Issue 105 / November 2019

SAY
THE FINAL
Working at the heart of the
North West based Low Carbon
Eco-Innovatory – a university
affiliated research and action
group – Dr Ariel Edesess and
Daniel Blunt underline that the
fight to reverse climate change
is nearing the final round, yet the
contest is far from decided.
It was the 1950s and 60s: World War Two was over and the
world was trying to heal. With the end of the war came a
global population boom. The rate of growth reached a peak
of two per cent per year in the late 1960s (as compared
to one per cent per year now). This accelerated increase in
population, coupled with limited food resources, was alarming to
many, and sparked what is now called the Green Revolution, or
the Third Agricultural Revolution.
In this “revolution”, resources (both financial and human)
were diverted towards collaborative research and technology
initiatives designed to increase food production. The Green
Revolution was, for the most part, a resounding success. And,
while it is true that an unacceptable amount of people are still
without basic nourishment, this is due to unequal distribution of
resources and inequality, not the amount of food produced.
We are presently faced with creeping global warming,
perhaps the greatest threat to the human race we have ever seen.
The oft-used description of global warming is as an “existential
crisis”, named so because it could threaten the entire existence of
the human race. For most of us, global warming exists mainly as
something to be afraid of, to rally up against, to use as an excuse
to rage against capitalism, or to deny is happening at all. The
success of the Green Revolution in increasing food production
(notwithstanding its many flaws) provides us with a blueprint of
how to approach another, seemingly, Herculean challenge.
Every day, I work closely with the public and small-tomedium
sized businesses in Liverpool city and Lancashire regions
to meet the goals laid out in the various local and global emission
reduction plans. While the range of feelings about climate action
is as broad as the issue itself, the majority of feelings encountered
can be roughly summarised by the following: recognising the
problem and feeling anxious and motivated to contribute to
solution; recognising the problem but believing that, because of
their sector or business, they are not part of finding a solution;
recognising the problem but struggling to see any financial
benefit for making changes; recognising the problem and feeling
“The fight is not yet
lost – the world as
we know it today is
not set in stone”
overwhelmed and incapacitated to help; recognising the problem
but feeling that it is hopeless or caused by large corporations, and
therefore not their individual responsibility.
While these are wholly understandable reactions to an
immeasurably complex problem, they should not dictate how
we move to address the challenge. Luckily, this is not the first
time humanity has faced a major global crisis and we have some
examples to help readjust how we approach and think about this
crisis.
With the recent passing of Paul Polak on 10th October, a
world-renowned innovator, entrepreneur, anti-poverty warrior
and one of my personal heroes, the urgency to highlight his
accomplishments and what we can learn from them for the
current fight against global warming has increased. Born into a
Jewish family in Czechoslovakia in 1933, Polak fled the advancing
Nazis with his family when he was six years old. Following a
perilous and terrifying journey through Germany, where young
Paul even paraded as a member of the Hitler youth to hide
his family’s true identify, the family eventually found refuge in
Ontario, Canada.
This experience could have left him with a bitterness towards
humanity, but instead he chose to direct his innate curiosity to
understanding and trying to help others in need. Polak practised
psychiatry for two decades before shifting his attention to the
problem of global poverty, especially those who were surviving
on $1-2 per day.
Animated by his experiences as a child and equipped with his
training as a psychiatrist, Polak sought to fill the gaps where the
Green Revolution failed to reach those most in need. What made
Polak special was where others saw insurmountable obstacles,
he simply saw challenges that needed solutions – or, as he said
to me once, “People often say I’m an innovator... if innovation is
walking along a sidewalk and, on reaching a step, you step up
and continue walking, then sure, I’m an innovator.”
Polak understood that the key to changing behaviour and
affecting change was to look for solutions most in harmony with
the people for whom the solution is intended, to include them in
the process, to track progress, and to adjust the approach when
needed. His most basic tenet was to treat people who are lower
on the socio-economic ladder (in his work, those making $1-2 a
day) as customers rather than charity recipients. At the heart of
this message is an appreciation of the role of human dignity and
feeling of accomplishment in promoting behavioural change.
The climate crisis fight is not the same as the anti-poverty
fight or the Green Revolution, but they are all inescapably linked.
Mountains of research show over and over again that it will
be people lower on the socio-economic ladder who are most
impacted by the climate crisis. This is true worldwide, from
Kolkata to Merseyside. Here in Liverpool, it might not look like a
community decimated by wildfire or a village washed away in a
hurricane, but it might look more like fuel poverty, leaking houses
due to extreme rainfall and flooding, or rising food costs, and it
will be those already struggling to make ends meet who are hit
the worst.
The climate crisis monster we find ourselves facing
encompasses far more than the environmental realm – its roots
are buried in centuries of deep-set behavioural patterns and
social paradigms. Years and years of damaging activity, pursued
even when we suspected, and then became fully aware of the
impacts, have driven us to this crossroad. Tackle the beast and its
many faces? Or be blissful in our apathy, ignorance and business
as usual?
We all know which is the easy option, and we’ve probably
all felt justified in reneging on our personal responsibilities to be
better – to use less, reuse more, throw away less, and vocally
support difficult or disruptive plans, policies, or technologies.
It is exhausting, and anxiety-inducing to be in a constant state
of worry about the looming destruction of humanity and it is
much easier to ‘opt-out’ and just keep planning your next trip to
Tuvalu – yet we all play a big role in challenging the climate crisis.
So, how do we take on this issue as individuals (yes, yes, we
are all individuals!) and maximise our impact? Put simply, there is
no single answer. There is not one action you could do that would
be the ‘right’ way to go – each one of us must choose our own
way to contribute. Your contribution is not just certain individual
choices you can make, like choosing to go meat and/or dairy-free
a couple of times a week, reducing and reusing water whenever
possible, or driving less – your most important tool is your voice
and how you exercise your expectations of how society should
operate.
But, more important than any action we can take today is
our resilience and drive to insist on change, to be different and
better from how we were before. The fight is not yet lost – the
world as we know it today is not set in stone, and “that’s just how
it is” is not how it should always be. We should learn from Paul
Polak’s philosophies, such as talking to the people who have the
problem and listening to what they have to say, focusing on small
solutions to big problems, seeing and doing the obvious, and
learning from mistakes and adjusting when required.
Polak is an example that each one of us can be an influencer
and that each one of us has the capacity to affect major change.
When choosing your own path forward to address the crisis, here
are four useful points to remember: keep it local, keep it timely,
keep it personal, and keep it honest – uncertainty is not your
enemy. I’ll leave you here with a reminder from Hannah Arendt:
“We are free to change the world and start something new in it.”
By reading this piece, I hope you’ve felt encouraged to take
action. This list is by no means comprehensive, but here are some
activities to take part in/actions you take:
• Clean ups (CleanupUK, the National Trust and Keep Britain
Tidy all have easy routes to involvement).
• Seed bombing (get yourself some seed balls and go wildflower
guerrilla gardening – like a rebel Alan Titchmarsh).
• Write letters to local government to insist on reducing public
transport prices and build better green infrastructure. I mean,
it feels like Liverpool City Centre is actually a deterrent for
cyclists right now (believe it not, your letters are actually read
and if enough people speak up, they are obliged to take action).
• Change daily habits: reduce water use, turn off lights, don’t
charge phone overnight, switch off cars at long traffic lights,
reduce and reuse waste (standard but worth remembering).
• Promote holistic solutions – think creatively. Ask questions, find
supportive peers.
• Adjust expectations, both of yourself and of the companies you
spend money on. Demand drives the market, we can influence
the market by changing our consumer behaviours.
• Engage your company or place of work with the Low Carbon
Eco-Innovatory at LJMU. We exist to help small-medium
businesses in Liverpool, Sefton, Wirral, St Helens, Knowsley
and Halton develop low carbon products, processes and
services by engaging them with our team of researchers. We
work across all sectors and love to be given a challenge! Want
to decarbonise your business but don’t know where to start?
Give us a shout. Developing the next great piece of green tech
and need it testing? You know who to call (Disclaimer: it’s not
Ghostbusters).
Words: Dr Ariel Edesess and Daniel Blunt
Photography: Robin Clewley / robinclewley.co.uk
ljmu.ac.uk/ecoinnovatory
The Low Carbon Eco-Innovatory is a partnership between
Liverpool John Moores University, University of Liverpool and
Lancaster University. Find out more about how to get involved
with their Clean Growth UK action at @EcoInnovatory.
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