The 10:10 Campaign

You have probably heard of the 10:10 campaign founded by the Director of The Age of Stupid and heavily promoted by The Guardian. The picture below shows representatives of ten schools at the campaign launch in the Tate Modern recently.

Is this something that Transition Ashtead should promote?  The campaign wants people who sign up to commit themselves to reducing their CO2 emissions 10% by the end of 2010.  I’ve had a look on the campaign website www.1010uk.org for more information on the campaign and was disappointed by what I found.

For individuals there is a 10 point check list of things to do (nine really, the last one is a joke). I assume you’re meant to do the lot but it’s not clear.  It suggests you measure your gas and electricity to check you have saved 10% in 2010, but that’s no use if you didn’t measure in 2009.  You can tick one of the boxes if you either (a) have no flights in 2010 or (b) only one return flight.  But in case (a) your emissions saving is zero if you didn’t fly in 2009 either but could be enormous if you did.  In case (b) you can score points for ‘only’ going to Australia which has an enormous carbon footprint.

Another problem is the whole concept of a 10% reduction target for everyone.  At one extreme is someone I know who must have the lowest carbon footprint in Mole Valley but cannot join the campaign because she’s already done all she can.  At the other is an MVDC Councillor who this year had a holiday by long haul flight (I know of one and I bet there are more).  All he or she (no clues on identity!) has to do is have a UK holiday in 2010 and they’ve reduced their footprint by over 50%.

So the part of the campaign aimed at individuals all looks naff to me and not good enough to sell to anyone.

Organisations can also sign up.  Organisations are required to measure and report their emissions and so this part of the campaign looks more sensible.  It recognises that some energy efficient organisations may find 10% too hard, and anything over 3% ‘will be celebrated’ whatever that means.  I asked Graeme Kane, Mole Valley’s Sustainable Development Manager, whether he had come across the campaign and if he thought Mole Valley District Council (MVDC) might join as an organisation.  He told me he has already considered it and had come to similar conclusions to me.

So the whole 10:10 campaign looks badly flawed to me.  This is only my opinion though, and not necessarily the view of the Transition Ashtead group.

Derek Smith