Adrian Ramsay (Centre for Alternative Technology) - Thinking Globally, Acting Locally

Thinking Globally, Acting Locally

Adrian RamsayCentre for Alternative Technology

Original CAT Vision: Gerard Morgan-Grenville (founder)

“In the early 1970s I took a sabbatical and went to America. I talked to senior business and professional people and came to the conclusion that a lot of people realised there was a major problem, but were locked into what they were doing.

I came back thinking what was needed was a project to show the nature of the problem and to indicate ways of going forward”.

Initial trials: Micro-hydro

Initial trials: The Dunlite Aerogenerator

Early Visitors

• Externally - reshaping our homes, what we eat, our clothes, places of work & how we move around to use MORE.

• Breaking relationships with natural systems

• Designing things to break

Manufacturing landscapes to increase consumption:

Internally - reshaping how we see ourselves and how we relate to those around us

• Keying into basic instincts

• Compelling us to spend and up-date and up-grade

• Changing how we think of ourselves and the natural environment

Manufacturing landscapes to increase consumption:

We now think of it as ‘normal’

p

“the market is the institutionalization of

individualism and non-responsibility”

Schumacher

We now think of it as ‘normal’

Showing solutions are possible now

2013

2010

In collaboration with:

2007

1977

• It is the first IPCC report since 2007 to bring together all aspects of tackling climate change and for the first time states: that carbon emissions will ultimately have to fall to ‘net zero’

• Research which CAT has been exploring since 2007

“Science has spoken. There is no ambiguity in the message - Leaders must act. Time is

not on our side.”UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-Moon, attending launch of the 2014 IPCC

report.

Powerdown from our extreme energy normality

Power up

© Joanna W

right

We can use 100% renewable energy sources (no nuclear).

The ZCB Energy Model:

Based on ten years of real-world hourly data

2002 - 201187,648 hours

Land use

© All rights reserved by C

entre for Alternative

Technology

Net zero is achievable

- but there’s a Catch-22

“The study of economics is too narrow and too

fragmentary to lead to valid insights, unless

complemented and completed by a study of

meta-economics.”

Schumacher 

Understanding how & why change happens (or not!)

• The challenges we face are not really technological, but cultural & political.

• We must change how we think about human beings, energy & the future

• Catalyse a cultural shift

How can we make changehappen fast enough?

“The substance of man cannot be measured by

Gross National Product.”

Schumacher

International rapid emissions reduction scenarios

“The Solutions Project”

Small Is Festival at CAT

4th-6th September 2015

Small is Beautiful is a festival that explores positive responses to our future through low carbon technology, social justice and the arts.

Zero Carbon Britain Short Course at CAT

2nd-4th September 2015

Discounted tickets when attending both events

Conclusion

• Schumacher’s analysis of environmental and social problems was far-sighted

• We need a meta economic analysis and plan to address today’s global problems

• That includes global and national strategies for rapid decarbonisation and a large-scale shift to renewables

• But we also need a society that moves beyond materialism to focus on well-being

Any Questions?Full reports available from

www.cat.org.uk