All that time I knew that the climate crisis was happening, but it was never an issue that gripped me. There were too many fights going on, and it seemed so big and far off that I wanted to get my head down with here-and-now stuff. (At uni I even had a bit of a personal grudge against the Extinction Rebellion team because they did a roadblock during our Living Wage action.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But that was challenged last summer. Do you remember the choking, dry heat when that weather front sat across the UK in 2022? I certainly do: sweltering in 40 degree heat, trudging from church hall to church hall to support local campaigners, air con nowhere to be found. It was tough<\/em>. But at least it passed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Then I saw the map.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I was scrolling through Facebook (yes, I still use Facebook) one evening seeing various inevitable comments from the older generation – climate change isn\u2019t real, it\u2019s overblown, we had a 40 degree heatwave in 1976, so what\u2019s so different now?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Well, it\u2019s true. The UK did<\/em> experience temperatures of over 40 degrees in 1976. But then I continued scrolling, and found the map, and it put it all in context.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Compared to the 30-year average, there are a few bits that are unseasonably hot – the UK is an obvious one. But most of the rest of the planet is blue or white, with only small deviations from average temperatures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Okay, ready?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Now: here\u2019s the June 2022 map:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Okay. Yeah. Everything<\/em> is hotter than it should be. Except for Uruguay and Namibia. But those two aside – well, the message was pretty clear. Our planet is cooking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I saw that photo and thought: oh. I should probably get involved in doing something about this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I\u2019d heard enough (thanks to XR\u2019s awareness-raising work) to know that we\u2019re at a critical window: we have until about 2030 to lock in the policies we need to prevent catastrophic climate change. I started to wonder what things would look like in ten years if we – I – didn\u2019t take action now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It would mean that brutal 40-degree summers would be normal<\/em>. It meant that all the work my community leaders were doing on housing and youth safety would have to be replaced by campaigning for access to water rations. And countless more changes I couldn\u2019t begin to imagine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So I decided to take action. I began by reading, and thinking about where I could put the skills I\u2019d learned to good use. To my surprise, I found a lot of cause for cautious optimism: there are many good ideas to save the planet – they just need more oomph. More people pushing for change in the right places.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I came to the conclusion that I have to keep<\/em> learning everything I can about sustainability; and I also have to share everything I\u2019ve learned along the way about making change. That would be the best impact I could make at this point. So I applied for a teacher training course – and to join the SGO.<\/p>\n\n\n\n All that because of a map!<\/p>\n\n\n\n As SGO officer my personal goals are to support Carbon Literacy Training and to help implement the CCCU\u2019s Vision 2030 goals by embedding sustainability in course curriculums. But I get most excited about meeting and working with students like you. If there\u2019s a change you\u2019d like to make – about recycling bins, or paper use on your course, or anything sustainability-related – drop me a line on js1623@canterbury.ac.uk<\/a> and let\u2019s arrange a chat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n At the cost of coining a cringy phrase: let\u2019s (s)go!<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n
See, here\u2019s a global temperature map from the June 1976 heatwave:<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/blogs.canterbury.ac.uk\/sustainability\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/669\/2023\/10\/map-1.png\")
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/blogs.canterbury.ac.uk\/sustainability\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/669\/2023\/10\/map-2.png\")