On individuals tackling the carbon problem #environment

OK, we assume we have a problem and we want to fix it, but as I suggested yesterday the solution won't be just one thing but many things. And as I also suggested, merely swapping in an electric motor, a fuel cell or a solar panel won't fix it, in fact it will definitely make it worse in the short term and may never recoup what you expected. The key here is to break both the problem and the potential solutions down into smaller pieces and carefully analyse each "chunk". Then you pick and choose the size and shape of the solution that will address your personal situation. But of course who has the time or skill to do that?

Which is a definite problem. Let's say 90% of us can access a computer but only 30% of those can use a spreadsheet to any great effect. What we need then are those 30% doing their sums and working out a solution that will address their part of the problem. And then sharing that solution with the others. Alas, we don't all have the inclination or motivation to do that, and we may not even know where to look for the options, or for their relative potency. Let alone hooking up with a solution-server somewhere on the Internet.

So you'd hope that democratically elected governments would do the sums for us and offer some guidance. But do they? Well I would argue that they do it in a very broad but largely ineffectual way. They tell us there's a problem (usually too late) and in response set up schemes that either subsidise a product or service (such as insulation or solar panels) or impose an extra cost (such as a carbon trading scheme or carbon tax). But subsidies foster laziness amongst the manufacturers and distort the real market price of a product. They are also a "bet" on a particular solution, and carry the risk that the bet is wrong. And carbon taxes and their ilk, whilst an admirable way to cost-in a previously hidden cost, are prone to political interference. Primarily they will be set too low, as few governments will risk setting the correct price first-up as it will negatively impact (in particular) jobs in the most carbon-wasteful industries.

Still, it's a start, and an important one. We need to stop hiding the real cost of things. For example cars are not priced to cover the carbon emissions of their manufacture, nor do they pay for the shared resources of roads and hospitals or the opportunity cost of the land given up for roads and carparks. We see a cheap sticker price and forget about the cost of infrastructure that is laid on - often paid for by taxpayers - to support that product. It's this sort of subsidy - which extends to tax breaks for manufacturers and fleet leasers, bail-out schemes and import duties - that is a hidden distortion of the market place. And ultimately is the sort of "public service" that appears to be doing us "good" and satisfying our desire for cheap cars, when in fact it is undermining our car makers (making them lazy and inefficient) and setting them - and us - up for catastrophic collapse.

And governments of all types are typically too scared to tell the whole truth about the state we are in, or hamstrung by an opposition party that will oppose everything they say. Indeed an incumbent government will always have in the back of their collective mind the 'I want to be re-elected' desire. And they will compromise every which way in order to satisfy their desire for continued power.

So it really comes back to people power. Governments may fiddle around the edges of the problem, and they may get some good messages out, but it ultimately comes down to every individual reducing their carbon footprint in a measured but effective way. We all have our personal wants and needs, so we can't be prescriptive, but picking a few "do-ables" from a list like this could get you started:

• Turn off that TV if no-one is watching, and the lights in an unoccupied room
  
• Install insulation and run a fan before using the air-conditioner
• Repair before you replace and make recycling the final step, not the first
  
• If you need a new car, buy the smallest, most efficient one for your purpose. Then leave it at home and walk to the shops
• Make it a habit to reduce waste in every way
• Plant trees and shrubs that need less care (ie ones that suit your local habitat).
  

Now cutting back on waste means consuming less, and we have a society and an economy built on mass consumption and growth- so it will hurt someone, somewhere. Prices will rise. There will be job losses in the most polluting, wasteful industries - but there will be new opportunities - and jobs - created as demand swings behind such things as alternative energy sources and renewed, revitalised public transport infrastructure and - perhaps best of all - a reconstituted village-style society built on human beings out and about in the community, rather than cosseted in wheeled steel cans or walled up in their homes.

Indeed if we walked a lot more we'd be needing more shoes, for starters.