A Sensible Climate
The Combat Climate Change Newsletter
Vol 1/Issue 1

In this issue:

Hello, and thanks for signing-up to our newsletter. This is our first edition and we're sure things will develop as we go on, but we think there'll be a few things of interest here for you.

New To You

In addition to our regular news updates, since launching we've added or expanded the following areas of the web site -

So, if you haven't looked lately there might well be something you haven't seen before. We like to think that, whoever you are and whatever you do, there's something there that's for you.

It's THAT Time Of Year

And talking of climate-friendly products ... Christmas. Love it or hate it, it's here again.

If you want to take a hard-line about consumerism and its implications for the climate, then Christmas and the conspicuous consumption it entails is probably the worst time of year ...

But the modern Christmas isn't going to go away and we think it's more sensible to do something rather than merely moan and despair. To that end, lots of things in our product range make brilliant presents. Whether you're looking for a granny or a grandad, a mum or a dad, a sister, a brother, a friend or a lover, there's some really rather nifty stuff to be had ... and our prices are good too!

Check out the shop and get your climate-friendly Christmas orders in now.

Any The Wiser?

Writing this has given us cause to look back at the few weeks since we launched the Combat Climate Change web site. It's been busy on all sorts of fronts, not least keeping on top of the 'climate change debate'.

The biggest single job we had to do in getting the web site ready was preparing the 'Knowledge' section - our summary of the ins and outs of climate change. Since launching, as you'd expect, we've been keeping an eye on scientific and other related developments. The sheer volume of material continues to be daunting but what strikes us is that, really, not a lot changes.

You could sum up developments by saying that the hard science suggesting climate change is happening has firmed-up a bit more, while opinion against it has struggled to say anything new in the face of the science.

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The Confusion Continues

But, what's also striking about 'climate change' as it's covered by the media is the amount of publicity anyone who says there's nothing to worry about can attract.

A perfect example of this is the attention given to the claim by the founder of the US Weather Channel that climate change is all "a hoax". Lacking any evidence, he had to resort to the kind of conspiratorial claims about "dastardly scientists" (his words) that, frankly, don't merit a minute of anyone's time. Anyone can make unsubstantiated allegations like these. Nevertheless, his arguments were picked up and relayed around the world as if he was saying something noteworthy.

That set us thinking and so we did a bit of totally unscientific research. We asked all sorts of people about climate change, people who don't know what we do. We asked the chap in the local newsagents, a site manager at a nearby housing development, the couple who run a nearby garage ... and so on.

And the results were what you'd perhaps expect. The 'hard science' is hard to digest and doesn't really get through to people, but they are vaguely aware of it. Meanwhile the headline grabbing opinions, however dodgy, get through loudly, because they're easy to understand.

The conclusion, sadly, is that people are confused by climate change - as confused as they ever were.

Fight The Good Fight

Perhaps it is inevitable that the media will report someone saying 'climate change is a con'. For a start, it makes a good headline. Secondly, if it were true it would be good news and we all like good news. Unfortunately, anyone saying climate change isn't anything to worry about is saying so without any firm data to back them up.

We're not hard-and-fast 'green' advocates or members of any other camp. We're independent with no axe to grind. We try to bring a sensible voice to the climate change debate. But even from that perspective, we do find it, well, a bit alarming and maybe a bit depressing too that ill-informed non-science should get so much of an airing. It doesn't help anyone.

Against that backdrop, through our regular news updates on the web site and through this newsletter, we'll continue to try and offer a reasoned view of what's going on and what it all might mean. We hope you find it helpful.

 

That's all for this edition. I was trying to think of a witty sign-off about reducing or offsetting ... but I couldn't. Maybe next time!

Thanks for reading.

 

 

 

Stewart Grew
MD, Combat Climate Change Ltd.

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