4 Things we can do to Reduce Global Warming

Climate Change

With a degree in Environmental Science and another in Geography between us, it sometimes feels like we know too much about the state of the planet.

COP26 was a total disaster and was never going to be anything else with the eco-reluctant UK government as the host. But the global inaction on climate change is difficult to swallow and ignore when you correctly understand the consequences of us all continuing to do nothing.

With that in mind, what are some of the things we can do to reduce global warming?

The Facts about Climate Change

Let’s look at the facts.

Man-made climate change is caused primarily by burning fossil fuels like coal, oil and gas. These are various forms of carbon locked away in vast stores in the earth’s crust. When they are dug up or pumped out and burnt for energy they release that carbon in the form of carbon dioxide.

Humankind has released so much extra carbon dioxide into the atmosphere since around the 1800s that it acts like a giant blanket in the atmosphere, trapping heat that would otherwise have disappeared harmlessly into space. So the average surface temperature on earth has been climbing. This is called the greenhouse effect, and anyone who has stood in a greenhouse in the sunshine will understand why.

Climate Breakdown

This has various effects on the Earth, one of the most pronounced being snow melting at the North and South Poles. The meltwater coming off Antarctica, in particular, is so considerable it is actually causing sea levels to rise. Catastrophic for low lying countries like Bangladesh, parts of China, India and South East Asia and closer to home, the Netherlands and our own beloved East Anglia. You think the refugee crisis caused by the wars in Ukraine and Syria is bad? Wait till the whole of Bangladesh is on the move.

Melting snow at the poles also causes delicate climate systems to falter. The polar jet stream, for example, is breaking up, causing it to come further south than usual, causing the extreme cold weather experienced by the USA and Europe. That’s why people who know about this stuff haven’t called it “global warming” since about 1989. Climate breakdown is thought to be a more accurate term, with some areas warming and drying and some areas becoming colder or unsupportably wet. We all have to look forward to floods, storms, droughts and killer heatwaves.

Climate Breakdown in France

Last week we had some high winds in France, and a tree took the power out in our little village of Pensol. We were without electricity for nearly 24 hours. It was devastating! We had guests staying and were expecting more. We couldn’t work the hoover, washing machine, microwave or oven. The freezers started defrosting. 

After 12 hours, our phones started running out of charge. So no talking to guests, taking bookings or Facebook. (Well, that was the only upside). I drove myself mad by repeatedly turning the light switch on in the pantry which has no natural light.

Imagine that type of disruption repeatedly across France, all year round. It will be impossible to run a family, let alone a business.

That’s before you consider flooding. We live in a Moulin. It’s low-lying and on a river. One day it will flood – not sea level rise related – we are too far from the sea – but rather flooding caused by intense rainfall falling onto dry compacted land. In other years the river will dry up altogether. How will we water our animals? Our vegetables?

Talking of food that is also very much at the front of our minds. Brexit, Covid and the Ukraine war have all brought home to everyone how fragile our food production and distribution systems are. There is currently no sunflower oil in the shops. Ukraine produces a significant percentage of Europe’s sunflower oil. Who knew? Not me.

The weather events, loss of crops, wars of resources and mass migration of refugees caused by Climate Breakdown will dwarf the unholy trinity of Brexit, Covid and Russian aggression. Last year we had a late frost that killed all our blossom. We had no fruit here at Le Moulin. Only a handful of blueberries when usually there are truckloads. No apples and a single solitary peach. Nature has beautifully timed the blossom to come out to miss the last frost and cannot cope with the random shift in weather patterns caused by man-made climate change. Widespread hunger is coming.

4 Things we can do to Reduce Global Warming

The minute you say anything on the topic of things we can do to reduce global warming, people always say, “Well, what are YOU doing about it?” And, it’s a fair question. It is difficult not to feel helpless and feel like there is nothing you can do as an individual about climate change.

However, there are things we can do to reduce global warming – all of us.

Le Moulin de Pensol: Things we can do to Reduce Global Warming

There are things we can do to reduce global warming that we are implementing at Le Moulin de Pensol, with our land, property and business, to make a difference. Going plastics free is great and worthwhile, but we are trying to make these changes more profound than indulging in green-washing by merely recycling a little bit and changing brands of shampoo, toiletries and clothes washing liquid, all of which the hospitality community seems to be totally obsessed with.

More detail can be found in our Environment and Nature Policy.

1. Buy less stuff. The things we need for the gites and garden will mostly be secondhand. We will hang on to them until they fall apart and repair them where possible. This goes for cars too. Our knackered diesel workhorse Citroen Picassos will be driven until they fall apart, or we can’t buy diesel anymore. No point in throwing them away to buy a shiny new electric car before the end of their usable life. The most sustainable product is the one you already own, so use it.
   
2. Eat and serve less meat and dairy. Farm animals produce more than 25 times more potent methane than carbon dioxide at trapping heat in the atmosphere. 80% of the global agricultural land is given over to producing animals, including land created by continuing rainforest clearance.
   Deforestation further reduces the ability of the planet to soak up carbon which speeds up climate change. We will never ever eat or serve fish. Overfishing is a massive contributor to climate change as our empty oceans, once teeming with life, no longer have the ability to circulate warm surface water down to the depths and bring up cool water to the surface. There is no such thing as sustainable fish.
3. Look at renewables. We will look at investing in a solar generator to solve our vulnerable reliance on the national grid electricity system made so obvious by the recent power cut. We will also look at passive solar hot water heating and possibly even hydroelectric. Well, it did use to be a water mill.
4. Concentrate on guests who don’t have to fly. We have stopped all advertising in the UK and will in future focus on continental European visitors, particularly French, Belgian, Dutch and German guests. They can drive down to us in their electric cars, which they can charge using the extension lead in our car park.

So, in conclusion, I would like to say Happy Earth Day. But in reality, it’s not a happy earth at the moment, at least in terms of its ability to continue to support the human race.  But, we can’t stop fighting for this beautiful planet we are privileged to call home, and so we must keep doing the things we can do to reduce global warming.