CB1 café was bursting full with at least 60 interested people of all ages eager to hear more about climate change. There were three speakers: One researchers from the Scott Polar Institute (sorry, i forgot his name), Chris Hope from the Judge Institute, George Marshall from Rising Tide (Oxford) and Jonathan Koehler from Applied Economics in Cambridge and the Tyndall Centre in Norwich.

The first speaker (Scott Polar Institute) informed the audience that climate change was really happening and that we can already see a rise in global mean temperatures today. He showed some charts indicating previous ice ages and noted that we are on an upward trend to an extend that has never been seen before in the records of ice core studies. He noted that it all started thousands of years ago when mankind found out how to burn wood but the warming has sped up especially since the industrialization. He noted that across Britain from the Southern tip to the Northern tip there is a difference of mean temperature of about 2 degrees. We have already seen an increase of half of a degree since industrialization. Computer models that scientists like himself use can predict an increase in global mean temperatures, but not regional mean temperatures. Climate change might therefore hit some regions more than others.

Chris Hope is part of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), just as the previous speaker. He brought a copy of the latest summary of the report of one of the IPCC working groups and told the audience that the actual reports of each of the three working groups is about 1000 pages long. He indicated that there are three concerns that the IPCC expresses about climate change. Firstly, there are some ecosystems that are particularly threatened by climate change. For example, on a mountain, an ecosystem might have to go higher and higher to find the particular climate that it has adapted to . At some point, however, it will reach the peak of the mountain and the ecosystem disappears. Coral reefs are another ecosystem that is threatened in this way by rising sea levels. Secondly, some countries may not be able to cope with climate change impact as well as others. The Netherlands, for example, have had dams and dikes to protect their country for centuries. They can simply build them higher when the sea level rises. Bangladesh, on the other hand, will not as easily be able to adapt. Some countries, such as small island states, will completely submerge and their people will be refugees. Thirdly and most frightening according to Chris, we may see some major disturbances in the global systems. For example, the Gulf Stream that keeps Britain's climate moderate, may one day simply stop working, which will bring much lower temperatures to Britain. Chris tells us that there is scientific evidence for the first two concerns and that they are already starting to affect the world. The third concern has not materialized yet, but we might see evidence of this soon. He talked about the benefits of implementing a carbon tax, but this tax would have to be global to be effective.

Jonathan informed the audience that climate change action must not come at a large cost to society and our economy. Rather the opposite can be true if we choose a path of technological innovation. Most emissions come from housing (including office space) which can be made much more efficient through innovation. Another source of emissions is industry which has steadily declined in Britain. The third source of emissions is transport, which is growing. If we choose to innovate wisely, we can find new ways of producing energy and healthier ways of transporting people. All three speakers engaged in a long discussion on cheap air travel and how the government encourages air travel through subsidies and lower fuel tax. The building of new runways also came up in discussion as an endorsement of the government to continue flying. Emissions released by aeroplanes are estimated to cause about three times the damage to the climate than the same emissions would on the ground.

George from Rising Tide gave a very engaging talk about why we are all aware of climate change yet nobody is willing to do anything about it. He asked the audience to comment why we act like this on a personal as well as state level. Many responses were given such as: selfishness by the consumer, temptation of cheap travel, blaming other countries (such as the US), despair at seeing how wars are waged that cause massive emissions, being frightened of the sheer size of the problem, time scale of the problem being so far, the change happens really slowly and therefore does not get our adrenalin rushing, the doctrine of economic growth dictates that we increase our CO2 emissions. George urged people to get together to talk about climate change so that people see that they are not alone with this fear. We shouldn't blame others, such as the US, but instead see what we can do about this.

The organizer of the forum recommended several ways to lower your own emissions: switch to Good Energy, choose methods of travel that minimise fuel use, get involved with the CRED project of the University of East Anglia, support local food suppliers, compost (saves a lot of methane emissions!), cut back your air travel, join Greenpeace or Friends of the Earth.

Someone in the audience wanted to know more about direct action and what Rising Tide is doing, but unfortunately, the forum ended at that precise moment. ;)

I don't think i did justice to the in depth discussions and the very informative talks, but this might help you think about some of the issues. Please comment if you were also at the forum and can think of other things that were said. Unfortunately, I was not able to tape the speakers.