Bridget, who set up this blog has expressed doubts about work being done to address climate change and the broader ecological crisis and that maybe it should be uncoupled from ‘sustainability initiatives’. A timely remark I feel given the day I spent on Friday at the London Sustainable Schools Forum.
In this case it seems somewhat sadly belated (but better late than never?) that the SSF featured an absolutely mind-blowing presentation by David Gardner from the QCA (Qualifications and Curriculum Authority) called Sustainable Development in Action- curriculum guidance for schools. This presentation seemed to be indicating that government has finally got its head round the need to embed the principle of sustainability throughout the education sector, in particular the lumbering bureaucracies that are our secondary schools. The news was that, no, as I mentioned in the comments I made to Bridget’s first post, sustainable schools are not ‘statutory’, but yes, policy makers and the QCA have written a plethora of policy documents (and even Mr Gardner admitted that the amount of documents produced was off-putting to frightening for any one with a nascent interest in these issues) that invoke the sea-change that is needed if our schools, and by extension, our communities, are to become sustainable. But somehow without explicitly stating that this is an imperative or diktat from Whitehall. To me this was what I heard this morning described by Erica Grigg (Carbon Outreach) as government ‘doubletalk’ at its most blinding. I was impressed, being someone who likes to wield words and knows the power of the diplomatic approach. However we were left in no doubt that it is down to us, the humble foot soldiers of the ‘green revolution’ (or some such phrase) to carry the metaphorical torch forward, in spite of the impressive array of policy documents, which I am sure I can go into more detail within later posts.
This truly seems to be a ‘people’s crusade’ and something that the government is prepared to address with little authority at the moment. I’m thinking particularly about the controversy over the new coal fired power stations that are planned.
And talking of Kingsnorth, for that is what I believe that the first new coal power station is known as, this leads me to the ‘people’s premier’ of’ ’the Age of Stupid’ which I attended at Shepherds Bush on Sunday. Sold out which was great. Bridget pointed out that the Postlethwaite character is actually a curator, sitting alone in a vast shrine to the doings of humanity, marooned amidst a watery dessert of a sea. Is this our future? Cataloging and preserving the calamity of the twenty-first century that we wrecked upon ourselves? One of the key problems that was highlighted in the film is that people often object to wind farms on the grounds that they ‘spoil the view’. I personally cannot see what is so unattractive about wind farms, I actually think they are quite beautiful. This seems to be a particularly British form of ‘nimbyism’, symptomatic of a larger obsession with property value and prices. A wind farm nearby means that property might be worth less and hence it has to be fought at all costs. It is incredibly short sighted. I don’t personally think that wind farms alone can be the answer to our energy problems and am not personally against nuclear power, when you see the violent opposition to wind farms and such like you need practical solutions and I am of the shade of green that feels okay with nuclear power. I suppose that it part of the issue with the whole phenomenon of climate change, we know that is caused by too much carbon in the atmosphere, but there is no consensus, or in my opinion measured and sophisticated debate about the problem. The trouble is that the green lobby are apt to moralise and there are plenty of people who unfortunately are utterly alienated by the preaching and associated fatalism. It turns into a slanging match when we need to be utterly focused and organised to sort out this massive problem. Work in schools is crucial because the more young people that see the environment and climate change as their problem, we can overcome some of the entrenched attitudes of many of the older generation who are quite happy to consume and be damned. It would be fantastic to hear some really inspirational talk by Obama and it seems such a shame that our own government is knee deep in the financial crisis and the news that record numbers of people are out of work now, that they don’t seem to be able to prioritise this crucial issue.
I am taking a student to a climate champion conference organised by the British Council in just over a week. She is mature, thoughtful and articulate, just the sort of leader we will need, if as I read in The Guardian today, from Professor John Beddington the Government’s chief scientist, we are approaching a ‘perfect storm’ where ‘food, water and energy shortages will unleash public unrest and international conflict’.
Just to lead back to where I started, one would think that yes, sustainability and climate change and the broader ecological crisis does need to be pulled apart. This afternoon I interviewed on video with Phil Maxwell from the Tower Hamlets Waste Education project a handful of girls from year nine at Bishop Challoner School about their attitudes to climate change, sustainability and so on. We were talking to the girls about their understanding of these issues. They are lovely girls, really bright and articulate, but even they were struggling with the complex interdependence of the aforementioned concepts. I think we expect people to take on board things that are incredibly complex and that the system is not really set up to allow the kind of thought that is needed to be fostered to move the situation on. For example, at the SSF there was still anxiety about attacks from students who might still be climate change sceptics (hard to credit but they are still around), let alone the nuances of the debate that exists within those who wish to help ameliorate the situation or exactly how we are going to do that. Sadly we can’t put the carbon back in the petrol, back in the oil, back in the ground. But we need to address the fact we are stifling ourselves with carbon, that we live in a world where great swathes of the population are industrialising rapidly and climate related problems are already manifesting themselves. Is it a form of imperialism that we are to tell Indian people that they shouldn’t enjoy low cost air flight? If all the people in India who currently pile into trains find their wings and fly how can we hope to control carbon emissions? Is the only way forward to take the moral high ground, reducing, reusing and recycling, or science having got us into this mess, can maybe get us out? I am not a scientist, but a teacher of Media Studies. Clearly we need to address what a wasteful society we live in and the paradigm of economic growth damn the consequences, but we also need to reconcile the facts that we live in a globalised world, and within that the importance of the aviation industry (also the fact that aviation fuel is not taxed and so flying is effectively subsidised by government), coupled with the fear of our leaders that we are going to be left behind on the world stage is we do not aggressively promote our capital as a great place to do business and the fixation that capital must continue to be allowed to flow unabated, although perhaps the stark realisation has hit home now after events of recent months that this is not a wholly good idea. Furthermore I am not convinced that by appealing to morality you can stop people travelling by aeroplane even though air flight is responsible for a great percentage of carbon that goes into the atmosphere. At the moment, air flights are down, but that is due to the fact that the economy is shrinking, and all the mainstream commentators seem to be hoping that growth will continue once this recession is over! In many ways air travel is positive, people broaden their world view, see other cultures and so on, exactly what cultural education aims to do. So no easy answers. I feel honoured to be asked to contribute to this blog, I hope it will be a place for considered thought and a dialogue that will be a place where we can strategise to meet the challenges of Climate Change and associated issues and how it can be addressed through cultural heritage and related sectors.
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