Talking about climate change #9

Focus on solutions (5 minute read)

The maples sweat now, out of season...

Jay Parini

Daffodils at Bolton Street cemetery, Wellington (image credit: Melanie Newfield)

A month ago, I wrote about the ways that climate change is affecting mental health. One of the important ways we can look after ourselves in these difficult and uncertain times is to focus on solutions and positive actions that we can take and that others are taking. But this can be difficult, because the scale of the problem is so overwhelming, it’s tempting to give up and do nothing. So, I decided that it was time for me to start some conversations about solutions.

The basics: mitigation and adaptation

There are two main ways that we need to respond to climate change. Firstly, we need to stop pumping all the extra greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. This is known as mitigation. Secondly, we need to find ways of living with the changes that have already happened, and will continue to happen. This is known as adaptation. We need both, because there are big changes coming even if we stop emitting greenhouse gases into the atmosphere today. And the changes will be too much for us to safely adapt if we don’t drastically reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

The following page from NASA gives a good overview of mitigation and adaptation (5 minute read)

Mitigation and Adaptation | Solutions – Climate Change: Vital Signs of the Planet (nasa.gov)

Most of the resources that I’ve shared are focused on mitigation, as it seems the plans for mitigation have had more thought. It’s also the area which is most urgent for those of us in wealthier countries, while those in countries where people emit less need to give more attention to adaptation.

The big picture: UN Environment Programme Six Sector Solutions

The United Nations Environment Programme has described an approach called the Six Sector Solution, which is based around changes in:

• Agriculture and food

• Buildings, cities and construction

• Energy

• Transport

• Industry

• Forest and land use

Under each of these headings, they have described actions which can be taken by governments, companies and individuals. The first page I have linked to below is the overview page, which includes five short videos (2 minute read and five 1 minute videos).

The six-sector solution to the climate crisis (unep.org)

Below each of the videos there is a link which takes you to a page with the list of actions we can take. Here’s an example, the page for Agriculture and Food (2 minute read).

The Six-sector solution to the climate crisis - Agriculture, Food & Waste (unep.org)

The UN page on the six-sector solution also links to a page honouring David Attenborough with a lifetime achievement award. The page includes two videos of him talking about his work and about solutions to the climate crisis, so I feel justified in linking to it here (6 minute read, 4 minute video and 9 minute video).

UN recognizes broadcaster Attenborough with Lifetime Achievement Award (unep.org)

The big picture: Project Drawdown

Project Drawdown is an organisation with a comprehensive plan to tackle the climate crisis. It is more in-depth than the information from the UN.

The first page I have linked to outlines what is known as the Drawdown Framework. It covers the nine areas in which we need to make changes, and the kinds of changes we need to make. The graphics on this page clearly show how much difference certain changes can make. For example, moving from petrol to electric vehicles isn’t going to bring a massive change compared with fixing food waste and agriculture, but it’s still large enough to be worth doing (2 minute read).

Drawdown Framework | Project Drawdown

If you want to go into more depth, there is a series of six videos which introduce the problem and explain the solutions. I haven’t watched them all yet, but the first one is a great overview. If you are feeling hopeless about the problem, or know others who are, I can recommend spending some time looking at the Project Drawdown videos (six videos ranging in length from about 10 to 20 minutes each).

Climate Solutions 101 | Project Drawdown

Personal action

We won’t solve the climate crisis with individual actions alone, but individual actions are part of the solution. The following resources will help you do your part.

Keep food out of landfills

Methane is a major contributor to climate change, and we can take personal action to reduce methane emissions by reducing food waste and ensuring that any food waste we do produce stays out of landfills. The Love Food Hate Waste website has lots of ideas and suggestions for how you can reduce your food waste.

Love Food Hate Waste

Eat a more plant-based diet

Agriculture based on cattle and sheep is a major source of methane emissions and a major contributor to climate change. Reducing meat and dairy consumption is another action we can personally take to make a difference.

Here’s some information to help you make a start (6 minute read).

A Beginner's Guide To Eating Less Meat — REDUCETARIAN FOUNDATION

More information, with links to lots of recipes, can be found here (6 minute read).

10 ways to eat less meat | BBC Good Food

Reason to eat less meat (image credit: Our World in Data)

For more solutions, sign up to a newsletter

Last month I shared a lovely American-based Substack newsletter focused on climate solutions – Save Our Happy Place. This month, I’ve found a great solution-focused newletter from New Zealand. Sign up for weekly suggestions on what you can do to help fight climate change.

Climate Club | Jenny Sahng | Substack

For more on climate solutions, sign up to Hothouse, which publishes investigative reporting on climate solutions. Like The Turnstone, it’s free, although you can pay if you want to support their work.

Hothouse // Solutions | Michael Coren | Substack

Climate poetry

This month’s climate poem comes from US-based poet Jay Parini, who wrote this beautiful observation of the way that the seasons are changing. Have you noticed changes in the seasons where you live? Living in New Zealand, I noticed how early the daffodils and kowhai flowered compared with my childhood memories. I love these harbingers of spring, but it was unsettling to see a daffodil on the 1st of August and the kowhai flowers soon after.

Some Effects of Global Warming in Lackawanna County by Jay Parini - Poems | poets.org