Greenhouse Effects: 10:10 campaign

Tony Juniper

What do tens of thousands of households, the cabinet, Royal Mail, Manchester city council, British Gas, Tottenham Hotspur, the British Medical Journal, Gillian Anderson and Adnams brewery have in common? They have all signed up to the 10:10 campaign because they want to take practical action on climate change in 2010.
Having been to the Copenhagen summit, I am more than ever convinced about the huge importance of what we all do in our day-to-day lives. Although the talks failed, they will continue, and, I hope, establish the agreement we need. But my experience in Denmark last month encourages me to focus even more on my own efforts. One of my new year’s resolutions is to achieve the aim of the 10:10 campaign and cut my greenhouse-gas emissions by 10% over the course of this year.
There are various ways to do it — and this column will cover many in the next 12 months. By the end of December, I hope many of us will be in better shape to do what is needed.
An essential place to start in planning your 10% cut is to find out what your household’s carbon footprint is. There are websites that can help you to calculate your emissions: one full of useful ideas has been set up by the government as part of its Act on CO2 campaign (actonco2.direct.gov.uk).
There is good reason for doing this beyond saving money and “doing our bit”. One was apparent in Copenhagen: some governments believe that climate change is a distant threat of no interest to us, the voters, consumers and homeowners. That is partly why the summit failed.
The more we all start to change the culture, to demand measures to reduce our collective environmental impact, the more likely it will be that political leaders feel they need to deliver.
Copenhagen didn’t do the job, but while governments get themselves organised, we all can start the transition, and in the process make it more likely that they will eventually succeed. Sign up to 10:10 at 1010uk.org.
Tony Juniper is an environmental campaigner and former director of Friends of the Earth; tonyjuniper.com