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The personal and the political
Significant changes are needed across the whole of our society and economy to really tackle climate change. While changes in our own lives to reduce our personal carbon footprints are important, we need the UK government to take substantial action if we are to achieve climate justice. Below are some examples of what the government could do if there was the political will.
Personal action |
Political action |
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Fitting cavity wall insulation will save up to 860kg of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions each year. |
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If the government paid for everyone to install cavity wall insulation, we'd cut CO2 emissions by over 6.8 million tonnes, more than Ghana's entire annual CO2 emissions |
Sacrificing a short break to Prague would save 339kg of CO2. However, the fact that these emissions would have been released at altitude would have increased their total warming effect, so it is the equivalent of saving 848kg of CO2. |
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Ensuring the projected growth in aviation between 2005 and 2010 doesn’t happen would save 6.5 million tonnes of CO2 with a warming effect equivalent to 16.3 million tonnes annually, more than twenty times Malawi's emissions in a year . |
By changing one of the two most used light bulbs in your house to energy efficient bulbs you will save about 40kg of CO2 each year. |
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If the UK government was to ban conventional bulbs, as the Australian government is in the process of doing, up to 730,000 tonnes of CO2 could be saved each year, more than Mali's entire annual emissions. |
Find out more
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Climate change: the personal and the political |
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How many lightbulbs does it take to change a politician? by Paul Kingsnorth
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