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I then challenged myself, and anyone else I hoped might be listening, to stop whingeing, debating, denying, scolding or fretting about climate change and the environment, and rather just DO something.

You know: A little less conversation, a little more action.

We started this month with an EnviroHealth experiment called the Pledge to Change: making small, incremental, realistic lifestyle changes – an approach which generally works well for improving personal health – in a bid to improve planetary health and thus deflect our headlong trajectory towards the End of the World, no less.

It turns out the UN's Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon, also chose August to launch a similar project, providing us with a handy illustration of what one small significant act can mean:

Ban Ki-Moon and the new UN cool
Mr Ban's “Cool UN” Campaign kicked off at the organisation's New York headquarters this month (where it is, of course, currently summer) by simply raising aircon thermostats in the Secretariat building from 22˚C to 25˚C.

In just one month, this should keep 300 tons of carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere – and save the UN $100 000.

If they keep the campaign going for a year, and include lowering thermostats in winter, savings could be around $1 million.

Impressive. But what I really enjoyed about this story were some of the other, more immediate benefits. Ban, a self-confessed suit-and-tie kinda guy, also relaxed the dress code in the building and himself breezed in with short sleeves and open collar.

So in addition to some seriously useful environmental action, the Secretariat has lightened up, loosened up and freed itself from the tyranny of formal wear (only a good thing); and reminded employees that they live, not in an artificially regulated terrarium but the real world, which is often hot and getting hotter.

All achieved with a tiny, manageable 3˚C tweak of the thermostat.

The point being that change is more entertaining than stasis. As Ban puts it (admittedly a little stiffly, but remember the man was still trussed up in a tie just last week): “Let us have some fun – while at the same time we make a contribution to reducing global emissions”.

Voices from the cyber void
A direct appeal to readers to smarten up their environmental behaviour is not an approach I've used much recently; I’d decided that the only way to get green issues published and read was to sneak them in under cover of other jucier topics. I assumed that the primary effect of the phrase "climate change" would be to cause readers' eyes to glaze over.

So when our Call for Change across the wastes of cyberspace was initially met with dead silence, I shrugged, stopped checking the EnviroHealth forum and, as I recall now somewhat hazily, went home in a funk and consumed a fair quantity of alcohol.

I was roused by Health24’s forum manager telling me that something unexpected was happening: one by one, readers were Pledging to Change - from solemnly swearing to drink more organic wine, to walking to work, to planting a tree.

And from the authority and familiarity with which many of them spoke about the issues and offered tips for others, it’s clear that there are a lot of people out there who really do give a damn after all that we go down in history as the Age of Change rather than the Age of Stupid.

Check out the pledges that have come in so far on the forum. Pick up on one of these or find one you like better, and post a message - let's keep this momentum going!

- Olivia Rose-Innes, EnviroHealth, Health24, August 2008

Information sources:
New ‘cool’ initiative to slash UN’s own emission of greenhouse gases. United Nations press release, 30 June 2008
Ban dresses down to 'cool' the UN. United Nations press release, 1 August 2008

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	Saving the planet 2008/08/09 08:23:29 AM If you really want to save the planet, consume less meat. The " mass farming"  of animals for slaughter contributes more to global warming than all the trucks and cars in the world combined. This is not just vegetarian hippy speak. It is time people listen. - Nikki Botha   well done 2008/08/09 09:07:13 AM well done with this worthy iniciative - x   conservation = veganism 2008/08/09 09:13:57 AM why are we all ignoring the one thing that contributes more to global hunger, deforestation, warming, pollution of our waters, use of water etc than anything else? Consuming less (OR NO) animal products is the single biggest thing we can do to save the planet. Simply going vegan will result in sufficient grain to feed the planet, reduce greenhouse gasses, stop most of the water (and ground) pollution etc etc. There are plenty of faux meats out there that are fabulous. Give it a try. - toni   save the planet 2008/08/09 11:33:44 AM We should start by simply teaching ourselves and our children not to litter and not to waste. and most of us should stop being greedy. - Zeenat   UN Report - Livestocks Long Shadow 2008/08/09 05:06:37 PM According to the UN Report on global warming. Meat consumtion contributes 18% to global warming, which is more that the transport sector. If people are really serious about changing their ways to combat global warming.. go vegan! - Jo   save the planet 2008/08/10 01:46:45 PM The first step is to just replace ourselves with new generations. Population growth is out of control. The second is to recycle everything we can. The third is to grow our own vegetables and fruit, in co-operation with neighbours so that we bring our immediate food requirements literlly to our doorsteps again. Fourthly, walk or cycle instead of using cars or public transport. Fifthly ditch fashion and make clothes last. Finally have family fun with Scrabble etc instead of TV. Tough love - Judith Taylor   Waste of time 2008/08/10 07:27:10 PM This is a spurious issue. There might well be an increase in global temperatures occurring, but it has nothing to do with human activity! Our planet undergoes many cycles. The likely cause is the primary, which has enormous influence on our climate. All the faddist human global warmers, IPCC and all, have not produced a single piece of research that shows, conclusively, a CAUSAL connection between human activity and warming. Its all just about assumptions and models and political leanings. - Jack   To the vegans 2008/08/11 10:02:22 AM Firstly, it' s not a black and white issue - people consume too much meat, but the answer isn' t that people should consume no meat. Secondly, it' s been shown that the vegan diet is unhealthy for growing children since it' s simply not possible for them to get all the nutrients they need. Thirdly, I don' t eat much meat and I' ve tried plenty of feaux meats and so far they' re just varying degrees of horrible, not to mention not providing the nutrition that meat provides. - CTheB   To all the meat eaters 2008/08/11 02:14:52 PM Meat doesn' t provide all the nutrition you need. It' s nothing but a corpse that' s been pumped full of antibiotics. It' s a creature, with a life, that gets killed so you can eat it' s dead meat. Come on. Evolve. Think a little. Read some books on vegan nutrition for adults and kids (because it works WONDERS). Besides saving the planet (which it could), it' ll also give you a new perspective on live - you' re not the only one who wants to live it. - Jackyl   Doh! 2008/08/11 02:16:09 PM Damn! Now I just look stupid (must be the vegan diet) ... I meant a new perspective on life! - jackyl   Be the Hero 2008/08/11 04:48:36 PM WWF launched a fantastic campaign recently which deals with exactly this. check out www.wwf.org.za/hero It has all the tips on what you can do to be the hero in your own life. - AD   NOT a waste of time 2008/08/11 06:06:41 PM Anthropogenic global warming is real - it is the denialist fringe who are really being conned by politics, namely corporates (and their PR organisations like the Cato Institute) who don' t want to have to change their ways. There ARE causal connections that have been demonstrated at length, which is why it tends to be only non-scientists who buy into vapid denialist rhetoric. Anyway, even if we' re not 100% sure, the stakes are high enough to warrant exercising the precautionary principle! - Aragorn Eloff   Clarification on the vegan diet 2008/08/11 06:11:55 PM CTheB, please do some research before you spout ignorant nonsense. A balanced vegan diet has been conclusively proven by countless studies to be 100% healthy for people of all ages and provides all the nutrition meat provides (with fewer nasties!) This perspective is endorsed by every major health organisation in the world, including the WHO, ADA, etc. The two sensationalist anti-vegan articles appearing in tabloids recently were grossly inaccurate and fly in the face of nutritional science. - SA Vegan Society   2008/08/26 07:31:11 PM -
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