How can we make the climate crisis relevant to everyday living?
I am delighted to announce that I have been appointed as a trustee for Carnegie UK, an independent charitable foundation whose purpose is better wellbeing for people in the UK and Ireland.
I have long held the view that the complex language used to describe climate and environmental challenges has made it difficult for people to comprehend the impact it will have on daily lives. Similarly, those working on supporting a better quality of life for people can sometimes take insufficient account of the profound and long-term impact that developing environmental change will have on their work.
This impact is becoming ever more apparent. Highly unpredictable weather patterns are causing major disruption to a food system already under strain. In the UK, farmers growing crops are collectively set to take an £890 million hit to revenues due to persistent wet weather. This is a 19% drop in revenue for a sector already struggling due to rising energy and fertilizer prices.
Disruption to food systems will inevitably lead to higher prices. A European Central Bank study estimated that, by 2035, higher temperatures will push up worldwide food prices by between 0.9 and 3.2% every year, adding between 0.3 and 1.2% to overall inflation. The availability of basic food commodities will also be hit. In 2023, the Indian government imposed a ban on the export of non-Basmati white rice, sending process skyrocketing and hit supply chains.
The price of food is just one of the areas where people will start to feel the daily impact of climate change. Cities across the world are increasingly concerned about extreme urban heat. In 2019 temperatures in Paris reached 42.6°C in a heatwave that killed an estimated 1,500 people across France. Realising that these temperatures could become the norm, Paris has created an interlinked network of cool ‘islands’ which are typically 2°C to 4°C cooler than surrounding streets thanks to water and/or vegetation. The ambition is to establish 800 cool islands, so that anybody can be able to walk to one within seven minutes.
We are also seeing increased levels of flooding. In the UK, 5.5 million homes and business are already at risk of flooding and this number will increase with more extreme weather events. Flooding will hit national infrastructure causing disruption and added costs. The railway network has seen the number of landslips doubling in frequency and Network Rail has dedicated £2.8 billion in the next five years simply to bolster the network again the changing climate.
The human impact of pollution is becoming increasingly apparent. Scientists have discovered the presence of microplastics throughout nature and in the food chain. The latest research has found microplastics in human testicles, with concerns that this discovery might be linked to declining sperm counts in men. Whilst this potential health risks requires further investigation, there is no doubting the well-known impact of poor air quality; which the Committee on the Medial Effects of Air Pollution has estimated causes between 29,000 to 43,000 premature deaths a year.
These are just a snapshot of how a deteriorating environment is directly hitting the wellbeing of people harming health, increasing the price of basic commodities, causing disruption and adding to anxiety.
For Carnegie UK, collective wellbeing is about everyone having what they need to live well now and in the future.
They have identified four aspects of collective wellbeing:
Social wellbeing: We all have the support and services we need to thrive.
Economic wellbeing: We all have a decent minimum living standard.
Environmental wellbeing: We all live within the planet’s natural resources.
Democratic wellbeing: We all have a voice in decisions that affect us.
Joining the board of Carnegie UK provides me with a unique opportunity to learn more from an independent and progressive organisation on how best to embed wellbeing into policy thinking. It is also an opportunity to further learn how this agenda can better link to the wider environmental debate, ensuring these longer-term impacts are better communicated and included within policymaking.