used sustainably – this is also key to meeting most other global goals.”

5. Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5c

The Special Report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change was produced to “deliver the authoritative, scientific guide for governments” to deal with climate change.

The report sets governments a target to limit global warming to 1.5 °C above pre-industrial levels to reduce challenging impacts on ecosystems, human health and well-being from the effects of climate change.

For global warming to be limited to 1.5 °C, the report says “Global net human-caused emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) would need to fall by about 45 percent from 2010 levels by 2030, reaching ‘net zero’ around 2050.”

The reports key finding is that meeting a 1.5 °C target is possible but would require “deep emissions reductions” and “rapid, far-reaching and unprecedented changes in all aspects of society.”

The message given in all the reports is the same: we are damaging systems vital to sustaining life on the planet, we are accelerating towards catastrophic irreversible change, we still have time to safeguard the planet for future generations if we make big changes to the way we live our lives now.

The scientists are working hard to produce the data and sound the warnings. Individuals can act on their own to make little differences but the burden of responsibility for leading the transformation of society must be carried mainly by politicians. They have chosen to be in positions of influence just at the time mankind faces the biggest challenge it has ever known. They must face the responsibility and clean up the mess that has been made.

Like my boys after being asked to tidy their room, they have been given plenty of warnings about the consequences if they don’t

Climate Emergency: Contributions of a Quiet Person

I want to shout about climate change but I’m too polite. Writing is easier for somebody quiet like me.

In my first venture into blogging, I begin my quiet contribution to the climate emergency response by recapping the climate change story so far.

Climate Change is Happening 

“Right now we are facing a manmade disaster of global scale, our greatest threat in thousands of years: climate change,” said Sir David Attenborough at the United Nations summit on Climate Change.

Attenborough was speaking to politicians gathered from around the world shortly after scientists had warned governments they only have until 2030 to stop the most damaging effects of climate change. 

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which uses research from the world’s leading scientists, published a report on 8th October 2018 flagging the dangers of allowing increases in global temperatures to continue rising. 

Global temperatures in 2018 were the fourth hottest since modern measurements began in 1850. The three hottest? 2016, 2015 and 2017.

Derek Schmidt, a top NASA scientist, said that 2018 was “quite clearly the fourth warmest year on record and it was probably warmer than many hundreds of years before that”.

We see the effects of higher temperatures through news reporting on the devastation caused by storms, floods, droughts and wildfires.  We know climate change caused by increases in global temperatures makes events, like the recent floods in Mozambique and the wildfires that scorched California, more likely and more severe. Schmidt confirmed, “The impacts of long-term global warming are already being felt – in coastal flooding, heatwaves, intense precipitation and ecosystem change.” 

The World Meteorological Organisation (WMO), which uses thousands of  weather stations, ships, aircraft, radar and satellites to take measurements from land, sea and air, also measured 2018 as the fourth warmest on record. 

“The degree of warming during the past four years has been exceptional, both on land and in the ocean.” said  the boss of the WMO,  Petteri Talaas. “Many of the extreme weather events are consistent with what we expect from a changing climate. This is a reality we need to face up to.”

Climate Change is Man-made

“Comprehensive assessment by scientists shows that it is extremely likely that human activity has been the dominant cause of warming since the mid-20th Century.” So say the Committee on Climate Change (CCC) which advises both UK and Scottish governments.

They point out there is strong evidence that increased amounts of greenhouse gases released into the atmosphere by human activity is the cause of global heating. 

Scientists have known since the early 1800s that greenhouse gases, which include carbon dioxide, trap heat from the sun. The amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere fluctuates naturally by a small amount but there has been a massive spike in the amounts recorded since 1950. Levels are now well above the natural cycle of the last 800,000 years. 

The 1950s was the dawn of the modern lifestyle we now enjoy. Governments spent billions to help economies recover after the Second World War and the post war ‘golden age’ was fuelled by a boom in oil production. ‘Black gold’ became the world’s most important natural resource. The number of barrels produced increased from 10 million per day in 1950 to 50 million per day by 1970. We now produce more than 80 million barrels per day. 

The lives we live are dependent on oil. We use it to fuel our vehicles, heat and light our homes and make the chemicals and plastics that underpin our modern lifestyle. However, burning oil, and other fossil fuels, belches greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere, trapping heat from the sun. 

Scientists say there is a 95% probability climate change is man-made. 

Our Future is at Risk

A global movement has grown from the concerns of young people for their future. Young people across the world are choosing not to attend school to protest against politicians response to climate change.

Greta Thunberg, the Swedish school girl who inspired the school strikes, has become the voice of future generations. In a no-nonsense speech to MPs at the Houses of Parliament she said, “You lied to us. You gave us false hope. You told us that the future was something to look forward to. ”

The climate change predictions made by scientists in the IPCC report make the risks to future generations frighteningly clear. We are warned that sea level rises will wipe out small islands, like the Maldives, and large coastal cities, like Miami, and life in many parts of the oceans will die. On land, habitats will be transformed and many species will become extinct. For humans, poverty and disadvantage are expected to increase, health will be affected by heat related illness and the spread of disease, such as malaria and dengue fever, growing crops to feed ourselves will become harder and water will become more scarce. 

“And the saddest thing is that most children are not even aware of the fate that awaits us,” Thunberg quietly raged.

Safeguarding our planet

Scientists have worked out we can reduce the impacts of climate change if we limit global heating to 1.5C above pre-industrial levels. Average global temperatures are currently at 1C above and rising fast. The IPCC predict we only have ten years left to make the “far-reaching and unprecedented changes” needed to avoid the biggest dangers of climate change.

“The good news is that some of the kinds of actions that would be needed to limit global warming to 1.5C are already underway around the world, but they would need to accelerate,” said Valerie Masson-Delmotte, one of the authors of the IPCC report.

To help accelerate Scotland’s response, the CCC recently urged the Scottish Government to set a target to reach net zero emissions by 2045. This means any greenhouse gases released into the atmosphere must be taken back out so that the overall level remains the same.

Responding to the CCC’s advice, Roseanna Cunningham, the Cabinet Secretary responsible for Scotland’s response to the Climate Emergency promised,“this government will be placing climate change at the heart of everything we do,” and issued a rallying call, “Our response to the climate emergency will impact on how we live as a society and on how our economy operates. This must be a shared, national endeavour: we all need to think more about how we can make our lives more sustainable, cutting down on waste and excess.”

I will help with this endeavour by trying to make my voice heard at home, at Parliament and, now, on social media.

I have started by sharing what I know about climate change. I will be keeping myself up to date with what is being said, what is being done and what more I could be doing to safeguard the planet for future generations.

I will make my quiet contribution to the climate emergency response and write about it here.

Adolescents, Politicians and Climate Change

I am a dad of two adolescent boys and I fear for their future. I worry my fossil-fuelled life has set in motion a climate change that will destroy the life support systems on this planet. I imagine when my boys are my age they will be engaged in a desperate battle for survival. I picture fallen civilisations and Mad Max style mayhem. Boys frightened by bumble bees don’t seem cut out for life in a violent, lawless world. I’m certainly not cut out for preparing them.

Worryingly, they seem less perturbed by impending apocalypse. Despite my lectures. they still strop when they are refused money for another bit of throwaway tat, still grumble when they are told to walk instead of being driven, and are still incapable of switching off a light when they leave a room. School strikes against climate change do not interest them.

More worryingly, the politicians I also nag about climate change seem as dismissive as my adolescent boys about the end of the world as we know it. My quiet voice is drowned out by the din of partisan party politics. I have found, despite their reassurances that they understand the importance of the issue, squabbling over political ideology and scuffling for political position is far more important to them than joining forces to combat climate change. Like my boys being asked to tidy their rooms, politicians drag their heels when asked to clean up the mess on the planet their generations have made.

However, I will not be deterred by the short sightedness of stroppy adolescent boys or self-serving politicians. I will keep trying to make my voice heard at home, in Parliament and, now, on social media. And I will keep hoping somebody might even listen.