May Day Summit

I had a really good day at the May Day Summit in Bristol on Friday. There was lots of information to take in and some interesting opinions put forward. The Summit is part of the Prince's May Day Network, which is the UK’s largest group of businesses committed to taking action on climate change. The event in Bristol was just of a number that took place across the country. The main event was in London with the Prince of Wales and Ed Miliband , amongst others. In Bristol we had Jonathon Porritt, who was founder of Friends of the Earth and Forum for the Future, and is currently Chairman of the Sustainable Development Commission - so he knows what he's talking about! You can find out more about other May Day Summit events here.

The event in Bristol was down on the quay, a very nice spot on a sunny day. The day consisted of a number of presentations and discussion groups. There was a lot of interesting stuff, but the things that stood out for me came from Jonathon Porritt: We need to act now - the expression he used was 'Radical decarbonisation' - if we want to avoid the worst impact of climate change. And to put that into context he quoted Mark Twain:
'Twenty years from now will you be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do, than by the things you did?'

Some people I've spoken to recently have talked about the economy needing to be the priority during this recession, and environmental issues being less significant. With the UK economy predicted to contract by up to 4% this year you can understand why. But looking further into the future, the Stern Review estimates that with a temperature rise of 2ºC the global economy could suffer a 20% contraction of growth. It's like avoiding stepping in a puddle, but falling into a lake as a result - a short-term solution failing to prevent a long-term impact. And we should remember that it is now accepted that the Stern Review under-estimated the severity of the situation, and the temperature rise is more likely to be 3ºC-4ºC. So with that in mind Jonathon Porritt's call to action is all the more relevant... but is anyone listening?

I hope so. I really do. And to offer advice and guidance to businesses who do want to do something we launched www.todayandtomorrowonline.co.uk. If you want to take some action why not sign up to the Prince's May Day Network?