Carbonwise article for Unlock Net Zero by YC Chair Prof. Geoff Thompson MBE FRSA DL
20/04/21
The ongoing issues and challenges of climate change, carbon zero footprint, the language, the culture and the societal changes that are now required for future generations have never been more critical in these uncertain and challenging times.
I believe that young people are at the very heart and soul of this agenda. One only has to look at the youthful climate activists that are there now to challenge us and hold us to account as a generation who feel failed by the world they will inherit and the legacy of generations past.
My notion of the environment (of which I was the product of in the East End of London) and recycling to the benefit of the planet was taking the returnable bottles to the front of the newsagents, securing the equivalent of 2.5p and then subsequently going around to the back of the shop and reclaiming them only to take them back a couple of days later to gain an extra 2.5p per bottle!
The world is in an uncertain place, but one thing that is most definitely clear as a result of Covid-19, the George Floyd Black Lives Matter movement and the resulting inequalities that sees the environment either first world / third world, inner city, suburban or rural - and irrespective of what you look like, what you believe in, where you come from, what you sound like or your lifestyle choice.
With the jury having reached the historic guilty verdict the climate of fear and racism can be equally seen as important as the issue of climate change and will be determined not only by the G7 and existing institutions protocols and declarations by corporates and the continued impact of geo-political economics.
