🌱 The Grumpy Optimists #15
Why the UK is woefully unprepared for climate change and how our food choices can save the world and you don't have to be a full vegan.
Happy Monday all and welcome to another week! 👋
For months we've counted down to June 21st as the day we would finally wave goodbye to all Covid-19 restrictions, but following last week's announcement, we'll have to wait a little longer for our so-called 'Freedom Day.' While you wait, we've pulled together some good reads, watches and listens to get stuck into below, so see what takes your fancy and let us know your thoughts.
George and Will 💚
Quick Reads
💻 Progress on UN's virtual climate talks stutter. Three weeks of negotiations between representatives from 40 countries have failed to produce significant progress on key climate issues. The virtual conference was primed as critical for the success of COP26 - where leaders will meet in Glasgow later this year to agree on revised targets and commitments on the climate. Just when you thought the stakes at COP26 couldn't get higher.
🚢 Carbon import tax likely? While this is highly unlikely to happen in the next few years, it appears that a carbon tax is being explored by the environment secretary, George Eustice. The proposed plans will put a higher tax from high pollutant countries like Poland, promote low-carbon investment and protect UK industries. A win-win but a tricky one to implement.
🥵 UK 'woefully unprepared to cope with climate change. If like me, you look back and wish we could have a repeat of the baking hot summer of 2018 (helped by England getting to the semis of the World Cup, of course), then this is well worth a read. It casts a less rosy perspective on summer heatwaves, telling the home truths on how the UK's climate will change if we continue on current trajectories. It also gives a nice flavour of how we can take steps to ensure we adapt our homes, energy, and green spaces to cope with more extreme weather.
🏛️ Calls for Science Museum to ditch Shell as a donor. One of the world's most powerful fossil fuel companies is sponsoring an exhibition called 'Our Future Planet'. The exhibition sets out the need to harness innovative technological solutions to solve the climate crisis. What's interesting is that I actually visited this exhibition a few weeks ago, blissfully unaware that Shell had kindly forked out for it. I remember my friend saying to me that there were surprisingly few references to the need to transition to renewables or the importance of climate justice - just that technology will save the day. Some impressive greenwashing, Shell.
🏭 Adani to use spare coal to make plastic. The proposed US$4 billion plant in India plans to use highly complex, and extremely energy-intensive processes, to convert coal into PVC, the same thing your windows are made from. It breathes new life into thermal coal at a time where calls are growing to divest and transition towards renewables. From one dirty industry to another...
'Enough: How your food choices will save the planet' - Dr Cassandra Coburn
Anyone who knows me fairly well will be aware that I've been a self-professed veggie for a little over two and half years now. Those who really know me will tell you that I'm actually a pescatarian (a fraud, I know). While I make no secret of my love of seafood, there's something about being a pescatarian, or even worse being called a 'pescie,' which I've never warmed to - but that's for another day. The point is that I don't eat meat, and I chose to stop doing so after I'd read about how unsustainable the industry is from top to bottom; not least the significant slice of global CO2 emissions which comes from fuelling our meat-filled diets. As far as I was concerned, Dr Coburn was preaching to the converted.
I was wrong. This book is much, much more than a plug for veggies and vegans, or a call to name and shame regular meat-eaters. For starters, Dr Coburn is neither a veggie nor a vegan and makes no secret of her love for a steak - which while I must admit did at first surprise me, is actually central to what makes this such a good book to read. It exudes humility from start to finish and is thoroughly researched to make a compelling case for reducing meat intake in our diets, particularly in the West, without falling into the trap of laying a burden of guilt or ostracising meat-lovers.
Don't be fooled by the upside-down cow on the front cover, either. Based on the Planetary Health Diet, Dr Coburn aims to reach each and every one of us, no matter our meat intake, to help us all make more informed food choices that are not only better for the planet, but for our bodies too. In the UK and across the 'Western' world, our seemingly never-ending appetite for processed foods has put our diets at the intersection of interlinked crises: that of climate change, biodiversity loss, and the rise in cardiovascular diseases (and related deaths).
Dubbed the global 'syndemic,' Dr Coburn systematically unpacks the central role which food production plays in driving us towards a series of environmental disasters (climate change, habitat destruction and water insecurity - to name a few), but also its role behind the emergence of a health epidemic, which is seeing our diets take pole position as the leading cause of all premature deaths worldwide (from high blood pressure, strokes and heart attacks). After explaining the problem, attention turns to the solutions - and there are no words spared here. The latter chapters meander through each of the main food groups, detailing what we should be eating, what we should steer clear from, and why.
A few weeks ago you may remember we asked whether the individual really does have the power to take meaningful climate action. For me, this book only confirms that even with the pressing need for governments, corporations, and billionaires to lead on systemic change, many of us have real power to make choices that positively impact the planet - and nowhere is this more apparent than with our diets, and what we chose to eat. It's important here to acknowledge that not everyone is fortunate enough to have a choice when it comes to food - and ultimately, delivering the basic human right for all to have access to a varied and nutritional diet is part of the solution here. But for those of us who do - there is undeniable incentive to make small changes to our diets for the health of our bodies and our planet. The rewards could not be greater.
Have a great week folks! 💚