If you're really concerned about global warming - rein in your consumption

The UK's chief environment scientist last week suggested that to halt climate changing emissions, we need to change our lifestyles dramatically. We need to use less transport, reduce our red meat consumption and buy fewer clothes. I entirely agree.

Lifestyle changes must be made according to Professor Sir Ian Boyd, who gave an interview on the BBC, suggesting that every consumer has a part to play to avoid the climate change situation worsening. This graphic (below), prepared by the UK government, shows how CO₂ emissions have changed over the past 28 years. It's clear that the two biggest producers of CO₂ - industry and energy generation - have made significant progress. Government action - the drive for renewable energy sources and environmental regulation aimed at manufacturers - has had an impact. Buildings are greener too, as is waste - again, regulation has worked.

But look at 'surface transport'. Even though more Britons are taking the train than ever before (1.8 billion passenger journeys in 2018-19 compared to 1.1 billion in 2002-03), CO₂ emissions from surface transport have been rising. The passenger car and the delivery truck are the culprits.

[F-gases = Fluorinated gases that stay in the atmosphere for centuries and contribute to the greenhouse effect.]

During the interview, Sir Ian said that polluting activities should be taxed further, and that the government should nudge citizens towards a lower-emission lifestyle by offering rewards to those who go for low-carbon choices. He said: "The way we live our lives is generally not good for the environment…We like to consume things, but the more we consume the more we absorb the resources of the planet. That means we have to grow those resources, or we have to mine them - and in doing that we generate waste. And consumption is going up all the time."

Technology is part of the solution towards reaching the goal: "We need to make major technological advances in the way we use and reuse materials but we ... need to reduce demand overall - and that means we need to change our behaviours and change our lifestyles."

Are you ready to do that?

Well, I have not owned a car for six years, use public transport and walk a lot; I buy used clothing from charity shops; my appetite for consumer goods is low. But one area where I am an above-average emitter of CO₂ is in my frequent flying between Warsaw and London to visit my father. A single return flight is responsible for half a tonne of CO₂ put into the atmosphere, so my flying (including the occasional business flight) generates some six or seven tonnes of CO₂ a year - the equivalent of driving myself around in a petrol car consuming 7.7l/100lm (37mpg) for 24,000km (16,000 miles).

So I should not feel so smug about foregoing a car - my flights generate more CO₂ each year than driving an average car over above-average annual mileage. But going by train from Warsaw to London is totally impractical requiring changes at Berlin, Cologne and Brussels, a journey of 20 hours and 39 minutes, as well as being hideously expensive. The Warsaw-Berlin leg alone (2nd class) costs the same as a Warsaw-London flight.

Governments have been effective in reducing greenhouse gas emissions from energy generation, industry, construction and waste disposal, but tacking aviation is a bigger challenge. Massive investment in high-speed rail is needed to shift short- and medium-haul airline passengers to less polluting forms of transport.

A useful (if continental European) website with CO2 calculator can be found here.

We are in a free-rider or 'tragedy of the commons' situation vis-a-vis our less environmentally aware friends, neighbours and colleagues - we all share a common resource - our planet - and where's the individual benefit of acting responsibly towards it if others don't? How can I fly less right now?

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