It's a war

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:

• Deflection is a clever tactic of putting the blame on the consumer instead of the fossil fuel industry – the powerful comparison relates to the gun industry’s mantra in the USA – “guns don’t kill people, people kill people”
• It’s system change that is needed – each individual can play their part in changing their behaviour but beware deflection – if Greta is caught using fossil fuel in a system skewed towards such dependency, it doesn’t make her a hypocrite to call for system change to reduce fossil fuel use.
• Delay is what it says on the tin – slowing down change so that the extraction of fossil fuels and their profits can continue
• There is the wickedness of sowing seeds of confusion and doubt even (especially) amongst those who are campaigning for change – by putting out contrarian commentaries about what or what not to do and why, including over-promised and under-delivering solutions like Carbon Capture and Storage (helping to justify fossil fuel extraction continuing)
• Doomism is encouraging us to think that it’s all too late so what’s the point of fighting for change – Michael explains that there is not a pending tipping point ahead where we enter a death spiral of climate change – it’s very serious and getting worse but every step we take to reduce emissions helps it get less worse
• With the dirty tricks laid bare, the book offers real hope and inspiration: change is happening; the central mantra is ‘urgency and agency’ – change needs to happen faster and we can all play our part in helping that happen
• The confluence of the powerful voice of the youth and the global shock of COVID-19 may be part of tipping the balance of the war - ?global action to fight harder and win the fight to take back our planet
• We can each determine what we do individually to reduce our carbon footprint but to lecture or judge others risks creating divisions and in-fighting which play into the hands of those wishing to see delay.
• Instead (as emphasised by my son Robin Lyons and his Theatre Company ‘Ergon’ that produces performance based work about futures and the climate crisis) it’s the power of conversations we must nurture – exploring each other’s understanding, hopes and fears about climate change.

• And behaviour as citizens matters – the ballot box is where each of us can exert small but powerfully cumulative influence over the politicians that are there to serve us.

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.