It's a war
Glenn Lyons
President of the Chartered Institution of Highways & Transportation (CIHT) and Mott MacDonald Professor of Future Mobility at UWE Bristol
There’s a climate war. On one side are those fighting to protect their strongly vested interests in prolonging the profitability associated with fossil fuel extraction. On the other side are those fighting to see the fossil fuel era removed from its pedestal as soon as possible.
I find I am learning more every day through what I hear, read and reflect upon regarding climate change - more about the science, more about the urgency for action, more about the options for taking action, more about the politics and more about the communication aimed at influencing us. In this short article I share some thoughts about a book I've just finished reading.
A powerful set of messages from a respected messenger
“The New Climate War – the fight to take back our planet” published this year was recommended to my by Rod Fletcher (thank you!). I recommend it to you. Why read it? It’s fascinating, shocking, informative and inspiring. For me it helped to further my appreciation of what we are up against. This is not only the worsening problem of climate change itself but the longstanding efforts of some to wage an information war to prevent, stall or delay actions that can and must be taken to reduce carbon emissions (including reducing the extraction of fossil fuels). From ‘guns for hire’ commentators to Russian social media bots, the information war has moved from denial of man-made climate change (misleadingly labelled as scepticism to legitimise it) to a new armoury of deflection, delay and doomism – in the interests of protecting power and profit.
You really need to read the book (and follow its author Michael E Mann (Professor of Atmospheric Science and IPCC author) on Twitter - @MichaelEMann). However, here are some of my take-aways:
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The book singles out many of the messengers in the war and helps us make sense of their different messages and their meanings and how it can affect the war.
So whether or not you are now back out and about on your travels after an existence in lockdown, this accessible book is a great means to become better informed about the science and the war of words that relate to the defining issue of our age.
Transport and Event Management Expert
3 年This is a useful companion. Podcast rather than book. 10x 14 minute episodes that tell the story about the weaponised of doubt by powerful vested interests, why and how. Also available on Global Player, Spotify etc. https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000l7q1
Principal at Six Cats Consulting
3 年Thanks Glenn, I have just finished reading the same book and I agree it is great. Climate change action is an existential threat to fossil fuel companies and their owners. Like cigarette companies after the harm from smoking was understood, they have no intention of giving up voluntarily. I think engineers have an obvious professional duty to become and remain informed of these issues. Otherwise we can wind up taking part in work that compromises us - like "clean coal" or "Carbon capture" projects here in Australia.
Sarn Deva
3 年We have already passed the point of no return and are waiting for the inevitable disasters to determine what mitigations will be taken. There are plenty of interesting spin offs for the dismal science to think about in all this, as well as the fossil fuel industry.
CMO at Esoterix Systems & QRoutes Ltd
3 年Thanks for the summary. That it’s not ‘too late’ is important. And I needed reminding that the idea of a tipping point isn’t necessarily helpful. Your post reminded me of this video ( https://youtu.be/arbUEjHzRJ0 ). I watched it a while back and found the comment ‘There’s no going back, climate change is already happening, but we can change where we end up’ one of the most helpful I had heard in a long time.
General Manager - Climate Transitions
3 年Thanks Glenn - looks well worth a read. I particularly like the ‘urgency and agency’ mantra and the emphasis on individual action as being important to the extent it supports system change, not as something we far too often see used to distract from the big structural issues and power dynamics that underpin the climate crisis. My only slight concern (acknowledging I haven’t read the book yet!) is that we need to retain some nuance in our arguments about what steps we need to take. Of course it’s true many vested interests rely far too much on the idea of technologies like CCS, and we should be skeptical about some of these claims, but equally there’s a danger of setting up a culture war style divide where we don’t evaluate options objectively on their own merits. I think this has happened with things like bioenergy and blue hydrogen, which of course have big problems if not done properly, but equally have potentially important roles to play if done in the right way. Anyway, thanks again for your insightful summary!