“With coronavirus,
(the government)
has had to act
because they had
no choice in the matter.
With climate change,
they need to act
in the same way,”
said Marc Robson, 46,
a British Gas installer,
and one of the 110
members of the
citizens’ assembly.
Working from home
and other measures
to help stem the spread
of the coronavirus
outbreak in Britain
show how quickly
the country could
change its ways
to address climate
change too, participants
in the Climate Assembly
UK said recently.
The assembly,
chosen to reflect Britain’s
diverse geographic and
demographic makeup,
has met once a month
in Birmingham since
January to hear from
experts on climate
science and policy.
It is expected to submit
recommendations to the
government on how Britain
should meet a legally binding
goal to cut its climate-heating
emissions to net zero by 2050.
But with coronavirus
restrictions in place
on public gatherings,
the March assembly
was held online.
That was a change
some assembly members
saw as a “test run” for
potential climate change
actions they had been
discussing.
“This has opened up my mind
that we can make these changes,
like working at home,”
Robson told the Thomson
Reuters Foundation.
Ibrahim Wali, 42,
a physician
based in Surrey,
said he had been
conducting COVID-19
assessments via
telephone and video-link
since the outbreak began
and realized “it’s doable”.
“People could
stay home more,
work remotely.
Sometimes in life you
just need a challenge
to change the way
you live and operate,”
he said.
What he had learned
at the assembly sessions
led him to install LED
lightbulbs at home,
look at switching to
a hybrid or electric car
and reconsider how often
he eats meat, which has
a large carbon footprint.
“If you can do that
on an individual level,
that’s where it starts.
Then it’s friends,
family, society,”
he said in
a video interview.
Reducing emissions
“is not just something
for the government to do.
I thought in the past
the government would
sort it all out with laws
and legislation.
But it makes
a huge difference
if everyone looks
at themselves and
makes a change,
” he added.
Ellie, a 21-year-old
assembly member
and new university
graduate from North
London, said:
“I’ve been made aware
of how actually it’s acceptance
there’s going to be a change
in our lifestyles and we will
have to compromise.
We can’t rely on tech
and someone else
doing it for us.
It has to be all of us
working together”.
“There’s a real kind
of segregation - between
people who know a lot
about climate change
and people who don’t
- and that’s creating
problems and tensions."
"If we can
educate everyone
to the same level,
we can create a
real consensus
for progress."