Here we look at production-based emissions – that is, emissions produced within a country’s boundaries without accounting for how goods are traded across the world.

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Climate change

Coral bleaching

Plankton etc. dying

Ice melting

Extreme weather

Ocean acidification

Fish industry threatened/ sea faring communities affected

Ocean less able to absorb CO2

Sea food shortage

Ecosystem affected

More climate change

Destroy farmland

Destroy habitats & cities

Lack of crops/famine

Species extinction

Refugees

Overcrowded/ lack of resources

Sea level rising

Artic/ Antarctic shrinking

Habitat lost

Weather patterns disrupted

Flooding

Refugees

Species extinction

Extreme weather

Species extinction

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zuc38-Q6TBs

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Causes of climate change

Consumerism

What is it?

What kind of problems can it cause?

Who perpetuates it?

How can we avoid it? Is it always bad?

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What is it?

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• The concept that an ever-expanding consumption of goods is advantageous to the economy.

• In a negative context: the situation when too much attention is given to buying and owning things, often things that are not really necessary:

What problems can it cause?

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Who perpetuates it? A consumer-driven society

• Consumerism has become a big part of today’s society, so much so that it might be hard to spot at first.

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• Think about it...how many adverts do you see everyday for products that aren’t really necessities (ie. clothes, phones, etc.)?

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Why do companies try to sell you things if you don’t actually need them?

To make money.

But how does this link to climate change?

Everything takes energy and resources to make + almost all consumer items end up in landfill..

• Encouragement to participate in consumerism is blatantly putting ‘profit over planet’ where big companies prioritise making money above any negative environmental impacts they may be having.

How can we avoid it?

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Personally: Change your buying habits! e.g. buying clothes second hand. Think - do you really need it? What impact are you having?

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Society: Engaging in environmental actions to raise awareness to the worst offending companies

• We don’t need consumerism to have a good functioning society (Ours is not a functioning one with the levels of its inequality)

There is another way! – e.g. Cuba (described in more detail later on)

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Both: Change the society! Lobby your mp, protest, join extinction rebellion…

Is it always bad?

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Only when done unsustainably, putting profit over people and the planet.

Solutions to climate change:

Spend two minutes thinking of solutions to climate change and rank them from most to least effective

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Solutions to climate change: debates

Consumer VS Company: Are you or the company to to blame?

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• Companies often practice unethical practices which they could alter and are often not transparent. However ultimately it is me and you who demands the product - if no one demanded new clothes every week: no one would make them.

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Should lower income countries be stopped from producing fossil fuels? If so what alternatives can we offer them? Do richer countries have a duty to help them become more sustainable?

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• We have a responsibility to enable developing countries to skip the ‘industrial revolution’ turning it into a sustainable ‘green revolution’.
• We as nations who have already ‘developed’ materially need to provide green alternatives to developing nations such as: Incentives to protect natural landscapes for eco tourism, providing solar panels, wind farms and subsidised electrified technologies which promote economic and environmental growth

. Take a minute to ask yourselves what the moral reasons people go vegan for?

Veganism + environment

• Oxford university (led by Joseph Poore) conducted study on 40,000 farms and 1,600 food processors

They found a vegan diet:

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- Requires 1/4 less water to grow the same food

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- Decreases C02 emissions from food by 50-73%

- Requires (76%) less farmland

- The lead researcher on the oxford study concluded:

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“Going vegan is the single biggest thing an individual can have on reducing their environmental impact”

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JjAI-vJTXjM

Can a country care for the environment + economy?

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Costa Rica…..

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• Has a stable economy and a relatively high standard of living due to its emphasis on Eco-tourism + natural food exports

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• Run off of 99% renewable energy
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• It aims to be carbon neutral by 2021 meaning it will not be contributing to climate change

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• Contains 1/20th of world’s biodiversity (5%)

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• 25% of all its territory is protected to preserve the natural landscape!!

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• They have no army = more investment in healthcare which is actually better than the US standard

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• It was named one of the happiest countries in the world…. The UK has a stronger economy but poor

Environmental standards, is it really a coincidence they are happier than us???

What you can do in lock down

• Change your consumer habits : Switch towards a plant based diet and cut down on buying into fast fashion. Just buy less stuff in general!

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• Plant flowers or grow some of your own food

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• Share your knowledge with your family, friends and community online

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• Research more about the climate crisis: through articles on the Guardian or books to websites (extinction rebellion has lots of information)

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• Join Extinction rebellion youth (@xr_youth) or UKSCN (@UKSCN) by following them on instagram and asking how to join a local group

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• Make artwork to raise awareness

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Debate: Should you act to stop the climate crisis?

(Even if it’s hard and time consuming?)

Yes!

No

• I can’t be bothered (how could you justify this to families suffering the impacts of climate change like we saw in earlier slides??)
• I don’t have the power to change anything
• It’s companies’ and governments’ fault

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• We have some of the largest carbon footprints = most responsibility to change
• We can’t justify not changing
• Will you vote? It’s the same principle
• What you do spreads (joining groups such extinction rebellion!)
• We control what the government and companies do when we vote/buy stuff
• We have to start somewhere (e.g. women’s vote)
• IT DOES MAKE A DIFFERENCE