Be Clean, Be Green

Coming to grips with the idea that my lifestyle may be damaging the environment, and feeling a frustration that there is little choice but to continue living that way, has been a depressing part of my thoughts in recent months. It's not that I'm a hideous over-consumer, or a user of an oil-guzzling 4x4, but simply that the whole infrastructure of our civilisation here, and therefore my day-to-day life, is out of balance with the nature of the planet Earth. This has happened before with dire consequences; as Jared Diamond outlines in his book 'Collapse', many past civilisations have passed beyond existence due to an imbalance with their local surroundings.

Published in the GuardianWeekly on 22/09/06, Jonathan Freedland's article "Don't Shoot The Messenger" does well to raise the profile of Al Gore's recent film; I agree that An Inconvenient Truth should be seen by absolutely everyone. However I'm not convinced by Jonathan's argument that this is primarily a political film, and I'd warn him against relying on any politician to see through the changes necessary to limit climate change. After all, Al Gore himself was Vice-President of the US for eight years, and just what environmental changes did he make during that time? Did he make any? The film makes no mention at all of the Bill Clinton administration, or of any of Bush's possible successors, and this fact is quite striking.

It seems clear to me Al Gore is encouraging everyone, including Jonathan and myself, to make a personal crusade against waste and CO2 emissions. This is where the message gets inspirational: we can stop this, and we have to act now, but even quite simple changes to our lifestyles will have a big impact. This film isn't about politics, but personal responsibility, and that's why it's so emotive, because every audience member is party to the problem, and can be part of the solution!

Maybe Al Gore recognises that the world of politics is too vague to tackle global warming, and that's why he's aiming his moral argument at all of us. Voting Labour, as Jonathan advises, would only be a small part of the solution. An Inconvenient Truth has convinced me that I have to make this cause a part of my day-to-day living. If a majority of us do that, then Big Oil and Big Politicians will be forced to move their investments and their policies to match.

However, more distinguished and more knowledgeable writers than I have already accepted that politicians need to take charge. George Monbiot's very recent work "Heat" is a well-researched look at what changes would be required of Britain if it is to meet the large reduction in emissions which George and others are calling for. His assertion is that we need Government to act because they have a large enough influence to make bigger changes, more quickly.

So I suppose my current question is: how do we get Governments to act?