GOOSE oose
CARBON conversations
CAROLINE BRETT describes ‘Carbon Conversations’, an innovative course that responds to the challenge of climate change.
Climate change is perhaps the biggest challenge humankind has ever faced. Global temperatures have changed faster in the decades since industrialisation than ever before in the history of the planet. Thousands of people across the world are already suffering
from the devastating effects of climate change. If we don’t act soon
the temperatures will rise above a tipping point beyond which even
the top scientists can’t predict what will happen.
It’s hard not to feel despondent when we read such statements. We are constantly bombarded with often conflicting information, leaving us bemused, confused and uncertain. We see our best and most committed politicians unable to reach a legally-binding agreement in Copenhagen. But the good news is that we, as individuals, have the power to change our situation. It’s just a question of where to start.
Fortunately, help is at hand in the form of an innovative new course called ‘Carbon Conversations’ (CC). Described by The Guardian’s Ian Katz as ‘quietly inspiring’ and given the accolade of being one of twenty ideas that might just save the world, Carbon Conversations a 6-session practical course on low-carbon living developed by Ro Randall, a psychotherapist and founder of Cambridge Carbon Footprint.
Based on the psychology of behavioural change, CC acknowledges the ability of most people to possess knowledge and awareness of climate change and yet make no changes whatsoever to their own lifestyles. It tackles this issue head on, exploring attitudes to consumption and status and encouraging people to talk about their values and beliefs in relation to climate change. This is combined with a myriad of useful information on the facts of climate change, three colourful and engaging games and practical suggestions as to how participants can reduce their own emissions in the four key areas of household energy, travel, food and other consumption.
There are also homework exercises in which participants monitor their own carbon use. The result is a winning formula: the average participant makes an immediate saving of one tonne of CO2 a year, and participants are encouraged to develop 2-5 year plans to reduce their emissions by 50%. The course engages people on an emotional as well as a practical level, which, Ro argues, is key to driving the behavioural change needed to reduce our carbon footprints.
This course is brilliant – it doesn’t preach, it doesn’t tell you what to do and it doesn’t make you feel guilty. It asks stimulating questions, provides clear information and fun exercises and then helps you make your own decisions about what you can do.’
The course first came to my attention when I received an email from Edinburgh University’s Transition Team. Having received a Scottish
Government Climate Challenge Fund, the group were about to embark on an ambitious 18-month project to reduce the University’s carbon footprint by 10% or more. CC was one of the ways in which they hoped to engage the student (and staff) population. immediately saw the potential for Holy City and the Iona Community.
A small group of us had been running a ‘green thread’ of workshops at Holy City on environmental issues. The Community has long been involved in environmental campaigning and recently changed its rule to include accounting for the use of the earth’s resources. However several people at our workshops had expressed a desire to know more about the small, practical changes they could make. Ross Loveridge, a fellow associate, and myself completed the facilitator training for the course in January and started our first course in March.
There are 10 participants, a mixture of Community members/associates and others. So far we have explored the basic facts of climate change, discussed at length the most effective way of reducing the emissions of a dinosaur of a house and debated the relative merits of different methods of transport. We will be exploring the thorny issue of food, discussing the complex relationships at play in calculating the impact our diets have on the environment. So far the course has provoked lively debate and the time has flown – one participant commented after the first session ‘I never knew that two hours could pass by so quickly!’.
We hope to develop the CC course to involve many more members of the Iona Community. Ross and Iona Community member Raymond Young are using material from the course during their ‘Exploring Sustainable Living’ week at the Camas Centre on Mull (http://www.iona.org.uk/news.php?id=132).
Ross and I plan to run a course in Edinburgh from Wednesday 2nd June and a second Glasgow course in the autumn. If you are in Scotland and wish to attend a Carbon Conversations course, please do contact caroline.brett@yahoo.co.uk. If you are in England, particularly in the south of England, there may be a course near already – do get in touch with Cambridge Carbon Footprint and they’ll be able to direct you appropriately.
http://cambridgecarbonfootprint.org/
http://www.1010uk.org/ - sign up to cut your emissions by 10%
in 2010.
