Damien Blackshaw

I’m definitely not the first person to see a similarity between the world’s efforts to combat Coronavirus (CV) with the fight against Climate Change (CC). There are hundreds of articles about the link. What is interesting to me though is in the similarity of the arguments between CC deniers & what I’ll call CV deniers. Have you noticed how the arguments made by CV deniers is EXACTLY the same as with CC deniers? It’s the 5 stages of denialism - "it’s not happening", "it’s not our fault", "it’s not that bad", "it’s too expensive to fix" & lastly "it’s too late!" You could see these arguments play out in the White House “briefings” of Donald Trump & on Fox News. "It’s a hoax", "it’s from China", "it’s no worse than the flu", "the cost can’t be worse than the cure" & "let the old people die for the economy!" The difference between CV & CC is that it’s taken decades to work through these stages with the climate, but it’s taken only weeks to go through them with Covid-19. It’s like CC denialism on steroids. But what do we learn from this (apart from the fact that it happens)? It’s clearly a pattern, a way of thinking, &, for me, it’s about understanding that there are undoubtedly a lot of people who will NEVER understand CC, they will ALWAYS be in a state of denial. We have to move away from trying to get 100% unanimity on CC & focus on WHAT WE CAN DO NOW. 5 coming soon :-)…

What is radical change? One of the main charges leveled at Climate Change protesters is that the world “isn’t ready" for the kind of change that addressing the Climate Crisis requires. Needless to say this is an argument that makes absolutely no sense. If you’ve accepted that radical change is needed (which you have to, for this objection to make any sense), then we obviously HAVE to make the change.

Not even the most radical of Greenpeace supporters were advocating such an immediate & drastic change as the one we’ve already had though, with all the shutdowns across the planet, making many cities look like locations for post-apocalyptic movies. Moreover, in the US, it didn’t take an order from the President or Congress. It came from the ground up, because people were worried about the health of their community.

Obviously, with how our societies are structured, this kind of global human pause isn’t sustainable in the long-term, but it’s definitely moved the needle WAY over in terms of what constitutes radical change & how easily and quickly we, as a human race, can make those changes. It turns out we CAN make the changes we would need to make - & quickly. It’s just a question of whether or not we’re going to do it.

4 coming soon :-)…

Another thing we’ve learned is to listen to experts. It seemed like politicians had little interest in it anymore. Wasn’t it Michael Gove (a British government minister) who famously said “people… have had enough of experts”? NOW people want to listen to experts.

Dr Anthony Fauci (& everyone in the US knows who that is :-) is one of the most trusted people in the world now. Expertise is having a moment. Not only that, but people that ignored or questioned the experts’ expertise have been heavily criticized of late. Criticism that will only strengthen & intensify as the crisis rolls on.

I’m sure you can all think of another gathering storm, a global threat of mid-boggling danger, the first signs of which can be but dimly glimpsed, but which scientists have been warning us of for decades, but which political leaders have largely ignored.

Now, surely, is a time to say that enough is definitely not enough. We must do more. We must listen to the experts before it is too late & change our life-styles & societies now, while we still can avert the danger.

3 coming soon :-)...

CLIMATE CRISIS LESSONS FROM CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC (1) 

The current crisis is unprecedented. Nothing like it has ever happened before (in terms of almost the entire planet shutting down at the same time). Clearly there are going to be all kinds of consequences, in all kinds of ways, but how will it affect the Climate Crisis? Of course there are optimists & pessimists. I was something of a pessimist until now, since it was clear to me that hardly any countries were taking the necessary steps to prevent catastrophe. However this post is about looking at the past, in light of the present, to try to understand WHY we weren’t taking those steps, so we may be able to see a path forward. 

The first thing we’ve learnt is that leaders, like President Trump (but by no means only him), are congenitally unable to see the Climate Crisis as an existential threat to humanity. How do we know that about Trump? Because he totally dropped the ball on this crisis. Even last week, with tens of thousands of Americans infected & the death toll rising daily he wasn’t able to see the danger & wanted to end SIP restrictions after only a few days. 

Why was Trump so blind? For many reasons undoubtedly. In spite of being a businessman, he doesn’t understand exponential math & how low initial numbers quickly become HUGE ones. Also he has an innate belief in his “gut” & is suspicious of experts. Finally the only numbers he’s interested in are the NYSE indices. Basically he was like the mayor in the film ‘Jaws’, trying to stop all talk of sharks and telling everyone to get back in the water. 

The kindest thing to say about Trump is that he’s an innate optimist. However once this crisis is over it’s clear that his ONLY concern will be the economy. How do we know? Because being who he is has got him to where he is; he’s never going to change now, at 73 years old. It doesn’t matter who the messenger is, or how they phrase the message - he won’t get it. Which doesn’t mean we shouldn’t keep trying, this is too important, he is president & maybe others in his administration can be persuaded. It just means we can’t expect to convince Trump & people like him. 

I hate the drive through. I know that at the moment - with the Coronavirus Pandemic - it’s better for us not to mix with other people, but it does 2 horrible things: 

1. It encourages laziness. What’s the big deal with getting out of the car to get your order? 

2. Everyone just sits there with the engine running, getting 0 mpg & polluting the environment. 

Why don’t ALL cars automatically turn off when not being driven (like German cars)? 

April 1st, Day One of Monopoly. 

This is an experiment to see how long we can make a game of Monopoly last. Can we continue the game indefinitely? Is it possible for one person to even win, if there are only 3 players? Also can we break the Monopoly bank? These are some of the questions we will be answering over the next few weeks/months. Regular updates to follow. 

Climate Crisis? What Climate Crisis? 

Hardly surprisingly the Coronavirus Pandemic has totally stopped most people from worrying about the climate. This crisis is so big, and it's upended our lives so fast, that we haven’t had time to think about anything much other than it and all its consequences. 

In some ways, ironically, the pandemic is good for the environment. Since many of us are more or less confined to our homes we’re not driving around in carbon-emitting vehicles. A huge amount of commercial and industrial activity has stopped too. The air has never been clearer in LA. Last week I was able to see from the Sunset Trail in the San Gabriel Mountains, all the way to Santa Catalina Island off the coast in the Pacific. A distance of around 50 miles! How often does that happen? Never, normally. 

Nevertheless in past crises, like the last recession, pollution has dropped only to pick back up again after, so this isn’t even a medium term fix. Once the crisis is over most people will be worried about the economy (with good reason :-) and attention will shift away from what surely is THE big existential crisis that humanity is facing. Still there are lessons that we can learn from the situation we’re in at the moment - even while we’re still in the thick of it. What are those lessons? I’ll look at that in my next post ;-). 

Sun sets on Hollywood as the city goes into shutdown. Feels like I’m in a film noir - or science fiction - movie. 

Just want to say a big THANK YOU to everyone that came to our @climatecents fundraiser. It was so inspiring to hear Nick speak about all the programs that Climate Cents supports in Los Angeles. 

Even if the climate crisis didn’t exist they’d still be fantastic.

A GLOBAL COLLECTIVE ACTION PROBLEM

What does that mean? It means that the Climate Crisis cannot be solved by one person’s actions, only by everyone acting together with the same objective. And not only people, but governments, countries, companies and other organizations must all work towards positive solutions.

Why do I mention this? Especially since my last blog post was about the little things that we all can (and should :-) do to live a more eco-friendly lifestyle, doesn’t it seems a little contradictory?

Well I didn’t want readers to think that I was absolving governments and corporations of their particular responsibility for solving this existential crisis. A recent study found 100 companies are responsible for no less than 71% of global emissions, so it’s clear that no solution is going to work unless these global corporations are forced to act.

From my point of view it’s very important that I “do my bit” by lowering the carbon emissions my own lifestyle creates AS MUCH AS I CAN, so that I’m not being hypocritical. However climate change deniers have created the ridiculous situation where anyone who is concerned about the crisis can be pilloried for not doing enough, when it’s clear that nothing they do is going to be enough anyway.

How do you solve this paradox? Keep emailing/calling your political representatives, keep showing up at climate demonstrations, make purchasing decisions based on a company’s climate stance, keep talking about these issues and vote based on them. The only solution to the Climate Crisis is a global movement - so get involved :-)

THE LITTLE THINGS 

With the bushfires raging in Australia & a relentless barrage of bad news on the climate popping up on our newsfeed generally, it can seem like a waste of time to try & do anything positive with regards to the Climate Crisis. 

However there’s so much that we CAN do that we can’t give in to hopelessness & in fact many of the most valuable things that we can do are small things. Scientists talk about tipping points where the climate is concerned, but there are good AND bad tipping points. And they ALWAYS start with something small, before becoming bigger. 

What kind of small things can you do that could be a tipping point, at least in your life? 

1. Talk about Climate Change. Yep, let colleagues, friends, family, random strangers at the coffee shop know that you believe the science & are concerned. Obviously when appropriate. If you ONLY talk about this issue people will switch off 

2. Use a reusable cup at Starbucks 

3. Change all the lightbulbs in your house to long life, switch everything off at the mains when not in use & minimize aircon/heating 

4. If you don’t already just once a week use public transport, walk or ride a bike on a journey 

5. Switch your home energy plan to 100% renewable. It’s often no more expensive than non renewable plans 

AN ECO-FRIENDLY LIFESTYLE 

What does that mean? It all starts with where I live. My wife is an educator & we live barely 2 miles from the school where she teaches, that way she can cycle or walk to work. In addition to not having a carbon heavy commute through LA traffic, it means she can get to & from her class in 15 minutes - a real luxury in LA, where so many people spend hours in their car every day. Because of this we don’t need a second car, which also saves a ton of money. 

Another reason why we like the neighborhood where we live is that there are a lot of activities for my daughter. She has dance lessons at a local studio, which is 10 minutes walk from our house. We also have guitar lessons locally & often walk the 15 minutes to the class & back. It’s good exercise & it feels liberating not to have to use our car. It’s also good to patronize local businesses, it’s so much better for the community. 

The metro in LA still doesn’t cover many areas, but I combine car & train on as many journeys as I can. For example the tour company that I own, The Real Los Angeles Tours, has a tour that starts in Hollywood & finishes in Santa Monica, so I drive to downtown & park there. Then I take the Red Line to Hollywood to begin the tour & the Expo line back to downtown when it’s over. It’s so much faster & easier than driving & sometimes you get a free concert! 

We turn off devices & lights whenever we’re not using them at home & we only run the air conditioning or heating when we have to (we have used the heating a couple of times this month ;-), therefore reducing our electricity usage & bill. I contracted with a power company to get 100% of our electricity from renewable sources, but it’s great that our bill’s only $25 a month. 

ECO-FRIENDLY TRAVEL, PART 6 

Aiyana & I loved our week in Switzerland, but now we had to get to Madrid & because I was determined not to fly that meant we had to train it across 3 countries - Switzerland, France & Spain. 

First we took the 8am train from Geneva to Lyons. One of the reasons I was so looking forward to traveling this way was to experience crossing the borders over land, but unfortunately there are no more passport inspectors, even on the Swiss border 😟. Still, it meant for a faster journey, with no interruptions. 

One of the advantages of taking the train is that we had a 4 hour stopover in Lyons, a city I’d passed through before, but never properly visited. It was super hot, but Lyons is beautiful & Aiyana & I had time for a very nice lunch in the old town, before returning to the station. 

Once we got back on the train we were whisked at speeds of up to 300 k/h (200 m/h) to Barcelona & then onto Madrid, where we arrived at about 10pm. In all it was a fantastic trip. Going by train might have been slightly more expensive than flying, but that was more than compensated for by the fact that it was more comfortable, more fun & we went to a lot of places we wouldn’t otherwise have seen.