Climate Stories

The Decade of Do

2009-12-31T07:32:00.010Z

The noughties saw a major global attitude shift on climate change. Will the next decade herald the turning point for action?

At the turn of the millenium I was a carefree(-ish) student, whose thoughts on climate change were – like many people's – limited to occasional, brief ponderings on how it would be lovely to have warmer weather. Fast forward ten years and I now believe it to be the most significant and most urgent threat to human wellbeing, with the subject rarely far from my mind. I am not alone. In the last ten years humanity has gone from generally ignoring the problem of climate change to believing their governments should be doing more to tackle it. I'm currently on a six month trip through Russia and Asia, talking to real people about climate change. The vast majority of people I speak to know it will be a huge problem for their country but haven't yet converted this knowledge into action.

The noughties were all about awareness raising on climate change. Helped along by devastating natural disasters like the Southeast Asian Tsunami in 2004 and Hurricane Katrina in 2005, environmental campaigns pushed this most urgent of environmental problems into the consciousness of most of the world's 6.7 billion people. The major efforts of the decade, like 2007's Live Earth concert, focussed on getting people to accept that there is a problem. But this is just the first step of the twelve step plan for society to wean itself from its suicidal fossil fuel addiction.

Politics, as usual, followed suit and we heard much grand rhetoric proclaiming the urgent need for action but saw very little in the way of follow through. Long before December's Copenhagen climate change summit it became painfully clear that the meeting was to belong very much to the old decade of talk and not what I hope will be the coming 'Decade of Do'.

To have any hope of success, environmentalists must use the next ten years to achieve that most tricky of alchemies – converting attitude into behaviour. Movements like Age of Stupid director Franny Armstrong's 10:10 campaign to get the UK to reduce its emissions by 10 per cent during 2010 offer us a glimpse of the future. The Do Lectures, a sort of cooler younger brother of the influential TED talks, which started last year to inspire millions of people to make good things happen fast, is another sign of things to come.

If we want the next decade to be defined by action on climate change, rather than being lost to more talk, we must start with ourselves. Every action counts because with them we create and change the social norms that shape the behaviour of society on the macro scale but we need to accept that big change needs big actions as well as little ones. It requires us to take more personal responsibility for our behaviour. It demands that we drag ourselves out of the collective mindset of the selfish teenager and into adulthood, where we consider the wellbeing of others as well as our own when making decisions. It means we have to stop making excuses for ourselves. Do you really need to take that flight? Is eating meat every day really that important to you? Can you afford that solar heating system by making a saving elsewhere? There are no excuses any more. We all know what we are supposed to be doing now … all that's left is to do it.

Yan Li - Beijing, China

2009-12-02T04:09:00.008Z

Almost all of the people Climate Stories talks to are lay people with no particular interest in or knowledge about climate change. However, Yan Li, who has been working as a climate change campaigner for Greenpeace China for two years has some very important things to say about what climate change really means for China.

Yan Li says that China will be one of the countries worst affected by climate change. It's already triggered droughts in the North but flash floods and typhoons in the South. These extreme weather events are set to get much worse. Most projections now foretell a bleak water situation for China. No water means no development so it's the hottest issue.

Most people in Beijing don't realise it yet but their water supply is severely under threat right now. The reservoir that keeps the capital in fresh water is now at a quarter of its usual capacity. It used to be open to the public to visit but now people are kept away so they can't see how bad the situation has become. There's a huge contrast between the situation in the big cities in China and rural life. Yan Li illustrates this with the example of the wealthy city of Guangzhou where the people have everything they want and the surrounding countryside, where the people have no water and are very worried about their futures.

Heavy rain of 100-200mm an hour of rain is common in some of the Southern parts of the country but Xinjiang has had no rain, especially in the Gobi region. Yan met some people there who had no need for a roof on their house because it never rained. In some areas though climate change is improving people's lives. It has brought rain to previously arid areas, so more food can now be grown. Ultimately though, everyone will be worse off as the productivity of China's land declines overall.

Yan Li was disappointed when China's target to produce 15% of its energy from renewable sources by 2010 was downgraded to non-fossil fuel sources. However she tells me there are other more encouraging signs that China's leaders are taking the issue seriously. Greenpeace are pushing for the environmental cost of coal to be included in coal pricing by way of a carbon tax and the government are currently holding an online debate about it.

The government are also investing in the development of the as yet mythical carbon capture and storage technology, as well as carbon labelling but Yan Li isn't convinced how effective either will be. There is apparently evidence that people here are prepared to pay more for environmental products though.

Greenpeace are currently planning a 'virtual march' through China to raise awareness of climate change. At the moment though Chinese people don't understand what civil society or campaigns really mean for them. The first NGO, an environmental education charity called Friends of Nature, was established in China only in 1994 and there are many restrictions on such organisations here. It's a big dream for her that one day there will be a big movement of people in China on environmental issues.

With water linking climate change with food security, poverty, health and development, Yan Li believes climate change should be a much bigger issue in the minds of every Chinese person. The time to think small is over.

Yining, Beijing: what does climate change mean to you?

2009-11-30T16:23:00.002Z

Yinning - Beijing, China

2009-11-28T10:36:00.004Z

Yining, 22, is a post-graduate student at the Beijing's international university, studying to teach Mandarin to foreigners. She is a Beijinger born and bred but lived in Denmark as an exchange student for a while. She thinks that Europeans generally care more about issues affecting the wider human race and tells me Chinese people only care about money, damaging our environment in the process. It's not all bad though. She's encouraged by recent signs that people in China are starting to buy more environmentally friendly products.

Yinning & Emma

Yinning says people here don't talk about climate change that much but that it has been influencing people though, especially recently. The weather has got really weird and it gets warm and cold at strange times. Beijing also now suffers from sandstorms coming in from the Gobi desert. She thinks this is partly because there aren't enough trees in the countryside any more.

The Great Wall at Simitar, near Beijing

In Yining's eyes, it's everyone's job to fix climate change but people in the city don't see its already devastating effects so people in the countryside are more aware of the issue. In the South of China you can see people suffering from the lack of rain but in the city everyone always has enough food. She has heard that the powers that be have taken food from rural areas by force in order to feed people in Beijing.

Mornings in the parks in Beijing are filled with wondrous things

Yining thinks the Chinese government should do more to regulate for the environment. She has seen adverts about saving water and energy but the country's leaders are mostly too concerned about GDP. They are talking about sustainable development but haven't yet implemented many policies and those that have been are not enforced.

Hutongs are too small for cars but perfect for vertical vegetable growing

According to Yinning the big city governments care more about the environment. In Beijing there are restrictions on what sort of fuel you can use but not in the countryside. She then goes on to make the very valid point that no matter how efficient the cars are, the overall number of them is ultimately more significant. She wishes the restrictions were placed on the numbers of cars instead.

A young Chinese family at one of the Beijing 350 events

Yinning's heard about the imminent world summit on climate change Copenhagen but can't relate it to her daily life. That's the business of the government, not ordinary people. She agrees that Chinese government have more power here so things can change quicker but it's difficult for people lke her to influence them. They don't listen to their people.

Eric, Beijing - what does climate change mean to you?

2009-11-26T16:06:00.002Z

Eric - Beijing, China

2009-11-24T07:35:00.007Z

As we step off the train from Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia we're immediately dazzled by the realisation that the city in front of us is not the Beijing that lives in our heads. China's capital has almost completed its transformation from a sprawling city of traditional ricketty wooden buildings in labarynthine 'hutong' alleyways to concrete and steel mega-city of epic proportions that makes London and New York look like toy towns.

Beijing old and new

My first interviewee in China is Eric, a 20 year computer science student in Beijing. He's originally from a village outside Qingdao, the city famous for producing TsingTao beer, but has been in the big city for three years now. He's anticipating that China will be warmer, which won't be a good thing for his country and especially not for his adopted city; Beijing in the summer is mind-meltingly hot. Eric believes that air and water pollution are more of an issue here than climate change though and I can see why. Though we are visiting at supposedly the time of year when Beijing air is the clearest, the ever-present thick haze tricks me into thinking my glasses always need cleaning.

Eric & Emma

Eric drops the unsurprising but nonetheless depressing news that Chinese people are not worried about climate change. He maintains that China's priority is the economy. His friends are too busy with studying to worry too much about climate change. A poor student from the countryside must study from 5am until 8pm in order to get into a university.

A guard at the Forbidden Palace

The government should be responsible for addressing climate change, according to Eric. They should control the number of cars and encourage people to use public transport and bicycles. When asked about renewables he says solar might be good but he is concerned that China has built too many hydro-electric dams, which are now causing ecological damage.

Beijing's smog can at least make for a lovely picture

The interview ends on a much more positive note than it begins though. Eric tells me most emphatically that he thinks we must change our ways for the future. That we need to reduce pollution and make things cleaner. He uses public transport although he admits he's too poor to have a choice about this and the lights in his dormitory and in his family home are low energy too.

It might also be that Eric is unnecessarily pessimistic about his fellow citizens. Bearing in mind that a recent study showed that 62% of Chinese people wanted their government to take more action on climate change. Whether their government will heed their request is another matter but the will, it appears, is there.

A Mongolian Climate Story

2009-11-22T13:12:00.004Z

Mongolia is facing a bleak future. Already an arid land struggling to support a population that remains largely subsistence, climate change threatens to further dessicate it, wringing out the last precious drops of life-giving moisture. Everyone here describes the same story of less rain year on year, rivers and lakes drying up and their fears about the continuing viability of their traditional nomadic lifestyle. They may live simple lives but Mongolians are far from ignorant about the origins of their plight. Their radios and satellite televisions, powered by solar panels, have given them science's explanation for what ails them.

A once huge lake in central Mongolia reduced to a puddle

Mongolians, in common with most people it seems, like to say their government is not doing enough about climate change. They plant a few trees here and there but there's more talk than action. The reality is, as far as mitigation is concerned, there's little Mongolia is able to implement, especially in rural areas where lifestyles could barely be more low carbon. As is the case for the majority of the world, the extent of the powers the country possesses to deal with climate change are generally restricted to adaptation, in other words mopping up someone elses mess.

Climate change is drying up this Mongolian waterfall

The litter that is clearly a problem here does not betray a lack of respect for the environment, as you might assume. Mongolians, like all traditional societies, are not yet used to disposing of anything that doesn't become food for something else. On the contrary, looking after their environment is heavily embedded in Mongolian culture. Shamanic folklore terrifies Mongolian children with tales of the perils of disrespecting the natural world.

The solar panel is a common sight in Mongolia

Mongolia cannot afford the luxury of climate change denial because the evidence of climate change is plain for all to see here and now. Despite that Mongolians have not caused the problems that now threaten their ancient way of life, they don't seem angry or bitter, despite a little baiting. Mongolians seem to point blank refuse to badmouth other countries, aside from Chinese, for whom they bear a vitriolic historical grudge. It's both humbling and heartwarming to have discovered that the consensus emerging from this vulnerable country is that it's everyone's responsibility to tackle the problem of climate change.

Bor – Elsen Tasarkhai, Mongolia

2009-11-20T11:07:00.005Z

Bor is in his late seventies, smokes a long pipe and keeps camels, horses, sheep and goats. Him and his hardworking wife, who tops up the stove in our gerr all night long with dried dung, live between a lake and a sand dune, which looks incredible to our Western eyes.

Bor at work

We wake up on the morning of the interview to an even stranger sight. There has been a snowstorm in the night and everything is covered in a thick blanket of snow. I'm told this is very unusual for this time of year. You might expect my Mongolian hosts to be pleased for the unseasonable gift of water but disgruntled mutterings tell me this is yet another unwelcome sign of instability in their previously more predictable ecosystem.

Bor in his ger

You see it's been getting drier in the last few years and now there's barely any rain. There used to be many trees around the sand dunes but there are hardly any left now. The sand encroaches ever further on the useful land and there are now more sand storms than ever. This is, of course, a problem because it makes the job of raising animals increasingly difficult.

Dusk before the snow

There's a lot of information about climate change on the news and Bor's well aware that it's linked to the problems he's just told me about. Climate change is a big problem for Mongolia because it is an agricultural country. These changes are bad for animals and plants alike.

The scene we woke up to

Bor thinks scientists need to work out what to do about the problem. He doesn't know who else can fix the problem but he says he's too old and laughs. Like the other Mongolians I've spoken to he thinks the Mongolian government talk about the problem but do nothing. He says some Korean's came here and planted some trees though.

Snowy camels

With a knowing smile, Bor tells me that of course he can imagine a life without fossil fuels because he still lives that life. He doesn't have a car. He's been riding horses for seventy years. He tells me he is trying to be optimistic for himself and future generations but that the time when he will go to sleep forever is very soon now.

Dorjsuren, Orkhon, Mongolia

2009-11-18T10:09:00.003Z

Dorjsuren, more commonly known as Ben (which means boy in Mongolian), is our guide for our three days of horse trekking around the magnificent eight lakes area. I wasn't planning on interviewing him but after watching my interview with Myagaa he so enthusiastically voluteered himself that I could hardly refuse.

Dorjsuren

As with all my previous Mongolian interviewees, the first thing Dorjsuren ,mentions is the lack of rain in recent years, especially the last five. What rain there is tends to fall in flash floods, which doesn't soak into the soil properly and therefore fails to nourish the plants that their animals feed on. Particularly dear to Dojsuren is the local waterfall that he grew up next to. It's a big attraction for tourists but these days it's dry all by two months of the year. We're extremely fortunate to be there while the waterfall is falling, albeit as a pale shadow of its former glory.

Dorjsuren with our pack horse

Climate change is a big problem throughout the country. This region is suffering from one of the many knock-on effects of global warming, increased pests. The trees, which protect the area from desertification, are being attacked by a two types of moth. They are thriving under the new warmer and drier conditions that climate change has brought.

Our trusty steeds

Like Myagaa, Dorjsuren thinks the government is all mouth and no trousers, talking plenty but doing little. He would like them to at least start with small problems, like helping his community fight the moths that attack their life-preserving trees.

Waterfall under threat from climate change

The future for Dorjsuren is unclear, although he can easily imagine a Mongolia without fossil fuels. He thinks his son will be ok but expects his grandson might have a very hard life because there will be so little water left when his time comes.

Myagaa, Eight Lakes: what does climate change mean to you?

2009-11-16T05:39:00.000Z

Myagaa - Eight Lakes, Mongolia

2009-11-14T09:43:00.001Z

Young mother Myagaa lives with her husband and children in a ger that currently overlooks a landscape so breathtakingly beautiful it seems almost surreal. Unable to reach the area by vehicle, we have trekked on horseback for a day to reach her.

Emma looking out over the Eight Lakes valley

She has seen many changes that she associates with global warming. There used to be eight great lakes but some are now tiny and others have even dried up completely. There also used to be many more streams and rivers. Recently she's seen dust rolls here too, which is a worrying new sign of a changing climate.

One of the Eight Lakes reduced to a puddle

This all makes the nomadic herding life more difficult. The animals do not get fat as they should and give less milk. Myagaa worries that her nomadic lifestyle will not be possible in the future. It's a big problem everywhere and most people she knows are worrying about it.

Morning at the lakes

Myagaa believes it's everyone's job to fix climate change but she's not convinced it's possible. She says she can't do much and it's not difficult to see why: this way of life could hardly be lower impact. The family do not have a car, which would be useless in this terrain. Heating is provided from the ubiquitous wood and dung burning stove that resides in the centre of each round ger tent. However, Myagaa tries not to litter and uses yak dung for the stove as much as possible, to avoid cutting down trees. The government here talk a lot about taking action on climate change but Myagaa can't see them doing much yet. Sound familiar?

Myagaa & her husband in front of their ger

Myagaa knows it's possible to live without fossil fuels because this is the ancient way of life Mongolians have been living "since the times of Chinggis Khaan" and beyond. She is optimistic for the future but worries for her children. She is particularly worried that a lack of rain from climate change will force them to leave behind forever the nomadic way of life that she loves.

Vaanchig, Southern Gobi: what does climate change mean to you?

2009-11-08T16:14:00.000Z

Vaanchig - Southern Gobi

2009-11-06T13:42:00.004Z

For three seasons of the year Vaanchig lives next to some of the most impressive sand dunes in Mongolia. In fact, he recognises his neighbour's horse on the cover of our guide book. Most of his eight grown up children have now moved away but one son still lives at home. When we arrive, a week before the family are to move to their winter residence, he is extremely welcoming. He asks each of our group how are animals are doing and offers perfumed nasal explosive, also known as snuff, both with a cheeky knowing smile.

Vaanchig & his snuff bottle

Our smiling, mischievous host has worries though and once the interview begins I see a more serious side to Vaanchig. He thinks climate change will be a big problem for Mongolia.

Especially in the last few years, he has seen big changes in nature. He tells me that in Mongolia the biggest problem is a lack of rain. This year there was almost no rain, or snow in the winter. Even the water under ground, where the roots of plants could grow down to reach is now failing.

The incredible landscape in which Vaanchig lives

Compared to other parts of Mongolia the grass grows more sparsely here and creeping desertification is a constant threat. In the South Gobi there are now many more people and cars. The cars turn useful grassland to sand.

Vaanchig hears people talking about globalisation. He belives that as we live on one earth, everyone needs to try to solve the problem of climate change. It's not enough to work in isolation, all our efforts need to be connected.

Emma, Vaanchig & guide Khuu

"We need to reduce the pollution from industry and cars" says Vaanchig. "We must reduce the pollution everywhere!" He thinks the Mongolian government need to do something because they're doing nothing at the moment. They're just fighting about unimportant things. He can imagine a life without fossil fuels but at the moment everyone is so dependent.

Sunset at the top of the 200m sand dune overlooking Vaanchig's ger

I thank Vaanchig for his time and his thoughtful opinions and get up to leave but he stops me, saying he has a question for me. He asks me if I know whether other countries have been stealing Mongolia's rain by "shooting the clouds". At first I rather conceitedly think he's referring to a superstition or that he's misunderstood something he heard on the radio. I'm humbled when Jeff, an American who we have been travelling with, realises he's talking about cloud seeding. He informs us both that China does use cloud seeding for special occasions but that they wouldn't do it regularly because it interferes with rain cycles.

Boli, Gurvan Saikhan National Park: what does climate change mean to you?

2009-11-04T06:30:00.000Z

Boli - Gurvan Saikhan National Park, Mongolia

2009-11-02T06:26:00.002Z

Boli and his wife and children live the traditional nomadic life in the beautiful Gurvan Saikhan National Park, which lies in the Southern, Gobi region of Mongolia. He is worried about climate change and has been well informed about it by his radio.

Emma, Boli and guide/translator Khuu

The last few years have been very dry with not nearly enough rain. No rain equals no grass, so Boli's animals don't have enough to eat. If they don't get fat enough over the summer, they will die in the winter. The situation is not disastrous now, particularly as the tourist trade supplements the diminishing support from his livestock, but he's concerned about how things will be in 30-40 years time if things carry on as they are. He has a longer time frame than most people I know.

Nomadic life in the Gobi

Boli thinks that everyone should try to fix climate change and has low energy lighting, which is powered by a solar photovoltaic panel, a fixture of most gers. He is also concerned about litter, which is heartbreakingly ubiquitous here, and tries not to contribute to the problem himself.

Curiously, for someone who remembers when animals not oil were the primary power source, as recently as the 1970s, he can't imagine a life without fossil fuels. He knows this sort of life is possible but cannot see how things can go back to how they were.

The view from a gerr

Later that day, after we leave Boli, we visit the 'ice gorge', which until recently boasted a year round ice packed crevice. Even our 2008 guidebook doesn't tell how the summer heat now steals away this impressive attraction and disappoints the many who visit in the height of the tourist season. That said, this is not all that surprising from the 'book of lies'.

Like the ice gorge, Boli's traditional nomadic family life is an attraction for tourists that is under threat from climate change. His dwindling income from the degraded environment is now supplemented by the very people who are destroying it by flying into the country in droves to gawp at a life, which demonstrates a stark contrast to their own cash-rich, wellbeing-poor existence at home.

The question that I cannot escape at the moment is whether this destruction is merely absent-minded or knowingly selfish? With knowledge of the great damage we're doing ourselves becoming clearer every day, I fear we can no longer excuse it as the former.

Khuu - Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia

2009-10-30T07:25:00.001Z

We asked to meet our guide before we began the trip. Mainly because the hostel we booked the trip with were cagey about their ability to provide someone with sufficient English skills for translation purposes. As soon as Khuu (pronounced 'hoo') entered the room and said hello we knew she'd be great. Her English was fantastic and, as we would soon find out, her sense of humour was wicked. She's from Southern Gobi region but now lives in the capital, working as a guide to help pay for her sisters' education.

Khuu in the doorway of a (typically) solar-powered gerr

On the second day of the trip, with the backdrop of the incredible 'White Cliffs' in the Dundgov province, South of Ulaanbaatar, our conversation drifts towards climate change. Khuu tells me about how she can see the climate changing and its effect on the landscape. It's getting drier each year and Khuu discovers more rivers have vanished from her tourist trail each new season, as she makes the long trips around the country with van-loads of adventure-seekers.

Emma (with pickles) and Khuu at the White Cliffs

The elders talk about how they used to be able to predict the seasons and the weather, particularly when there would be a good or a bad year, but this is no longer possible. Even the rain falls differently now. It comes in shorter and more intense bouts that doesn't get absorbed by the land.

These changes have had a dramatic effect on wildlife. The land used to be graced with many herds of wild sheep, gazelles and donkeys. The lack of rain has meant there's no longer enough grass or water to support them.

Khuu teaching Emanuel & Emma to make camel meat dumlings

According to Khuu, everyone in Mongolia is aware of climate change as a global problem too because they have radios and some have televisions. She also tells me that looking after the environment is deeply embedded in the Mongolian psyche and promises to tell me the old folk tale, which warns Mongolians as children about the dangers of wronging the earth that supports us.

Khuu beating us all at the traditional Mongolian game of anklebone shooting

She tells me that she thinks the nomadic lifestyle will die out and that most Mongolians want to leave the country because they think they can have a better quality of life abroad. I fear she is mistaken though. We may have more money but we are demonstrably no happier for it. Rather than exporting our disfunctional and self-destructive Western ways, in the name of so-called 'development', perhaps we should show a little more humility and learn what we can from societies like Khuu's before we obliterate them completely.

A Russian Climate Story

2009-10-29T10:10:00.007Z

Russia has a lot to lose from climate change. A recent study by the World bank reported that the country is particularly vulnerable to the effects of climate change due to its ageing infrastructure, environmental damage caused by the Soviet regime and extreme weather patterns. In the 50 years the largest territory in the world can look forward to severe storms, heat waves and flooding, which they are ill-prepared to cope with. Herders in the north of the country are increasingly under threat from the melting permafrost.

St Basil's Cathedral, Moscow

Russians refer to an out of place building as a rotten tooth. With the USA and China both now taking climate change more seriously will Russia end up being the 'rotten tooth' in climate negotiations? This is looking less likely than it once was. Russia at last seems to have stepped up to take its important role in the grand political narrative of climate change.

Crumbling church gate, North West of Moscow

And when Russia does decide to take action on climate change mitigation, its socialist structures still in place will make it their achievement easier. For example energy efficiency in buildings will be easier to enforce because freehold of buildings by local government is far more common. In the UK the government has trouble persuading people to install measures like cavity wall insulation, even when it makes financial sense to do so.

So what do real people think about climate change in Russia? The ones I spoke to are by no means a representative sample but their views do provide an interesting insight into how Russians relate to climate change.

Traditional Russian wooden house

With varying degrees of seriousness, everyone jokes that the weather will be more amenable because of climate change. I'm no There is unanimity that the weather has changed in recent years, with much milder winters than they are used to.

There is a feeling that other countries have much to lose from climate change but I'm not sure the connection to increaed natural disasters and global food supply, and the potentially disastrous implications for Russia as a net food importer, have really been made. At least not in the eyes of individuals yet. Many of the people I spoke to believe that it will take a natural disaster, like Hurricane Katrina in the USA, for Russians to take climate change seriously.

Beautiful Lake Baikal, which is under threat from climate impacts

Much fuss is made over how readily Russians have embraced consumerism and how bad this is for climate change, amongst other environmental problems. A few days after my first interview with the six young people from Moscow, I speak again to the most skeptical member of the group, whose first baby is due next spring. He tells me that although some people want only for their children to be rich, he would rather his grew up to be happy. An unusual individual decision or a sign of things to come?

I was particularly struck by the words of Masha from Irkutsk, when she told about the Russian word ABOCb, pronounced avoss, which is roughly equivalent to saying “what the hell, I know something bad might happen but I'm just hoping it will be ok anyway” that is found in their folklore and fairy tales. I wonder just how important the stories we're taught as children are to the lifelong relationship we have with our environment.

Emma with the carriage boss on the Trans-Siberian

The Russia I found was a country of extremes and contradictions. There is a clear deep love of the natural world embedded in the Russian psyche, yet the countryside is liberally strewn with broken vodka bottles. The people I spoke to, although concerned themselves about environmental issues, held little hope for their fellow Russians. Despite the pessimistic attitude for which they are justifiably famous, there is also a sense of possibility, that things can change quickly, in this vast country with an ideological scale to match. 56% of Russians think there government should take stronger action on climate change. Russia seems, at last, to be waking up fast to the realities of climate change and their strong leaders, for better or worse, can implement change at a lightning pace.

Vidana, irkutsk: what does climate change mean to you?

2009-10-27T07:46:00.002Z

Masha, Irkutsk: what does climate change mean to you?

2009-10-26T05:48:00.002Z

Masha of Irkutsk

2009-10-25T05:30:00.000Z

I like Irkutsk right away. It may be the crisper, colder air that gives the city a light feel about it. I am also pleased by the energy efficient light bulbs in the cafe we go to for breakfast but less impressed with the food which remains dominated by meat dumplings.

Masha is twenty three and works at the relaxed and friendly Baikaler hostel. We are shocked to find ourselves thrown into traveller culture for the first time on our trip. I find myself drawn more to talking to our host rather than to other travellers though, and not just for Climate Stories purposes.

Masha & friend Seema enjoying a relaxing Vodka

Masha is the first person I've met who strongly states that climate change is a big problem for Russia. She laments the lack of even basic recycling in her country, or even an awareness that such a thing is possible amongst Russians.

She believes the government must take responsibility for tackling the problem, which is looking much more hopeful these days. She agrees sadly with the Russian saying that you get the government you deserve though and doesn't have much hope they will do enough.

She doesn't think that Russian people are aware enough of climate change. She tells me that things will only change in Russia because that is the way the rest of the world is going, she thinks the nation follows, rather than leads with such matters.

Will & Emma enjoying the view of the beautiful and vulnerable Lake Baikal

The Russian word ABOCb, pronounced avoss, which is roughly equivalent to saying “what the hell, I know something bad might happen but I'm just hoping it will be ok anyway”. She tell me this way of looking at the world is thoroughly embedded in Russian culture, so much that it's a common part of the folklore and fairy tales.

Masha claims to be a realist but talks more like an optimist. She says she expects the worst but hopes for the best. It's difficult to argue with her.

Katia, Yekaterinburg: what does climate change mean to you?

2009-10-24T00:33:00.001+01:00

Katia in Yekaterinburg

2009-10-23T10:30:00.001+01:00

For some reason I arrive in Yekaterinburg with a little trepidation. Perhaps it's because we've been so lucky so far in meeting some truly lovely people and I'm wondering when our luck might run out. Or maybe it's because I've been reading about Yekaterinburg's bloody history. The last Tzar of Russia was murdered here.

Will debates with some well known Yekaterinburg intellectuals.

We have trouble finding the hostel we've booked. It's definitely not at the X we've marked on the map. However, I already suspect this might be a serendipitous kerfuffle. And I'm right. The charmingly named Meeting Point hostel was recommended to us at a chance meeting with an English girl studying in Kazan and I immediately wanted to go there instead.

Katia, who runs the hostel is in her early twenties, vegetarian and speaks excellent English. She is effervescent in character, with an endearing coughing idiosyncrasy when she speaks. She shares the apparently common Russian love of nature, believes that climate change is caused by human activities and that it's everyone's duty to do something about it.

Emma & Katia

She thinks we need to return to a more natural way of living. She confuses me by saying she isn't prepared to make big sacrifices in her life for any cause but goes on to tell me she turned down a well-paid job with an oil company because she couldn't square it with her conscience. The conversation gradually drifts off onto other things but not before we've agreed that sometimes things can seem like a sacrifice and unexpectedly end up being a wonderful thing.

Alina the Tartar

2009-10-20T04:20:00.000+01:00

We leave most of our belongings in the left luggage facility at the station in Kazan, the capital of the autonomous Muslim region of Tartarstan. It was warm when we arrived so when a chill wind brought rain later in the day, we regretted not bringing more sturdy clothing. We spent a miserable hour or so wandering about in the rain, Will looking rather beautiful in my purple cardigan, looking for an internet cafe.

Kazan ... before the rain.

When we finally find one, it's full and we can't work out the infuriatingly incomprehensible queuing system. We're soggy, bedraggled, feeling a little sorry for ourselves and (unfairly) not highly impressed with Kazan, when something wonderful happens. A girl with an American accent asks us if we need help. Alina is a native Muslim Tartar from a village outside Kazan but has been living in New York for the last three years, working and studying English. She takes us to a great cafe that has wifi and delicious cakes.

Alina is always thinking about climate change. She's noticed that it's much warmer than it used to be and believes it to be mainly caused by cities and their polluting industries. She tells me she buys energy efficient products, tries not to use more paper than necessary and gets angry about littering and the pollution of the waterways that is common here.

Alina & Emma

Alina's father works in the oil industry and he has told her that there will be enough oil for his generation and the next (i.e. Alina's) but that the next will have to find alternatives. She worries that so many of the things we rely on are made from oil at the moment.

Echoing other Russian opinions we've encountered so far, she thinks that climate change will affect animals worse than humans and this concerns her greatly. She believes everybody must think about the issue because it's coming whether we like it or not. She thinks we all needs to change the way we live but thinks that human beings are adaptable creatures and is therefore optimistic that we can.

Dennis, Moscow: what does climate change mean to you?

2009-10-17T15:43:00.001+01:00

Namik from Azerbaijan

2009-10-17T09:28:00.000+01:00

We meet Namik on the overnight train from Moscow to Kazan. Along with our other cabin-mate, as well as half the train it seems, he is on his way to his military school reunion. He's originally from Baku in Azerbaijan and his parents never wanted him to go to military school. They warned him he would be 'married to the army'.

Will & Namik

He tells me the Western world pays more attention to issues like climate change because people from the East are more worried about today. People here are more concerned about their job and their basic needs. He says that 70% of people in Russia are not able to meet their basic needs, although from what I can gather, this may be an exaggeration.

He thinks the government here only talk about climate chang e because it's an issue for the West, not because it's an issue for Russia. Perhaps also, because it's less of a contentious issue than food shortages.

He tells me he's noticed that the weather is changing though. He visited a place in the North of Russia recently and was told it would get dangerously cold there but it never did. The people there said they had been used to temperatures of 35 degrees centigrade below zero but for the last four years it hadn't got anywhere near that cold.

The Russian military men ... and a gallon of brandy

It's now one thirty in the morning and it's at this point that six burly ex-military Russians stumble into our cabin with a gallon of home-brewed brandy, insisting we help them drink it. The booze is surprisingly pleasant and so is the company. The interview is over but our first night on the trans-Siberian railway has just begun.

Last night in Moscow

2009-10-16T08:38:00.005+01:00

My last night night in Moscow we do something we'd been a little disappointed to have avoided so far. We drink vodka. Lots of it. I manage to interview two more people, both in their mid-twenties, before I am completely inebriated. Tanya works for a cosmetics company in a swanky office next to a contemporary art gallery and has the most sparkling smile in Moscow. Dennis works at a cool young TV station that shows mainly cartoons for teenagers, of the Southpark ilk.

Tanya, Emma & Dennis

Tanya isn't familiar with the term climate change as related to global warming is and admits that when she first heard about the Climate Stories project, she thought we were documenting how the weather changed through the regions we're visiting. Having clarified that we're referring to the global environmental problem, she confides she hasn't really thought about it much. She is a massive animal lover though and worries about what impact it will have on wildlife. She is disturbed by the idea that climate change may wipe out up to 50% of all species by the end of the century.

Dennis, Vova, Emma, Tanya & Will

Dennis carries that slightly distant air about him that deeply creative people often do but he is immediately likable. I'm surprised to learn that he is a teetotal, non-smoking vegetarian, which must surely be a rarity in Russia. He is concerned about climate change and thinks that it's everyone's job to fix the problem. He thinks it will take a natural disaster to make people in Russia wake up to the reality of the issue. I tell him this is not a Russian state of mind but a human one and remind him that the US became a lot more concerned about global warming after hurricane Katrina. He high fives me at the end of the interview and I leave Moscow with more hope for the future than I arrived with.

Climate Stories wins award!

2009-10-16T04:09:00.011+01:00

As our Facebook or Twitter followers may already know, Climate Stories has been given the Climate Community Citizen of the Week Award! We'd like to thank Dan at the Climate Community, not only for the award but also for his continued support for the project.

Here's what Climate Community has to say about the project:

"Emma and Will our our third winners from Europe. They are from the UK - but are currently on an amazing adventure across Russia and into Asia to discuss Climate Change at the truly grass roots level - with the people in these countries, cities, and towns."

We will be donating the prize money to the Avaaz campaign, which is raising funds to unleash a massive global day of action on 12th December that world leaders cannot ignore at Copenhagen.

More Moscow Minds

2009-10-15T13:27:00.006+01:00

Unfortunately I am a complete idiot, somehow managing to delete the video recordings most of my Moscow interviews and some later ones too. I have some notes but I'm really kicking myself for relying so heavily on what I should have known would prove to be unreliable technology.

My last day in Moscow is spent running around the city interviewing to three people, all a generation above the group of young people I first spoke to. I speak to Boris at Focus Media, a public health and social development foundation, and Olga and Lyobov at the Agency for Social Information. I hugely appreciate the time all of them have taken to speak to me. At their offices I get the impression there is always more work to be done.

Boris, like me, used to work for a national agency on climate change issues and has the tired, defeated look that I wish I saw less commonly in older environmentalists. His English isn't perfect (though obviously much better than my Russian!) but he has prepared a statement, which he reads to me. He says that global anthropomorphic climate change is happening right before our eyes and that the potential impacts are frightening. He compares the human race to a greedy crowd of rabbits that destroys itself through over-consumption of natural resources. It's difficult to disagree with him.

Olga seems shy but my interviewing technique is far from polished, which probably doesn't help. She knows climate change is a problem for Russia and wishes her contemporaries took it more seriously. She says her teenage son and his friends are much more aware of environmental issues than her generation. I am also informed that the vodka in Russia is much better in the countryside than the city.

Lyobov has twinkling eyes and a bubbly personality. Like Olga she is modest about her ability to provide an interesting interview but goes on to be absolutely fascinating. She worries about the Russian attitude to the environment in general. She is angry that any areas of natural beauty in the country are spoiled by her littering countrymen. She thinks Russia needs more awareness raising on climate change but remains optimistic about the future.

These three are all deeply concerned about climate change. They tell me that they are taking action in their lives but that the majority of Russian people are not. This sounds little different to a conversation I could have with most educated, middle-class people of their generation in the UK. Caring about the environment, and more specifically tackling climate change, may not be in the forefront of everyone's mind but there are clearly not so few people who are willing to ignore the evidence of climate change that now appears plain to all but a few dwindling 'flat earthers'.

PS Today is Blog Action Day, an annual event held every October 15 that unites the world’s bloggers in posting about the same issue on the same day with the aim of sparking discussion around an issue of global importance. Get involved.

From Russia with love

2009-09-30T03:59:00.018+01:00

On 13 September 2009 I sit down to lunch in Uglich, near Moscow, with six twenty-something Muscovites, who have agreed to speak to me about their thoughts and feelings on climate change. They are clever, funny, politically aware and, well, cool. As is befitting of a society with so recent a history of state propaganda, they are suspicious of what the media has to offer.

Someone says they think climate change is a big problem for Russia but this is contentious and someone else thinks the country has more pressing issues. Another proposes it might improve the nation's situation, with better weather conditions. According to a recent report from the World Bank Russia has more to lose than most countries from climate change.

Tanya, Lola, Will, Fedya, Shev, Emma & Julia

I'm told that people care more about it in Western Europe and North America than here and that this is because these countries don't have real problems to worry about. One girl likens this to the story of her friend, who on her return to Russia after several years in the US, was shocked to discover a general lack of concern about cholesterol.

One of the group believes climate change to be a natural process, that the human role is exaggerated and we overestimate the significance of the time in which we now live. Another thinks it might be little more than a money making exercise, likening the green industry to the producers of flu vaccinations, whom she believes have exploited the current swine flu panic for profit. Bearing in mind that the richest companies are still those in the business of extracting oil and that most people who work in the environment sector do so for low wages or even for free, I'm not sure this accusation is fair.

Renewable energy is not a popular option here and someone espouses that frustratingly common myth that wind generators don't 'payback' the energy used to create them I can't help myself but interjecting to correct them. Nuclear is a significant energy source here and oil is cheap in Russia. They all tell me they think the oil will run out though.

Julia, Tanya, Fedya & Will

The group agree that weather patterns have noticeably changed in recent years and that this is a common topic of discussion amongst the people they know. They say there is no longer a need to wear the heavy winter clothes of previous years but that they do not know whether this is a long term trend or a short term blip, acknowledging the difference between climate and weather.

What I have not come across in this interview is general apathy, or the refutation that climate change is happening at all. This group leave me with the sense that climate change is more of a current issue in Russia than it might initally appear, as born out by their government's recent major u-turn in their policy. I have only just scratched the surface of Russian psychology but I can already see that it may be more difficult for my British brain to decode than I had bargained for.

Flying shame

2009-09-23T16:14:00.005+01:00

Shortly before we left, a good friend of mine kindly gifted me a book by a gentleman named Jiddu Krishnamurti. In a beautiful twist of irony, he has a huge following, in spite of – or perhaps because of? – his core proposition that people should follow no-one. The book is called Freedom from the Known. I've been thinking about it a lot the last two weeks.

One of the most confusing things for the Russians we've met is just why we've caught the train all the way from London and will be catching trains all the way to and back from South East Asia. They, perhaps along with you, don't really understand the desire to ground ourselves permanently.

My first flight was at nine weeks old and my parents brought me up to believe that the world out there was for exploring. Words cannot convey how I agonised over the decision to give up flying. At the time I believed it would be a huge sacrifice to make and my life would be a frequent, if not constant, struggle to resist the temptation of taking to the skies.

However, with climate change already killing 300,000 people a year and the potential for millions to die and by the end of the century, it had to be the right thing to do. By using more finite resources than our fair share, I believe we are no less eating our children than the wretched creatures in Cormac McCarthy's dark post-apolcalyptic novel, The Road.

In fact, the moment the decision had been made, the torment vanished and I was left feeling liberated and less burdened than before. The opportunities that tend to open up once you have made even one small change in your life, made themselves plain almost immediately in this instance.

Part of this is certainly the human need for novelty – our brains crumble without it. Making one restriction on your life can often free you from many others, unknown until the decision has been made. Although we didn't know it at the time, Climate Stories is undoubtedly just one result of our decision to free ourselves from the known.

Live simply and trust one another

2009-09-19T15:16:00.012+01:00

According to the charming Azerbaijani Namik (pictured - far right), who we interviewed on the train from Moscow to Kazan, Lenin once said: "Live more simply and see how people will come closer to you". It's a lovely phrase and one I'd like to think is true.

We've been in Russia for nearly a week now and have interviewed about ten people so far. We had prepared ourself for a certain amount of hostility to my climate change questions - or at least apathy - yet we have found anything but. There has been curiosity, thoughtfulness and debate. They also think that most other Russians don't think about the issue but this has not been my experience. Despite some protests to the contrary, everyone I've spoken to so far has had a well developed opinion and most of them have been concerned and taking practical action.

We have noticed something odd about the Russian nature. We are constantly warned by extraordinarily friendly people that their countrymen are not to be trusted. We suspect this is a result of years of being encouraged to inform on one another during Soviet times and perhaps a feeling that the country's worst recent turmoils have been wrought from within.

Whatever the cause We'd like to suggest that they should fear less. From the eight burly Russians (pictured above) on their way to their military school reunion who plied us with Cognac and compliments on the Moscow-Kazan train to the lovely Tartar Alina (pictured) in Kazan, who stopped to ask us if we needed help in an internet cafe and ended up giving us a free personal guided tour, we have been shown nothing but kindness. Perhaps this is because we have shed most of our belongings and are living more simply but we'd like to think that Russians deserve more credit than they give one another.

Small towns, big fun

2009-09-15T08:40:00.010+01:00

So we arrived in Moscow and immediately left again. We were whisked out of the city on a road trip with the lovely Fedya and Tanya, with whom we are staying. Four of their wonderful friends came along too.

We visited lots of churches. Now before you start yawning, churches in Russia are a totally different kettle of fish from European ones. They look like delicious confectionary for a start. The ones in Sergiev Posad were particularly impressive.

We stayed in an awesome old Soviet hotel in Uglich, which has to be seen to be believed. We were warned not to park our cars outside because the people coming out of the disco in the same building might vandalise the car and we were lulled to sleep by the sound of techno. It was very cheap.

I spoke to the six yound Muscovites about climate change the following morning over breakfast. I'll write more about what they said later but in general the debate here is clearly far more advanced than I had been led to believe. I have been hugely encouraged by the conversations I've had so far.

I'm pleased to say that my first suspicions of Russia have been confirmed and I think we're going to have some good memories from this part of our trip.

The way to go

2009-09-12T11:35:00.005+01:00

As our Polish train approaches Moscow, the scenery looks quite different from the rolling English countryside I wrote about in the last post. It's a lot flatter for a start. The buildings are commonly made of wood. I must admit, I'm a bit in love with Russia after only two hours.

It feels good to be here at last; a day later than planned. Less than twenty four hours into our trip and our first significant* blunder made itself known. As we were about to board our train for Moscow at Warsaw, we realised something odd: the train was to make a stop in Minsk, Belarus. We don't have visas for Belarus. In fact we had specifically chosen this particular train, on the advice of Seat 61, because it did not go through Belarus. The train had other ideas.

So we disembark at the Polish border town of Biala Podlaska. A kindly taxi driver shows us the embassy, followed by the bank where we need to pay for our visas the following morning, and then to a nearby hostel. The entire journey, he is telling us all sorts of useful information. Unfortunately he's telling us this in Polish and he doesn't seem to understand that we don't speak the language. In fact his response to our puzzled looks and shrugs is to talk louder and faster. For reference, if this happens to you, you shouldn't pay 50 Zlotys for a taxi from the station, 10 is more than enough.

It all worked out ok though and we got back on the train and even ended up in a better carriage. A big thank you to Marcin in Warsaw, whom I met at the Do Lectures last weekend. He helped us do battle with re-booking our reservation at the ticket counter.

Strangely enough, had we not made a complete pig's ear of it all, the section of our trip from London to Moscow would have been comparable in price and time to flying. Unless you fork out a small fortune to fly directly, you must stopover in Copenhagen. We've seen so much already and the trip has only just begun. Despite our best efforts to sabotage ourselves, or perhaps because of it, we're having a great time already.

---

*I did also walk into the gentlemen's toilets in Brussels Midi, startling a small urinating boy. No (more) Manneken-pis jokes please!

In the beginning ...

2009-09-09T16:06:00.010+01:00

It's strange to think that this will be the last time we'll see the green English countryside for six months. As it whizzes past the awesomely comfortable Eurostar train, I feel compelled to soak it up for the last time, in a while at least. I know I'll miss it but also that it'll be all the more beautiful for not having seen it for so long.

We're not expecting this project to be easy. Although, climate change rhetoric is very much a part of mainstream life now in the UK, there are other more urgent worries for the people of many other countries, despite their potential to be worse affected by it. We've been warned that nobody is concerned about the issue in Russia and would be surprised if anyone reading this hadn't heard the shocking statistics about coal-fired power stations in China.

There are however, many reasons to be optimistic. Traditional societies - many of which are still alive and well in the regions we will visit - tend to have a greater respect for their environment. Business schools in Russia are starting to invest in CSR programmes. China has the fastest growing renewables industry in the world. And who knows what we will find in South East Asia but I do know that the average carbon footprint is a fraction of a typical European or North American individual's, so I'm confident we have something to learn.

Will wants to try to take a picture at the exact moment we pass into the channel tunnel. He's been talking about this for a while. I'll let you know if he manages it.

Once upon a time there were two impatient adventurers, waiting to go off galavanting ...

2009-08-24T16:06:00.007+01:00

It's now a little over two weeks until lift off and we're frantically sorting out all the minutae of our trip that have (inexplicably?) failed to sort themselves out. Our Russian and Chinese visas were relatively untroublesome to obtain, with hopefully the Mongolian to follow in a similar manner this week. We've been repeatedly jabbed in the arm by a worryingly scatty nurse in a travel clinic just off Russell Square. We're still trying to work out the least savings-squeezing method of getting our grubby mits on three months worth of Malarone anti-malarials, so if anyone has any suggestions they'd be hugely appreciated.

We hopefully now also possess the means to update this blog at least once a week, in the form of an unlocked mobile phone (for use with local sim cards) and broadband dongle. The gods of internet access allowing, we will be uploading writing, pictures, videos and audio of the interviews, stories, thoughts, poems, ideas and discussions we discover along the way.

I'm starting to get a little nervous about the trip and the project. I'm very much in two minds about whether to contact the relevant authorities about the project and the standard foreign office blurb hasn't so far been astonishingly helpful. Technically we're not journalists but it may appear that we are, and therefore there's a very real possibility that we may be deported or, far worse, cause trouble for the local people we speak to. This is something we must avoid at all costs.

Most worrying is my progress with the beautiful (but evidently bastard-hard) Russian language. Several months ago Will and I made a bargain that he would learn Mandarin and I would learn Russian. While Will has diligently completed a whole audio course [two courses! - Will] and can now get by in basic conversations with the Chinese [admittedly unproven - Will], I am not doing quite so well. In fact, it would be fair to say I'm still struggling with “hello”, “don't touch me” and “where is the toilet?”.

Are you sitting comfortably?

2009-08-10T18:59:00.002+01:00

“Journeys and stories sit well together” Tim Macartney

It's now a month until we set off to weave our multimedia tale, exploring what climate change means to real people in Russia, Mongolia, China, Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand. With our route as far as Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia now booked, it seems an appropriate time to launch the website and start telling you more about why Climate Stories is happening.

This year we came to the decision that we could no longer justify flying for holidays. But with friends and family all over the world, as well as a desire to see far flung places, we weren't about to let that stop us. We concluded that we would instead take a few months off every few years to go on a big adventure.

With Copenhagen – arguably the most important meeting in human history – coming up, we didn't feel we could just drop out entirely. We needed a project that would make a contribution at this crucial time.

We both love stories and have been inspired by some excellent storytelling during our time in London. And we know we're not alone: people enjoy, engage with and respond to stories.

Stories work; travel spreads stories fast and climate change requires some very quick footwork. Climate Stories is the result of knitting together all these elements into one beautiful project.

Please let us know if you can help us find people to interview or to translate or if you can suggest any eco-projects that lie on our route. Comments or suggestions on the project are always most welcome.

Emma and Will.