To answer that question I have to start at the beginning. As a teenager I was fascinated with the advances in technology that humankind have made and in particular, flight. By realising the magic of birds we have managed to see the world from new perspectives, to open up all places on the planet and even to escape it.
Change
The last couple of years I’ve had this deep niggling feeling inside me as I tried to reconcile my passions and work with what I deem most important and whom I aspire to be. It started of as that slight nagging feeling that we’ve all felt at some point, like a caught zip or sunglasses in long hair, but the zip didn’t free itself and the sunglasses became too entangled until it could no longer be ignored. There was only one solution: to change.
It Takes Two...
Two years is an awfully long time. Really, it is! Do you remember what you were doing two years ago today? Normally I would struggle answering that question myself, but on this occasion I know exactly what I was doing. Two years ago today I was sitting in a cottage in the Lake District preparing to give a Key Note lecture entitled 'Climate Change Through the Eyes of a Polar Explorer' at the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology in Saudi Arabia.
Key Note Lecture at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology
On the 13th January I gave a key note lecture to an audience of over 700 students and faculty at the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology in Saudi Arabia on climate change. Some of whom are leading figures in climate science.
This topic is so important that I'm making the transcript of my talk available for all to read.
Climate Change Through The Eyes of a Polar Explorer
I was privileged to give a talk to over 700 academics and students at the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia on the greatest challenge that our species has ever faced. A transcript of the talk will be available soon, but for now here are some highlights.
If you're interested in the talk delivered to your institution, please send an email.
"The rapid loss of the polar icecaps affect our entire planet and is something we simply cannot ignore any further"
-Explorer and Filmmaker Vijay Shah at his WEP 2016 Keynote Lecture 'Climate Change through the eyes of a Polar Explorer'.
"We must reduce greenhouse gas emissions today. ... This 2 Celsius target for reducing global warming is dependent on our actions." - Vijay Shah, explorer and filmmaker #WEP2016
Climate Change Through the Eyes of a Polar Explorer
Last few days of preparation before we head over to Saudi Arabia and the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology to present at the Winter Enrichment Programme 2016. For those attending, there is a special surprise planned.
At Odds
Why are we still flying?
This seems like a question not worth bothering to answer. The reasons, as we all know, are endless, convincing and, to that end, not worth repeating. But the reasons against are not ignorable either– flying along with meat production is the greatest producer of green-house gasses, the greatest contributor to climate change.
My interest in this topic is even more intimate than for the typical left-leaning, vegan-becoming, globetrotting dinky (*Double Income No Kids). I design aircraft for a living. You could say I am in bed with the enemy and indeed I occasionally get accused of this. “Ah, should you be designing the monsters that are destroying our planet?” I’m asked. To which I reply, “No that would be parents.” For without people flying there would not be any need for aircraft and I would be out of a job. For all the failures of western capitalism and the free market at least that much is true. And the demand is huge. Airbus, the company who I am designing for at the moment, has a backlog of over 6,000 aircraft. Boeing undoubtedly has a similar number and the growth of newly flying citizens in the emerging markets is phenomenal.
But how wrong that accusation is goes even further: We’re the good guys. The very nature of the industry and market with legislation and cost competitiveness means that each generation of aircraft we design are more efficient and less polluting. We go to extreme levels to achieve these goals and as a structural designer it would not be uncommon for me to spend a month doing a calculation to save a few grams of an aircraft part. The A350, Airbus’s new flagship aircraft, which I am working on now, is the greenest civilian airliner to fly.
Source: Airbus
Having said all that, the facts remain the same. Flying is completely at odds with the environmental movement. The greenness of new aircraft compared to old ones is measured in single percentage points and, without being overly accurate with my figures here, you generate a smaller carbon footprint by half if you’re driving alone than by flying. This difference would be even more remarkable if you are a couple or a family travelling in one car, where the carbon footprint per person goes down, than a similar number flying (multiplication).
So maybe I should rephrase the question: Why am I still flying?
It is for the reasons that we so all know. It is cheap, amazingly quick and acceptable. It is because everyone else is doing it. It is because these reasons are more important to us individually than the collective good that limiting climate change would have. It is not because we don’t care, it’s because we don’t care enough.
“I take the train.” I say to those doubters. “When it’s only mildly less convenient than flying.” I am forced to add. The trouble is it’s often three times more expensive and takes twice as long. “...and I avoid flying just for weekends.” I finish off with legitimising my green credentials, which tends to mean that for things I ‘shouldn’t’ miss I extend the trip to a week to fit that profile. As for the heralded city breaks to show off our glamorous life styles on Facebook, those I definitely do not do. I much prefer camping in Cornwall anyway.
But that’s not good enough and I think I’m more conscious of the impact than most people. If I can’t do it (won’t do it), how can anyone else can? The answer, sadly, is that in our affluent, globalised, self-gratifying world we are not going to opt for wilful restraint. That also includes not voting in a government that will make these choices less wilful. Are we thus screwed?
Yes and no.
Yes that all this proves that we are as a species, without beating much about the bush, a little crap. It proves that collective activism is sporadic and there is no formula to ignite the fire of our collective hearts and minds. This is compounded by the fact that this is a global problem and requires global action. The larger the number of people affected, the hotter the pot needs to boil before a shift in societal values – this pot is seven billion people strong.
Source: Nick Anderson
So what do we do whilst this pot is boiling away? Maybe the answer really does lie in the very reason we are in this mess in the first place: Innovation.
The early aeronauts in the latter part of 19th century were a disparate bunch of scientists and engineers. They didn’t receive much funding and in fact a lot of the establishment were dismissive of the folly of flight. But look at what a giant step forward we have made when we did give this technology the attention and importance it deserved. The A380 can transport over 550 people half way across the world at close to the speed of sound and scram jets are flying at 24 times faster!
Despite this lesson in history there is a sense of déjà vu. The greatest innovation in the green revolution in technology is happening on the fringes of the economy. Small technology companies, with small budgets, showing to the world what might be possible if we only look in the right direction.
There is no greater example than the phenomenal Solar Impulse 2 project with their attempt, happening right now, to fly a manned plane around the world powered only by solar energy, quoting directly from their website, the mission statement of the small Swiss company is “to prove that pioneering spirit and innovation can really change the world.”
Yet it’s a tiny company. Why is the only noteworthy thing to say about the big players in this game their notable absence? The sceptic would whisper, ‘it’s because it won’t make any money’. That is true. It is the equivalent of a fishermen sailing out into the North Sea to show the rich canal boat operators that travelling across the sea is possible. Despite how utterly brilliant this achievement is, we are not going to all be flying around in solar powered aircraft for a very long time, or maybe never if there isn’t the massive investment of capital into green technologies it deserves.
That’s where government policy comes in. Companies aren’t going to invest in new technology unless it’s a) a proven winner, b) they have to (legislation) or c) it’s funded from elsewhere (government funds). The ‘Proven Winner’ category is pretty much where we are now, edging forward at a boring snail pace. We require the b’s and c’s. We require legislation forcing companies to adopt greener pathways: The aircraft noise reduction legislation across Europe has already forced manufacturers to change their designs. Or we require massive government investment, which is a dirty word to some, but if we think of it as a massive crowd funding exercise it seems a little cooler.
Putting all this in perspective, wouldn’t it be wonderful if we could travel the world without the cloud of guilt hanging over us, or shrouding ourselves in ignorance to avoid confrontation with our ethics, or asking ourselves the question ‘Why are we flying?’
Wouldn’t it be wonderful to travel in an aircraft like this?
Source: AeroSpace Magazine (April 2015)
BAFFIN ISLAND CLIMATE CHANGE PROJECT 2010
It's been an incredible winter here in the UK. It's the wettest winter on record bringing flooding to many parts of southern England. It has also been surprisingly mild (average of 5.2C), making it one of the warmest winters on record. This is in stark contrast with Northern America which has been locked in a polar vortex bringing temperatures down to -40C for extended periods of time. These unprecedented conditions have been linked to climate change.
This reminds me of a video project I conducted a few years ago on our summer expedition to Baffin Island 2010. For us, climate change has always been a 'hot' topic and I took the opportunity on this expedition to ask the members, in the midst of one of the most beautiful places in the world and undoubtedly one of the places most at risk from changes in the climate, about this topic. I asked them 'Why should we care if the climate changes?' And in part two I asked them to discuss 'What needs to happen in order for us as a society to live more sustainably?'
See what the members answered in this video below, now edited for 2014:
In August 2010, a team of students, graduates and outdoor instructors spent one month on Baffin Island, trekking over 300km over tundra, morraine and glaciers.
During the expedition I asked them: Why should we care if the climate changes?