WEBVTT NOTE Transcript 2024-04-11 from FLAC by https://elvery.net/prototypes/transcribe/ on my MacBook Air M1 on maximum quality setting. NOTE Body edited. 00:00.000 --> 00:02.000 Diarycast 00:02.000 --> 00:16.800 Hi, I'm Damon Hart-Davis, and welcome to Earth Notes podcast on all things eco and green and efficient at home! 00:16.800 --> 00:19.760 28th of August 2021. 00:19.760 --> 00:28.120 It's dire: a lament to all those out there who think it's up to everyone else but them to help fix climate change, 00:28.720 --> 00:31.640 driven by three separate communications today... 00:31.640 --> 00:34.640 (So this is a dire-y-cast 00:34.640 --> 00:41.200 rather than a diarycast, but if a pun isn't the lowest form of heat, where are we?) 00:41.200 --> 00:45.400 I came back from a few days away from home to (amongst other things) 00:45.400 --> 00:52.560 two emails from friends on green blocking obstinacy and a piece in New Scientist with the quote: 00:53.440 --> 01:00.880 Natural England's research reveals that despite widespread concern about biodiversity loss and environmental degradation, 01:00.880 --> 01:06.000 the proportion of people willing to accept changes to their lifestyle to protect the environment is low - 01:06.000 --> 01:11.360 just one in six - and has hardly budged in the decade the agency has been asking the question. 01:11.360 --> 01:18.560 One of the personal emails I caught up on this morning sent by a trader friend from the City and before, noted (lightly edited): 01:19.120 --> 01:25.760 We have a [famous financial institution] trader chat that has been going since before the US election last year. 01:25.760 --> 01:30.240 I did pose the question - "Would you be willing to stop flying to help climate change?" 01:30.240 --> 01:36.000 Given the prolific amount of flying nearly all these guys do (not just themselves - whole families as well) 01:36.000 --> 01:38.160 there were no volunteers. 01:38.160 --> 01:45.600 Apart from me! - who said - "if Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos are willing to give up their portfolio of 15 seater private jets and annual 01:46.300 --> 01:51.120 100,000 to 200,000 air miles. I would be willing to follow and not fly at all." 01:51.120 --> 01:58.240 It's difficult to know what the really frequent flyers (a few percent of flyers responsible for a huge chunk of the emissions) are getting from it other than willy waving, ie status. 02:02.080 --> 02:07.680 The other email that struck home was from a friend nearby who has been frustrated 02:07.680 --> 02:14.320 trying to improve the energy efficiency of his home in a borough that has acknowledged the climate change emergency. 02:14.560 --> 02:21.040 He said: [the] more general point is that there is no clear and easy route for people to gain permission to insulate their homes 02:21.040 --> 02:25.040 Feels like a significant blocker to people doing what needs to be done. 02:25.040 --> 02:29.200 This sort of improvement being done sensitively to the look of the property, 02:29.200 --> 02:36.560 should be like pushing on an open door, not wading through treacle. In a note to a (helpful) councillor he said (again, edited): 02:36.560 --> 02:42.960 ... I've been trying to get permission for many months now to fit external wall insulation to the side and rear of our house. 02:43.120 --> 02:47.280 Coupled with a number of other improvements (including internal wall insulation at the front), 02:47.280 --> 02:52.960 this would allow us to significantly improve the efficiency of our house and allow us to stop using fossil fuels. 02:52.960 --> 02:59.280 Although expensive, seems like the right thing to do. The process to gain permission has been very unclear 02:59.280 --> 03:03.440 and my application was twice returned to me on technicalities. After several months 03:03.440 --> 03:08.800 it has been rejected because the appearance of the house will change. The front view from the street will be unchanged, 03:09.040 --> 03:14.240 but the side and rear will change from brick to painted render. Many houses on the street are already rendered, 03:14.240 --> 03:18.960 so I fail to understand the decision. Fitting a fake brick finish is an option, 03:18.960 --> 03:24.560 but it is expensive, has a higher embedded carbon, and in my view would look worse than render - 03:24.560 --> 03:29.920 you can tell it is fake. Part of the problem is that it has not being possible to talk to anyone in the planning office. Everything is by correspondence and replies from them tend to follow what appears to be a pre-defined format, never really answering my questions. 03:37.120 --> 03:42.640 It's extremely frustrating. Climate scientists are saying that we need to stop using gas very soon, 03:42.640 --> 03:44.960 which requires us to insulate our homes properly. 03:44.960 --> 03:49.840 It seems clear to me that we need councils to put in place a simple and cheap process to allow this to happen 03:49.840 --> 03:52.960 that only rejects applications for very good reasons. 03:52.960 --> 03:58.960 My experience with the planning office leaves me feeling that we have little hope. Any help you could provide would be hugely welcomed. 03:58.960 --> 04:01.920 My application is pretty insignificant in the scheme of things, 04:02.000 --> 04:08.320 but if it is this difficult for everyone, I can't see any significant improvements being made. When someone is willing, 04:08.320 --> 04:13.840 careful, and has the money, and is one of the one in six showing some altruism, 04:13.840 --> 04:19.940 why are we getting in their way? There's more on my Earth Notes Web site at Earth.Org.UK.