Food and Climate Change without the Hot Air

 

Want to track the emissions from everything you eat across the day? Wondering what the latest research has to say about meat? Or maybe you’re just confused about where to begin with reducing the impact of your food.

Whatever your issue, this lovely new book from Sarah Bridle, Food and Climate Change without the Hot Air will answer your questions. She takes you through a typical day, looking at the impact of popular choices for breakfast, lunch, snacks and the evening meal, outlining their impacts and offering alternatives. Everything is backed up with numbers from the latest research and presented in easy to understand bar charts.

There won’t be any surprises here for aficionados of Carbon Conversations but what you will find is a wealth of data to buttress your convictions and a great resource for using in groups. What is even more amazing is that the e-book version is completely free, thanks to some generous support from the University of Manchester.

You should also check out the other resources Sarah has produced through the ‘Take a Bite out of Climate Change’ project. In particular her Food flashcards which can be used to play ‘Top Trumps’ or other familiar games. Again, these are all free to download.

This book is a great resource, beautifully produced and a joy to look at and handle. Thank you Sarah!

News from Toronto

Carbon Conversations Toronto is going from strength to strength. They've been hosting very successful groups since 2019. The majority of their group members report that they no longer feel so overwhelmed by climate change. Participants also commit both to actions that will have a big impact on their own footprint and to talking to others or joining a climate campaign. Despite Covid the Toronto team have developed a new website, are working hard on adapting the materials for the Canadian situation and will be starting to train more facilitators (who they are calling Climate Action Facilitators) this October, doing so online. Check out their website - there's a great blog post on intersectionality and the empathic, psychologically focused language they use to describe their project is something we can all learn from. 

Congratulations to the team

Six short videos on Coping with the Climate Crisis

Just before lockdown Ro's son made these six short videos on ‘Coping with the climate crisis’ in which she talks about the emotional dimensions of people’s responses and how we can support each other through what are often difficult and traumatic experiences.

1: Disavowal or everyday denial

2: Climate anxiety or climate distress

3: Loss and grief

4: Supporting others

5: Hope and despair

6: Climate journeys – can the climate crisis transform your life?

Do link to and share the videos if you find them useful.

Covid-19

Manu Busschots of Klimaat Gesprekken talks to Rosemary Randall about corona times, climate action and the heart of carbon conversations.

https://vimeo.com/404622271

Transgression

A new novel from CC founder Rosemary Randall. 
It’s set in 2009, a period of intense climate activity and we hope that its twin themes of climate protest and psychotherapy might appeal to readers of this blog.

It's 2009 and in the aftermath of the financial crash, critical climate talks are heading for meltdown. Nineteen year old Clara Fortune steps from adolescence into a life of climate protest. Simultaneously her father Thomas breaks one of the sacrosanct boundaries of his profession. As Thomas's colleague Esther Dunn struggles desperately to dissuade him, her son Felix draws Clara deeper into the world of radical climate action. Esther, haunted by the transgressions and losses of her own past and distracted by Felix's entanglement with both Clara and with increasingly daring protest, finds the situation slipping beyond her control.
What does it mean to break the rules? Of nature? Of society? Of one's faith? Of one's profession? In a rapidly heating world, this psychologically astute tale raises questions for us all.

It's available from Amazon , 
£2.50 for the Kindle edition, £6.99 for the paperback. 

Zero Carbon Britain

Released in December 2019, Zero Carbon Britain: Rising to the Climate Emergency from the Centre for Alternative Technology is a significant update on the 2013 ZCB report used extensively in In Time for Tomorrow?

Building on the groundwork laid by the Zero Carbon Britain project over the last 12 years, this report incorporates the very latest developments in science and technology to show that we can create a zero carbon Britain using only proven technology.
This report shows a positive, technically feasible scenario that aims to stimulate debate and catalyse action across all areas of society.

Down load the full report.

Climate Distress

As more people are learning about the climate crisis and becoming involved in action for change, we are meeting more and more people who are distressed and anxious about the future. Rosemary Randall has been speaking about the issue and has recently been interviewed  by Joshi Gottlieb at Ecosia. Listen to it here.