Time to Shift - English Edition Time to Shift - English Edition

In this episode we will talk about the psychology behind our behaviors, why it is so hard to change them, and what we can do about it. Some tips and advice about our brains, and how we can trigger change around us through relationships, experiences, and patience.


The full report (in French) can be accessed here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1vxE9ByIfLfPsn99tV5hwmEqT4r7jcXGM/view



The full report translated into English will be available soon and uploaded here as soon as possible.


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The summer of 2022 was a painful reminder of the destructive impacts that climate change can have on our societies and ecosystems. While Europe saw many of its forests burn to the ground during the hottest summer ever recorded, the world shockingly witnessed how unprecedented floodings in Pakistan almost put the entire country under water. 



In line with what climate scientists have been saying for years, the consequences of climate change are already happening today and will likely increase in frequency and intensity as we move towards 1,5o C global warming. So, if this is the grim future awaiting us, surely we must be doing something to prepare for it, right?



This episode will review the key messages of the IPCC’s report on “Climate change 2022: Impacts, adaptation and vulnerabilities”. We will reflect on the impacts on both natural and human systems, such as the loss of biodiversity, food supply and wet-bulb temperature, and address how climate adaptation can make us more resilient – and the remaining homework for the international community to get there.  


Links to sources:

Sky News, “Pakistan’s ‘worst-ever’ floods explained” (02.09.2022): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XdJlIWJx12k&ab_channel=SkyNews 

IPCC AR6 WG II “Climate change 2022: Impacts, adaptation and vulnerabilities” (February 2022) : https://podcast.ausha.co/time-to-shift-english-edition/7-wood-and-climate-the-carbolympic-flame 

IPCC maps on vulnerability, biodiversity, wet-bulb temperatures:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/12R7VEVh10jxIwdACSOSmJg7z6yGPM6T1/view?usp=share_link 


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You have likely heard of some actions you can take in your daily life to reduce your individual carbon footprint, such as sorting your waste, eating organic and locally sourced food, reducing your meat consumption... Have you ever wondered if these actions really have an impact at the end of the day? 



In this episode, we first explore how changing one's individual behavior can be of interest, and to what extent. Then, we discuss a list of the most impactful individual behaviors we can adopt in our day-to-day life to reduce our individual carbon footprint, supported with tangible figures. This episode is based on a study from Carbone 4. The full report can be accessed here: https://www.carbone4.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/Doing-your-fair-share-for-the-climate-Carbone-4.pdf.



If you would like to find out your own carbon footprint, we strongly recommend you use this online calculator: https://www.myco2.fr/.
 


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This episode takes a closer look at the role of wood, specifically when it is beneficial to use as a renewable energy source and material in our fight against climate change - and when it is not.


Although wood is often perceived as an environmentally friendly alternative to fossil fuels - a preconception still widely present in political debates around Europe - there are significant negative impacts associated with burning wood for energy purposes, such as higher carbon emissions and deforestation.


In order to better understand the complex synergies that the use of wood can have on the climate and the environment, we will look at a study by the Shift Project to identify the most climate-friendly applications of wood and which technological alternatives exist to help us reach carbon-neutrality without cutting down our green forests.
 

Sources:


Draft report by European Parliament (ITRE, Markus Pieper) on the revision of the Renewable Energy Directive of the EU, 14 February 2021: https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/ITRE-PR-719550_EN.pdf


Letter regarding use of forests for bioenergy, 11 February 2021: https://www.wwf.eu/?2128466%2F500-scientists-tell-EU-to-end-tree-burning-for-energy 



Lallemand et Guérin (2017): Quel avenir pour la forêt européenne face au changement climatique et à l’objectif de neutralité carbone? (French only) http://documents.irevues.inist.fr/bitstream/handle/2042/65341/RFF_2017_69_3_259_271_lallemand.pdf?sequence=1 



Plan de transformation de l’économie française: Focus sur la forêt et le bois, The ShiftProject (French only): https://theshiftproject.org/plan-de-transformation-de-leconomie-francaise-focus-sur-la-foret-et-le-bois/
 


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Have you heard about the latest IPCC report on climate change mitigation, but felt intimidated going through  a few thousand pages of scientific literature? We get it. If you want to get an idea of its key messages in less than 20 minutes, you’ve come to the right place!



The IPCC Working Group 3’S contribution to the IPCC Sixth Assessment Report (AR6) provides an updated assessment on how we - as a global society - are progressing with mitigating climate change and which technological solutions are available to bring worldwide emission reductions in line with the 1.5°C global warming target. It also sheds new light on some of the social aspects of climate mitigation, such as how our individual consumption drives emissions growth.



If you feel that you need to freshen up your knowledge on what climate change is and its fundamental consequences for the environment and our society, we recommend listening to our previous episode on the first sequel of the IPCC Sixth Assessment Report (AR6): https://smartlink.ausha.co/time-to-shift-english-edition/1-unders .  



Here are some of the key findings from the report:

If we phase out fossil fuels at a great pace - preferably already by the end of this decade - we still have a chance to meet the 1.5 °C target. 
The costs of several low-emission technologies, including for solar and wind energy and for batteries have fallen continuously since 2010, increasing the economic attractiveness of low-emission energy sector transitions through 2030. .
Reducing emissions today will be less expensive and less damaging for the climate than relying on carbon removal technologies in the future.
Demand-side measures and new ways of end-use service provision can reduce global GHG emissions in end use sectors by 40-70% by 2050 compared to baseline scenarios.By reducing and changing our personal consumption, we can become empowered citizens actively contributing to climate mitigation. 
For the full report: https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/wg3 .You can also find the Summary for Policymakers here: https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/wg3/downloads/report/IPCC_AR6_WGIII_SPM.pdf . 


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Have you ever wondered about the environmental impact of our current use of digital devices? Are green IT, dematerialised solutions, and optimisation any good? 

The Shift Project looked at the environmental impact of digital technology in its Lean Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) Report published at the end of 2018, followed by two more reports in 2019 and 2020. In all three reports, green IT turns out to be less promising than it seems. 

 

In this episode, we discuss some of the key findings and conclusions of these reports.



All sources mentioned in the episode can be accessed with the links below: 

- "Lean ICT: Towards Digital Sobriety" Report: https://theshiftproject.org/en/article/lean-ict-our-new-report/

- "Climate Crisis: The Unsustainable Use of Online Video" (including the full report, educational video, guide and a browser extension / add-on which makes the invisible climate impact of web browsing visible): https://theshiftproject.org/en/article/unsustainable-use-online-video/

- "Implementing Digital Sufficiency" (note that an executive summary is available in English and the full report only in French): https://theshiftproject.org/en/article/implementing-digital-sufficiency/


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