Real Carbon Offsetting

Last year, as part of a university course, I was introduced to www.cheatneutral.com - a parody website which aims to highlight the irelevance of the carbon offsetting industry. Their video gives a great overview of the logic behind their parody campaign.


I throughly agree with the premise that paying somebody else to install low energy lightbulbs does very little to reduce the total amount of carbon emissions worldwide, and that the biggest gains in carbon emission reduction can be made through the political process and setting targets which affect industry.

However, I do believe still that there is a need to still consider action at an individual level. If people take a concerted interest in changing their behaviours to have a lower carbon lifestyle then ultimately this can become a transformative green pressure for other entities. The greening of the economy has to be bottom up as well as top down.

Now we come to my dilema. Rio+20, the sustainable development summit which I will be attending this summer on behalf of WAGGGS, will see tens of thousands of people fly to Brazil to talk about issues including the green economy. There is a fair amount of irony in the amount of carbon emitted in the processes of attempting to reduce it.

As an individual I have used a simple online calculator to figure that my return flight will emit around 2 tonnes of carbon into the atmosphere (though the damage this figure is questionable in relation the the damage flying does compared to other types of carbon emissions). I do feel guilt about the impact I am having on the environment - but I won't be giving a donation of my money to a carbon neutralising company to offset it.
Instead I plan to take personal action through my food consumption and everyday transportation usage to offset my carbon on an individual basis.

Howstuffworks.com uses data based on a University of Chicago study to suggest how much carbon is offset by a vegetarian (1 tonne) or vegan (2 tonnes) diet. Norfolk County Council - where I currently live - suggest that UK diets vary between 0.2 and 5 tonnes of carbon emissions depending on the amount of meat, dairy, processed and imported by air products you consume.

Due to food intolerances I already cut dairy and egg out of my diet, along with gluten - which means that my diet already has less of an enviromental impact that the UK average and it is trickier to find areas to cut down on. I can however pledge to cut down on food miles and red meat - both of which are major causes of emissions. From now onwards I am going to make a concerted effort to buy the majority of fresh produce that has grown in the UK (or southern Europe in the case of tomatoes etc) and cut down my red meat intake replacing it with fish and vegetarian alternatives wherever possible.

I live approximately 15 minutes by bike or 30 minutes walking from both the university where I study and work and the centre of Norwich. As such travel to either of these destinations by any other method is really unnecessary. I will reserve bus travel for journey's longer than this and car sharing for journeys which couldn't be done on public transport.

I'm not sure if the maths of these reductions add up - indeed there are many researchers who have spent years looking int carbon emissions and still are sure of the precise comparison of different impact on the environment - but it is better than nothing.

These are small changes which may actually save me money as well as carbon emissions, but putting thought into these decisions will have a positive impact on the environment - if we all make a small change it adds up to something really big.
 
Going back to Rio+20, yes it is a phenomenal environmental imapct of getting so many people together in one place for discussions. However if targets and policies cna be established which will ensure the growth of a green economy, then I am certain that the conference will be 'offset' by future sustainable growth.

Maybe soon in the future we can also find a way to do global conferences sustainably too!

Could The Olympics Cause Domestic Violence?

On Saturday a friend of mine, a fellow rugby fan, asked me if I'd seen the domestic violence awareness ads that ran during the Men's Rugby World Cup last autumn. I'm currently starting a piece of research for my Masters looking at museums responses to the issue of domestic violence and so it's interesting to hear about campaigns which have linked into other recreational activities.

I admitted that I hadn't seen that particular campaign (which was specific to Northamptonshire) and was shocked to hear the message it promoted. With a little bit of internet searching I've found a photo of one of the posters on the back of a bus:

"Don't get beaten during the rugby world cup". Whilst I think raising awareness of domestic violence is a great idea, I find this particular campaign to be problematic.

Firstly "Don't get beaten" implies that it's inevitable that the perpetrator will be violent; that this is somehow a threat waiting out there for potential victims; and that somehow a victim is letting themselves get beaten. Secondly the image, to me, shows a passive woman who unfortunately didnt do enough to avoid getting beaten. This, I think, is an extremely poor campaign that does nothing to challenge the stereotypes and pressures that are the underlying cause of domestic violence in the UK.

The campaign's local media coverage cites the fact that "During the Football World Cup incidents of reported domestic violence increased by 30 per cent". Other media sources quote similar statistics, and research by Dr Catherine Palmer at Durham University has found links between sporting events (with the Football World Cup being the most highlighted example) and rises in violence against women. The research indicates that male athletes (particularly in contact and team sports), when compared to other men, are more likely to commit acts of violence against women. Competitve tensions and alcohol consumption could lead to an increase in intimate partner violence from spectators at larger sporting events.

In light of this the End Violence Against Women Coalition has set out recommendations for addressing this rise during the Olympics in London this summer - I sincerely hope this challenges the underlying causes of domestic violence (and other forms of violence against women) in a more effective way than that of the Northamptonshire campaign last autumn. From the research by Dr Catherine Palmer trafficking, prostitution, sexual exploitation and sexual assault may be more affected by this type of event - although there still could be a rise in domestic violence incidents.

However, an event like the Olympics has a lot of potential for reducing the underlying causes of domestic violence in the long run. This is because violence against women and so much domestic violence is underpinned by the stereotypes created about what it means to be a man and what it means to be a woman.

I believe the men's football world cup and men's rugby world cup are and have been seen as flashpoints for domestic violence because they reinforce the epitome of these sterotypes. They are all about male athletes idolised as successful through agression and physical exersion whilst any consideration of women is the wives and girlfriends only discussed for how they look and other sexual attributes. There has been a lot of good work done with these two sports in particular - mostly latching onto the idea of a male athlete as the height of masculinity and using famous individuals to say that these real men don't commit violence against women. The White Ribbon Campaign have some good examples of working with sports clubs to get men involved in ending domestic violence.

In contrast, the olympics involves both male and female athletes. It's yet to be seen whether they will receive equal coverage but I think some of Britains best medal hopes are women. This gives a great opportunity for challenging the stereotypes underpinning violence against women. Women, for once, may be celebrated widely for their sporting success - something which the England women's football and rugby union teams rarely see in wide circulation media despite their regular achievements. This celebration of women beyond how they look when watching their husbands do sport could create dozens, if not hundreds, of positive role models for girls and young women as well as doing a little bit to challenge the perceptions of female peers amongst boys and young men.

This sort of effect probably won't be felt overnight, but I think the Olympics can prove an invaluable step to creating women who know they deserve respect ,and men who know they don't need to be violent to assert their masculinity.

The Power of Video

Video is a powerful medium and one of the fastest growing types of content accessed on the web. YouTube's press statistics reckon over 4 billion videos are viewed every day. As such there are lots of inspirational videos from around the world - many combining animation with instrumental music to make thier point. This genre is perhaps best know for the Girl Effect.

If your looking for a little bit of inspiration for what you can achieve, take a look at a few of my favourite lesser known examples.

Be Remarkable

Create The Future You Imagine

Five

The One Book

They Really Are Listening!

When I got the opportunity to deliver an oral intervention (delivered as comments and questions rather than a statement) at the United Nations on behalf of the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts last month, I was worried that my lack of experience would count against me. I thought maybe my comments would be disregarded as I didn't know how to speak the lingo and the style of my presentation was nothing like that of the people who had clearly been doing it for years.

I need not have worried. During the speech itself the chair and the panel were visibly attentive to what I was saying - reinforced by the fact the panellist each answered at least one of my questions in their replies (a great achievement considering there had been around 20 others making points). It helped that the other young speaker, from the Working Group of Girls, made similar points and a united youth voice is every so much stronger! Our points about stronger youth representation and inclusion in UN processes got mentioned at an NGO briefing meeting the next day - we clearly made a strong impression to those who had been in the panel!

However yesterday I came across a news article that made my realise that what I had said, and what Caroline from the Working Group on Girls had said, had really been listened to and recorded. The article can be found here and, whilst they've got a little confused about what organisations we were representing, it's clear that what we had to say has had a contribution to the wider debate around including young people in the processes of the UN.

I am now starting preparations for being part of the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts delegation to Rio+20 and we had our first skype call last week. I will be taking on responsibilities around the gender aspects of our work at the conference and I hope that we can make an even bigger impact than we managed last month in New York!

Today is the final celebration day for a triennium of centenary celebrations for WAGGGS (don't ask, I don't understand how a centenary can be marked for 3 years either!) and they have launched a new campaign for marketing guiding and girl scouting around the world. You can see the branding on their facebook page or more of the elements of it on their website. I think the campaign does a very good job of summing up what the movement is about. 'Imagine more' is all about how guiding and scouting is more than a lot of people think it is, and how with a little bit of encouragement girls and young women can achieve more than is expected thanks to those who imagine a better world for them.
Our presence at the UN , and especially at Rio this June, is about more than me or you. It's time to imagine the future we want to see!