What About China?
Answers to this and other awkward
questions about climate change
Published by Alastair Sawday’s Alastair Sawday’s
Fragile Earth Fragile Earth series
Published - 24th July 2008
Paperback • £6.99 • ISBN 978 1 906136 11 6
What is the point of me doing anything about climate change when
China opens a new power station every week?
A panel of experts from the Soil Association, Waste Watch, Ecover, Tridos Bank, Alastair
Sawday’s Special Places to Stay travel guides, the Centre for Alternative Technology and
James Bruges, author of the Little and Big Earth Book, give precise and entertaining
answers to a series of tricky questions on climate, travel, recycling, food, energy, waste,
and finance.
The book tackles all the questions you were afraid to ask.
Flying only contributes 3% of the
carbon emission, so what's the problem? Shouldn't we just accept food miles as an
unavoidable evil, especially if we want to support Fair Trade? Do vegetarians use less
energy?
Straightforward answers and explanations, facts and figures will convert even the
most hardened climate change sceptics.
What About China? At 4.2 tonnes, China is below the world average of 4.6 tonnes of
carbon emissions per person and well below the UK figure of 12 tonnes. America is
responsible for a whopping 20.2 tonnes per person. China’s efforts to combat global
warming put western governments to shame. China is phasing out incandescent light bulbs,
it has banned plastic bags in major cities, it is putting immense research into renewable
technologies and it is turning out thousands of graduates with expertise in these fields.
We are all guilty of making excuses not to change our lifestyles, especially when it comes to
global warming and climate change. The book is full of important and simple ways to
inspire every one of us to make a difference; how to bury carbon in your own back garden
or reduce the waste of your toilet flush and how to invest your money ‘environmentally’. If
only everyone in the UK turned their tap off while brushing their teeth, we could save 180
million litres per day.
http://whataboutchina.co.uk is a new blog where people can put further
questions to our expert panel, discuss the issues raised in the book and
be kept informed of current related news stories
Alastair Sawday Publishing won the Alastair Sawday Publishing won the
2008 Independent Publishers Guild Environmental Award 2008 Independent Publishers Guild Environmental Award
Meet the experts …
James Bruges - Carbon Addicts
I have been following climate issues through four editions of The Little Earth Book, starting
in 2000, followed by The Big Earth Book in 2007, and during this time I worked with the
Irish think-tank Feasta, an organisation that relates climate science to economic issues. It is
particularly worrying to notice that reports from scientists have become progressively more
extreme each year. Whereas previously they were just talking about the need to reduce
emissions, they are now saying that we have already gone too far and must find ways to
extract greenhouse gases from the atmosphere. I have never been able to understand why
politicians ignore science and drive us recklessly - with economic growth, roads and airport
runways - towards the cliff-edge. Change will not come from them. It must come from us.
Matthew Slack - Energy Junkies
The Centre for Alternative Technology has been promoting energy conservation and the
take-up of renewable energy technologies for over 30 years. Though messages about the
profligate use of fossil fuels and other finite natural resources are now hitting home at local,
national and international government levels, a lot of people still have questions about why
we need to cut down on our energy use. It’s time to stop and think about what we use and
how we use it and we hope that this chapter on energy will help you to make the right
choices.
Alastair Sawday - Travel Turbulence
A pioneer in the environmental world, Alastair Sawday is the founder of the first carbonneutral
publishing company. Alastair has had a remarkably miscellaneous and varied
career: he headed up a VSO programme in Papua New Guinea, worked in St Lucia, ran a
disaster relief team for Oxfam in Turkey, taught French and ran a small travel company,
conducting walking tours throughout Europe. It was this that inspired him to publish his first
travel guide, after discovering various ’special’ B&Bs far removed from the impersonal,
robotic nature of large hotel corporations. The books were a success and Alastair Sawday
Publishing was born. Alastair ran as parliamentary candidate for the Green Party in 1992,
and was vice-chair of the Soil Association. He was the founder Chairman and Director of
Avon Friends of the Earth. He has contributed to The Guardian, The Telegraph, The
Observer, The Times, Daily Mail, Observer Food Monthly and many magazines.
Robin Maynard - Funny Farm
The Soil Association is the UK’s leading environmental charity campaigning for people
and planet-friendly, sustainable organic food and farming. Concerned about the impact of
intensive farming practices on the environment, food quality and health, it challenges the
dominance of industrial agriculture, connected as it is with degradation of the countryside,
increases in diet-related illness, mistreatment of animals and the betrayal of public trust in
food. We offer practical solutions to everyone involved in the food chain - farmers, food
processors, retailers and consumers. We certify over 70 per cent of the organic food, drink,
textiles, health and beauty products sold in the UK, guaranteeing these have been
produced to the highest standards.
Steven Webb - Wasting Away
Waste Watch is a leading environmental organisation working to change the way people
use the world’s natural resources. Our vision is a less wasteful society, and we believe
everyone has a part to play in reducing waste and living more sustainably. We are a
national, independent, not-for-profit organisation and a registered charity. We advise,
educate and inform people on ways to reduce all forms of waste - from the rubbish we throw
away and the energy we needlessly use, to the water we pour down the drain. By making
changes to our daily lives and by changing the world around us - at home, in school, and in
the workplace - we can all make a big difference.
William Ferguson - Bank Balance
Triodos is a bank with a unique approach to money, connecting savers and investors who
believe in a more sustainable society with the organisations making it happen. It works like
any other bank, but with one crucial difference: Triodos only finances organisations working
to benefit people and the planet. What an enterprise sets out to do, and what motivates the
people behind it, are the Bank’s first consideration, examined before a loan’s financial
viability is even considered. The projects that do make the grade are in areas ranging from
renewable energy and recycling to Fairtrade and organic farming. Some are national
names, including Cafédirect and Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s River Cottage, while the
impact of others is felt more locally, like community groups and village shops.
Mick Bremans - White Wash
For over 27 years, Ecover has been devoted to developing and producing effective and
ecological washing and cleaning products made from plant and mineral based ingredients.
Ecover’s aim is to provide effective sustainable alternatives for washing and cleaning that
can be used daily by people all around the world. Ecover’s ecological principles extend far
beyond the products they create. Ecover’s vision of sustainability takes ecological,
economic and social aspects into account from the origins of the raw materials, to the
complete biodegradation of the final products. Strict criteria are employed along the way as
guidelines for all business operations. The products themselves are manufactured in
Ecover’s unique, world-famous ecological factory. Ecover is a company that operates with
sustainability at its very core. We are constantly innovating and pushing boundaries to
create new and more effective products that have minimum negative impact on the
environment.