PETER ALFREY
As awareness of ‘low-carbon birding’ grows, Peter Alfrey wonders if some of its advocators are missing the point – and claims ‘high-impact birding’ is the way to go. The sound of the carbon police
We have a new annoyance within our community: the carbon police. They are after birders who fly or drive, go twitching, go world birding, own bird tour companies or run ecotourism lodges, as well as those who advocate carbon offsetting or work in the green economy. As far as the carbon police are concerned, we all have to stay local, cycle to our patches and, if you have to travel, get the train.
As birders, our primary consideration is the study and conservation of birds. The birding economy and society is our priority. We are part of an alternative community, and even the most ethically unconcerned birder is in a different camp to mass consumer society and mass tourism. Any birder is already on the right side of the line.
Being better
We can all be better birders and there are many ways of doing this. Primarily, that means focusing on identification and the study of wildlife (instead of shopping!) and then framing that into a wildlife-centric lifestyle. That includes being a pro-nature and ethical consumer, supporting conservation organisations, volunteering, buying an electric car, examining our diet, wildlife gardening, switching energy supplier and supporting the global community by travelling responsibly. Did you know that what you eat while on holiday can have more impact on carbon emissions than your flight?
Being a better birder also means voting with the environment in mind and being engaged in nature politics. It means working for organisations and companies engaged in this and detaching as much as we can from rampant consumer society, unethical corporations, dodgy politicians and the unscrupulous disaster capitalist billionaires behind it all. We need to build a sustainable birding society.
We all have difficult choices to make. The world is not simple and there are many trade-offs involved. Our planet is changing – new technologies will come (if we lobby for them), new laws will be passed (if we fight for them) and a new sustainable society that achieves net zero and net biodiversity gain is in sight; perhaps distantly, but it is in view. Let’s not jeopardise that by reducing our carbon footprints at the expense of supporting our entire community and network.
COVID-19 has simulated a sudden thrust into the lower carbon world. What are the results? Some are good and some are extremely worrying. Poaching has increased in national parks, people are eating the giraffes, ecotourism economies have collapsed, communities have sought to extract value from their nature reserves and infighting has increased. Clearly, we need well-managed de-carbonisation of our economies while maintaining support for our wildlife reserves.
The journey to a more nature-centric society is a long and complex one. We need to make complex changes to our lifestyles. Our carbon footprints related to travel are a part of that, but there is so much more to be concerned with in order for our community to have maximum impact and to be at the forefront of a society that exists for the optimum state of our planet. Birders should be taking on the many evils that threaten earth – not each other. ■
❝Our planet is changing – new technologies will come (if we lobby for them), new laws will be passed (if we fight for them)❞