We are now three weeks into our Baffin Island expedition 2010. We have spent the
last three weeks on a variety of different arctic environments ranging
from tundra to moraine which we are on now to glaciers which we have traveled
on for the last five days. During this time these last three weeks I have
conducted a video project between myself and the other members of the
expedition on climate change. The other members of the expedition range from
students and graduates of natural sciences to outdoor instructors to
teachers and finally to other explorers. The first question that I asked them
during this time and probably the most important is why should we care if the
climate changes? The climate is changing and we are contributing to this but why
should we care? Why? Because although it's like since time began it's estimated
99% all species on the planet have become extinct and yes that's nature's
cycle and kind of that's that's the law of nature and all the rest of it but you
know we've how long have we really been around for in terms of you know how how
are we technologically advanced? Is it since the industrial revolution? Is it
since the birth of Christ? Is it looking back further than that? You know the
environment we're in here these rocks are like 2.2 billion years old and in
our in our timescale you know what industrial revolution 150 200 years you
know it in a whole scheme of things we haven't been around for that long but
yet we're having the biggest impact on the on the planet. Why is that
important? Because well you know we need to you know be very aware that we don't
slide into that 99% category just yet. I think we need to for the wider
population it's we need it to conserve our environment that we thrive in so
well because it's the perfect environment we can live in but for me
personally I love the planet as it is I want all the species there I want to
learn I want to go into the rainforest and see them there I don't want to go
into a patch of grass full of cows firm at Donald's Burgers I want to actually
go into the Amazon I want to be able to go on to the ice caps and see them and
experience the world how it is so there's my personal I just love the world
as it is and I love the world life and love the environment I want to preserve
it for my personal enjoyment and then I think for the wider world it's the
environment that we thrive in and we need it and was well we don't know how we're
gonna survive the bottom line is that the the world is going to change as we
know it on a very large scale relative to what we observe now large changes are
going to occur and we're still not totally sure what those changes are
going to be but we know that many many people will suffer there will be many
many environmental refugees and many of these will be in less developed countries
our position on this planet is part of a very fragile very complex ecosystem
and we rely on a vast number of complex ecological interactions for our own
survival that we don't even realize and if we're just going to allow these to be
broken down then in a very selfish way our species will suffer greatly as well
and you've got species up here in this completely fragile environment you've
got bird species that will without a doubt suffer more than any other species
on earth like you know you've got rock tarmigan up here some of the mammals are
probably the most endangered on earth from climate change the narwhal the
walrus all of their intricate and complex feeding ecologies will be
completely broken up by modern climate change now I guess with your question it
asks should we be bothered about climate change climate change will will upset
these ecological ecosystems and many species will become extinct if we
should be bothered maybe that roots back to whether climate change is
anthropogenic in whether it's human-induced or not if it's human-induced
then yes we should absolutely bother about this these changes if it's not
if it's not human-induced should we still be bothered I think we definitely
should be the important thing to realize is that the climate is changing and we
are almost without doubt the main protagonist for this as a species we
have benefited greatly from this cool climate but I assume going to change we
are going to be subjected to more extreme weather conditions making life at
the very least uncomfortable for us and that is not even to mention the impact
it will have on the poorer communities who don't have the means to adapt or to
the wonderful array of wildlife that will slide into extinction such as those
animals here in the Arctic for all these reasons and for more that we won't
realize until it's too late we should care why the climate changes the second
topic I asked the teams to discuss was about the changes that are required to
be made both on an individual scale and on the society level in order to leave
more environmentally sustainable lifestyles yeah you can't assume that
everyone cares about the environment that's very true they don't and a lot of
people don't have faith in green products even look at this expedition
people saying I don't want to buy by the grade of all science bags they're not
very strong yeah that's just on our level that's one thing and you hear all
the time people saying I'm not buying by the grade of this or recycle that because
it's crap one of the biggest things are green I think he's not pre but sort of
post use of the recycling plastic is probably the least recycled because
there's so many different types of plastic as well you that you can and can't
recycle and stuff more people recycle glass and paper and it's easy yeah and
it makes me maybe feel a bit better because they're recycling but plastic
is the one that needs to be recycled because it's from oil
the council don't make it that easy to do because it's expensive and then if you
put the wrong thing in they find you or people don't take your bins and then you
don't bother because what's the point if it's that much hassle if you put one
wrong bottle and you don't get your rubbish again but candor education and
moral inclination of the masses compete against the all-powerful advertising
industry that promotes consumption above all else and in the world where it is
far cheaper to live an environmentally irresponsible lifestyle I think the
masses can override anything like think of you know something like the government
the politicians expenses and all that you get it out and then the masses go mad
and then everyone jumps on the bandwagon you need maybe one figurehead to start
the ball rolling that people can jump on the masses and generally won't do it
themselves you need maybe not quite a dictator but someone to take that jump
that's really obvious if somebody started a kind of ball rolling that the masses
got behind then marketing and things would just instantly change and jump on
it as well because it mean more money for them they wouldn't compete against it
they would join it people advertise what people want to hear yeah they don't
advertise against what they advertise against people's beliefs because there's
no point it might end up being something simple like the final in a few years
time maybe the extinction of the polar bear something like that is a very big
media story that could start the ball rolling on something because it's such
an iconic symbol no it needs somebody like these things things keep getting
extinct people don't care you assume people care and they don't people
care if the polar bear goes hasn't there's nothing change for them all
the polar bears gone well I've still got a photo of it in my book I can still see
it on the TV because there's so many documentaries about it you need somebody
to make people care or make them follow enough if the polar bear goes half the
world won't care at all if the Greenland ice cap melts depending on what happens
at the water levels and things like that yeah I think people don't care unless it
happens in their house I mean to see their country in their garden outside
their window people have their little boxes in their little bubble is protected
and their government will make them feel protected until they actually have to do
something so all these changes occur will this tipping balance happen after
it's too late because anything that's gonna make the balance tip is the big
catastrophe whatever it might be whatever we're talking about but that's
the point of which you can't really get back I don't think and I think it
depends on if somebody comes if if there was to be this some great person that
could lead the world in becoming more green then we wouldn't have to wait this
big disaster to happen but then there's been disasters that people say they
linked to climate change but the extra hurricanes in America to happen over the
last few years the tsunami that's pretty big things and people still don't care
but the Americans have a whole haven't said oh there's been more hurricanes
let's go and be more environmentally friendly it's because the government
sweep it under the carpet hasn't it always been other people that have come
from nowhere that have grass roots that actually made a big difference I think
being it being a consumer driven society makes it much more powerful to be in
the hands of the consumer in in which change can be made so change can be
driven at our hands at the level of the citizen and through what we buy through
what we choose to buy and consume we can change make the determine certain
directions in which resources are consumed and whether they're consumed
sustainably or not and it will be at the it can be at the citizen level as
opposed to the governmental level and it gives us a lot of power so you're
saying that a grass roots movement is there is the the best means of a change
to occur no I'm not saying that necessarily but I'm saying it can be
I'm saying that the the the society that we that we have which is built around
capitalist consumerism does not necessarily mean that we are you know it
conflicts with sustainable living or choosing to support sustainable resource
consumption a half time you don't even know do you from what you buy in the
supermarket I think a lot of people try to but then you get lazy and you just
need to buy something so you don't there's a lot of things that may be in
advance like when we came here like we will buy by degree bags this trip but
if you're just going for a shop then it's just can be more convenient cost is
a huge thing as well as I think it's been a lot more you said that it's more
become much more consumerism and people the government are trying to force
things that's hard but there's been I think in the last couple of years even
with the crisis there's been a lot more of there's still driving the reusing
things I think there's a lot of them well not maybe not political drive but
you know before and after the election the economic like crisis you cannot you
can't really put it in the same you know use it as a reason why there isn't more
green initiatives taking place because I've noticed quite a lot recently yeah
there is a lot going on and like you know if it wasn't for there was a real
risk of our economy completely collapsing so that had to take you know
priority over you know other greener topics in the main headlines because
we needed to keep society going so I don't think you'll pick up a newspaper
or anything still to date without there being a lot of articles about what you
can do and on television everything's how you can reuse things and there's a
lot of being caused in industry as well like the amount of packaging you get on
something like you buy you can go to the the freezer counter something or to your
local butchers and buy something in minimal packaging or you can go to like
yeah the freezer section of supermarket which is what a lot more people do
because it's more convenient and to get all your shop at once but then you get a
chicken breast in a foam tray in a load of plastic packaging and sometimes you
get cardboard on top of that and like everything ends up we even so breaking
everything down for the expedition the sheer amount of packaging that you end up
with and I think industries have got to be responsible for that in some ways and
even in terms of like shops and retail and that kind of thing you you produce
so much there's so much waste material and it's not always economically viable
for those companies to go yeah we'll put all this into recycling most of it off
and just ends up in the bin because they'll have to pay or contribute towards
the cost of getting that recycle which isn't something that a lot of companies
finance for is a big crop full that's a big one
yeah you wouldn't be able to make it in one generation like it you know what what
you're targeting because you I mean you can target through media but then if
you're targeting into schools and those schools they can but you know they can
pass that knowledge on to you know their their children or the way that they go
up but they're not thinking you know they can take the message home but it's
not always gonna it's not gonna get through every level of society just by
a series of sort of advertising or campaigns or that kind of thing yeah
you look at the national curriculum at the moment then there's huge great big
sections that are all to do with like you know climate change and sustainability
and ecosystems and habitats around the world yeah one of the reasons why we're
here is to help you know bringing together lesson plans and to highlight
what's happening in the Arctic region so I mean that's another angle entirely I
think that the secret with climate change and that the change in society is
down to education it's like if with the next generation of entrepreneurs
politicians and business leaders that's where the biggest impact would take
place. In terms of education climate change on the national curriculum and
at GCSE and A level has only really been sort of a key element in the past five
years or so so you can see that change is already being made and it's been
brought into schools but before that you know it wasn't and you know in the
we can already see a lot more people know about the issues but then there's a
lot of confusion out there as well between things that are portrayed in the
media and the sort of the facts that are understood as well and I think that's
adding to some confusion over what climate change is and its effects and the
best way to really do that is to get it through a sort of education and the
media tends to blow it out the water a bit on several elements. I agree I think
education is hugely important tool probably the largest tool in our in our
fight to live more sustainably but I think it's not as definitely not as
simple as segregating it into top-down and bottom-up approaches I think they're
all completely interlinked and integrated because you know governments
have the capacity to change education systems within a given country and
consumers have the upper bit capacity to create greater demand for it I ask the
team on how society needs to change to make a difference the answer I received
a mixed they told me there needs to be movement from both a top-down approach
and also from a grassroots movement i.e. it is all our responsibilities to make
a change there was both optimism and pessimism and education is the key
factor but one thing they all agreed on is that the change in culture will not
occur in this generation the climate is changing fast can we adapt in time to
prevent catastrophic change
