It’s a question that may decide the future of our species, and the size of the crowd gathered at Marlborough’s Town Hall last Thursday (14 November) showed this town’s concern about it.
Nearly a hundred people made their way through the November gloom to hear an account of the climate question by Professor Dave Waltham, a geophysicist at Royal Holloway University, whose framing of the choice we face gave many of us the answer.
Prof. Dave has spent decades studying the geology of what he called, in a much-loved book, The Lucky Planet – lucky for us, having produced conditions for life unique in the known universe. He was thus equipped to provide us with a lucid and graphically illustrated summary of the earth’s changing climate: the immensely long but intermittent periods of glaciation and then the strikingly swift uptick of heating since the burning of fossil fuels became widespread.
It was while writing this book that he started looking for ways to address the destruction caused by fossil fuels. Though for years he’d been employed bycompanies producing them, he now became increasingly convinced that the necessary technology exists to transition away from them – and thus, if we act now, preserve the biosphere we call our home.
But what will it cost? Prof. Dave advised us that the best estimate is that the global cost of Net Zero will be about $3.15 trillion a year.
However, if we don’t take on that task, the cost of melting glaciers and rising seas, killer droughts, wildfires, floods and increasingly frequent and deadly storms is estimated at (guess what?) $3.15 trillion a year.
As he pointed out, it’s like a choice between paying off the mortgage on your home, or burning up an equivalent sum of bank-notes.
All of us, as individuals, can help create the political will to choose the health of the planet we call home. Our own actions, choices and conversation help to normalise positive climate action – and to make sure our government gets the message, we can make a powerful start by promoting the Climate and Nature Bill.
As the evening finished, people were flocking to sign the petition asking MP Danny Kruger and Wiltshire Council to support the 2nd reading of the bill, in January. If you haven’t already done so, go online, check out the Climate and Nature Bill and find out how easily you can take part!
Judy Hindley
Co-Founder – Citizens’ Climate Lobby UK
Ogbourne CofE and Lambourn CofE Primaries are National Read-Aloud Challenge champs
