Articles

If ever we needed people of the world to come together, it is now, when the few with the power are failing us.

In sufficient numbers we, the people, are a vital, untapped and overlooked resource in tackling the climate crisis. If mobilized, we are capable of making a significant contribution to applying the brakes to climate breakdown, both through our emission cuts and our power to produce systemic effects.

Time is too short to risk leaving the defence of the living planet primarily in the hands of the powerful few.

The incentives for governments and corporations to choose to spend carbon freely and delay emission cuts are deeply rooted. These entrenched behaviours need a rapid and seismic shift, and people can provide the impetus.

People and wealth

If ever we needed people of the world to come together and cooperate, it is now, when the few with the power are failing to protect us and the rest of our world. We need each of us, all of us, some much more than others, but each to the best of our ability.

The poorest 50 per cent of the world’s inhabitants contribute just 7 per cent of emissions, according to the Carbon Inequality Era report produced jointly by Oxfam and the Stockholm Environment Institute.

The wealthiest 10 per cent globally contribute 50 per cent of all emissions (in 2015 the 10 per cent were those with incomes over US$38000 – about 630 million people – try converting to your currency to see if you are in this group).

Most of this high income group are from North America and Western Europe, where it amounts to about half the population in some of the countries. (Data for Australia was not available to be included in the study.)

The next highest income groups in the remaining 40 per cent of the population (about 3-4 billion) account for another 40 per cent of emissions. So there are plenty of us who can play a role.

Immediate effect

Unlike governments, we can have an immediate impact on emissions. We do not need the approval or agreement of those around us before we act and we are unhindered by bureaucracy.

We can immediately slow global heating by cutting CO2 emissions, such as those from flights and our daily car journeys using fossil fuels.

We can also start immediate cooling by reducing our meat and dairy consumption, which reduces emissions of methane. The cooling effect works because methane is short-lived, so every bit of methane in the air that is not replaced reduces the concentration, and hence its warming effect.

Systemic change

In sufficient numbers we can produce systemic change in government policy, whether from the pressure induced by a change in social norms, by campaigns, protests, voting power or effective citizens’ assemblies.

Where governments are willing participants, we can provide the social mandate for fair and just policies. This is crucial to ensure that governments know that the climate policies they want to introduce can be introduced without fear of losing power.

For policies where governments are unwilling, with enough of us, we can match the power of the few policy shapers, such as the fossil-fuel lobbyists. The strength in numbers enables us to apply whatever pressure we choose to get the policies we want and need to protect our world and its inhabitants.

The pressure might simply come from the change in social opinion which threatens their power. Or it may be from campaigns, protests or from our voting power and citizens’ assemblies. Whatever works is what matters. We can end fossil fuel subsidies, new exploration, gain better public transport and get a tax on frequent flyers.

Shaping corporations

We can also shape the corporate policy of those that continue to exploit and destroy our natural world for profit.

We can inflict heavy losses on the profits of the fossil fuel corporations – just as we did during COVID-19 restrictions – by reducing our fossil fuel consumption in our daily transport. And we can divest from the 60 banks reported by Banktrack to be continuing to finance the expansion of the fossil fuel industry. Through boycotting products, corporations and services, we can achieve change.

As the International Energy Agency (IEA) said in their Roadmap “It is ultimately citizens as consumers of energy-related goods and services who shape corporate strategies…”.

Instead of being manipulated by the disinformation and marketing of the fossil fuel industry, as exposed by Greenpeace Unearthed, we can take back control and make it a society that we want.

Growing numbers

We need to grow our numbers to get those majorities. Again, individually and collectively we have a crucial role to play.

There are many people globally who now perceive climate breakdown to be a major threat, but perceiving it and acting upon it are two different things. There are a variety of reasons for inaction. But action can be stimulated by the example of those who have changed their behaviour.

Our example demonstrates to those who feel alone and powerless that our actions, though individual, are not isolated but collective and that together they can be worthwhile. It also has the potential to initiate action in those who would act, but only if others do first.

Through sharing our experiences of change we can also help remove some of the inertia between intention and action. This is especially true of behaviours that are embedded in every aspect of our daily lives and are more difficult to disentangle.

Sharing experiences can remove obstacles and make it easier for others to act on intentions.

Critical mass

As well as changes in our immediate vicinity, we also want the numbers who are changing their behaviour to reach a critical mass, or tipping point, so the behaviour changes spread throughout the groups we belong to and beyond to larger communities.

Studies show that in some instances only a minority of people need to change a behaviour for it to gather momentum and produce large-scale changes across their group. In an experimental study on tipping points in social convention, just 25 per cent of the group were needed to adopt a naming convention for it to become the norm.

Perhaps one of the most inspiring examples of the transformational effect of just a few individuals is the ending of footbinding in China, where grassroots action succeeded where top-down policies had failed.

While some transformations can be more lengthy, others are rapid. One study showed that electricity customers failed to reduce their consumption even though they knew it would reduce their bills and help the environment. But learning that their neighbours were doing better than themselves produced an immediate reduction in consumption.

Next steps

We need the substantial changes that some of us are already making in our lives to spread, so we need to be visible in our local groups and online. We need to talk to those around us. If one person we each know changes one thing, it’s a start.

To accelerate the process of change Our World Together provides resources to help people to act and pledge and the means to increase the visibility of actions.

It will be possible to view the counts of people pledging in local towns or cities, for example, view those who have referred the most people to pledge, and see the best in group globally.

Other pledge counts include age groups and occupations, such as teachers, musicians and sportspeople. Knowing how others are doing can spur competition, so best in group lists, pledge certificates and posters can be downloaded to share on social media or display anywhere.

The aim is to nudge people to action by providing information on what others are doing, just as it happened in the study of electricity use above. Anything that works is all that matters, so feel free to be a part of the process of growing our numbers and provide feedback on ways to increase them.

Outlook

When the necessity arises, we can, and do, rise to the challenge. This was evident from our achievements and ability to adapt during the COVID-19 pandemic.

This is now an opportunity like no other. We have the chance to take part in defending hundreds of millions of people and a billion species and their habitats from annihilation.

We should not be distracted by new national pledges to reduce emissions, nor by the success of court cases: these may take a while to have an effect, and are likely to be insufficient on their own.

Now is the time to pool our resources to do everything we can in this climate emergency, individually and collectively. So whatever other climate action we may take, let’s also be the solution, make pledges, be visible and spread change.

And at a personal level, by acting we take back control and gain a sense of empowerment and hope. It reduces climate anxiety. We begin to see a different world is possible and that, together, we can shift mountains.