FAQs

According to the United Nations’ General Secretary, we face “unprecedented heatwaves, terrifying storms, widespread water shortages and the extinction of a million species of plants and animals. This is not fiction or exaggeration. It is what science tells us will result from our current energy policies. We are on a pathway to global warming of more than double the 1.5-degree Celsius limit that was agreed in Paris in 2015″.

UN Secretary General has stated that “Scientists warn that we are already perilously close to tipping points that could lead to cascading and irreversible climate effects”. An example of a “tipping point” would be the abrupt thaw of the Northern Permafrost. This permafrost covers much of northern Russia, Alaska, Greenland and Canada. While it is frozen, it stores carbon. As permafrost thaws, microbes begin decomposing this material. This process releases greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide and methane to the atmosphere. How much ? There’s an estimated 1,500 gigatons of carbon in the permafrost – or twice as much as the atmosphere currently contains. In 2010, the world only emitted 9 gigatons of carbon in fossil fuels so any thawing would have a huge impact. Once the permafrost starts to be released, temperatures will rise further and more permafrost will thaw – creating a cycle that scientists fear we will not be able to stop.

We can often think that the problem is so big, that we cannot make much difference ourselves. It’s true that National Governments and Local Councils need to make and implement policy decisions to drive change but we can still have an impact. For example, cars produce 52% of UK transport emissions. according to UK government figures. The average car travels around 12,000 miles per year. Therefore, if we all reduced the mileage that we drive by 2,000 miles per year, that would reduce car emissions by 17% and overall UK transport emissions by almost 9%. That’s not insignificant.

It looks as if we will be very fortunate in UK. The direct impact on our local climate will be limited to increased storms, heatwaves and water shortages in the short to medium term. However, many countries will be devastated by Climate Change. The UN says that the number of people at high risk of rising sea levels has increased from 160 million to 260 million over the past 30 years. The Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP), an Australian international think tank, estimates that at least 1.2 billion people could be displaced by the effects of climate change by 2050. That will affect us in UK.

No. The Secretary General of UN said in May 2022 that “Over the past decade, the cost of wind energy has declined by more than half.  The cost of solar energy and batteries has plummeted 85 per cent.  And investment in renewables creates jobs — three times more jobs than fossil fuels.” With the increase that we have seen in energy prices in 2022, the financial justification for installing Solar or Wind Power has increased significantly – so even if someone does not feel a moral need to switch to renewable power, there is now a far greater financial incentive. For those of us in the parish who can afford to install Solar or Wind, and want to get together to obtain a discount via a bulk purchase, please send in your contact details via the comments option on the Home page and one of the team will look to coordinate it.