I read CNA's essay and thought that part 3 (about social media and the way that online interactions often descend into a vicious, hypocritical purity spiral nowadays) was spot-on. I felt a bit uncomfortable about the first two parts, especially about the sharing of private emails, but I understand why she did it, and that it's necessary background for what followed. I do think she's a brilliant writer and it's reminded me that I have Zikora on my Kindle, so that was good!
Sorry, another long review coming up...
45. What We Need to Do Now: For a Zero Carbon Future by Chris Goodall
Every now and then, I’m gripped with feelings of eco-doom, and I need to read practical books like this to get me back into a more positive frame of mind. Chris Goodall is a environmental journalist, and this is a short but pretty well-researched account of how he thinks we can best avert climate catastrophe. Each chapter covers one of the big sectors contributing to climate change – energy, transport, clothing, food, etc. – and outlines what we would need to do to make that particular sector carbon-neutral. The book is very UK-centric, which is both a strength and a weakness: although it doesn’t even begin to cover the vast, complex global problems facing us, the local focus does mean that the solutions he comes up with feel as if they could actually be implemented (given the right government and massive will for change on the part of the population).
I am no expert in this field, but it did feel to me as if Goodall’s approach was a very middle-aged, privileged, “male” one insofar as it relies heavily on technological solutions rather than, say, individual behavioural change, legislative changes or a more equitable distribution of the global carbon budget. Like any book of this type, it gave a disproportionate amount of room to the author’s hobbyhorses – in this case, hydrogen-derived energy. It seemed as if there was no problem that couldn’t be (theoretically) solved by using hydrogen batteries, burning hydrogen in power stations or creating synthetic hydrocarbon fuels to replace fossil-derived kerosine for aviation. I don’t know if he’s right or not, but I’m always a bit wary about apparently simple solutions to mind-bogglingly complex problems.
The focus of this book was very much on making changes that allow people to maintain their current lifestyle as far as possible, rather than radically rethinking how we live our lives. For example, although Goodall recognises the huge benefits of increased public transport provision, he also supports the conversion of private cars to run on electricity; similarly, he promotes the (indisputably necessary) change to a vegetarian/vegan diet by suggesting that we can replace beefburgers with high-tech meat substitutes, rather than just eating more grains, nuts and pulses! These solutions lack the elegant simplicity of “just eat less meat/stop buying new stuff/don’t drive” but, I do think that they’re ultimately more likely to persuade people that making climate-friendly changes to their lifestyles is achievable and won’t necessarily be punitive. I’m just worried that tinkering around the edges like this and placing all our hope in technology won’t bring a big enough, or fast enough, change to have the impact that’s needed 
.
Another problem with this book is that many of the changes Goodall proposes can only be implemented by governments so it left me, as an individual, feeling a bit powerless. The final chapter does cover what we can do as individuals (and it’s given me a push to consider going back to being vegetarian!), but it’s nothing that we haven’t heard a million times before. There are lots of examples of small community-led projects (e.g. for power generation on remote Scottish islands), or where companies have invested in developing new technologies (interestingly, Goodall is quite optimistic that the fossil fuel companies will step up here and invest massively in green energy as a way of keeping their businesses going). But the elephant in the room here is that we need government investment and coordination if these efforts are to have a significant impact. I’m afraid I’m pessimistic that this will happen, especially given our current government! Maybe I need to find out more about how we can lobby for change at a high level? I’m keen to read more about climate change and what we as individuals can do (beyond the obvious), so please let me know if you’ve read any good books on this theme recently. I’m hoping it will help stave off my feelings of eco-doom!