Talking birds: Javier Caletrío
Far from being the ‘carbon police’, a new website advocating low-carbon birding is all about how we can all make small changes that will make a real difference.
A new website advocating low- carbon birding is all about instigating small changes that can make a real difference.
Peter Alfrey recently warned readers about the ‘carbon police’ ( Birdwatch 340: 62). His article is a response to the website www. lowcarbonbirding.net that I created as part of a collective effort to raise awareness about birders’ response to the climate crisis.
For me low-carbon birding is about helping to bring about a different birding culture, one that can be enjoyed by all – not just a select few – on a liveable planet. The website is a call to treat the climate crisis seriously and reflect this in the way we enjoy and study birds.
It’s true that the emissions of a single birder are a drop in the ocean. What matters, though, are not individual emissions in themselves, but the fact that none of us thinks and acts in a vacuum. Individuals collectively matter as we influence each other and our actions can help shift norms and make drastic political actions more likely. Crucially, if we are seen as acting according to climate science our message will have more credibility. A different birding culture is not just possible, it is necessary.
In the website I question the rosy image of ecotourism that still dominates and argue that while tourism can benefit some places, species and people, it also creates problems. As the RSPB’s Martin Harper has recently argued on his blog, ecotourism is tricky. It can and must play a role in conservation.
But, as I note, “there are good reasons to be agnostic rather than enthusiastic about ecotourism”; I add that “it is in the interest of destinations to become less reliant on international tourists by focusing more on markets accessible by low-carbon transport and considering other land uses compatible with the preservation of nature”. The coronavirus pandemic has only made this point more pertinent.
There is no technological fix that can generalise to 7.6 billion people the material standard of living currently enjoyed by a minority at high cost to others. For the affluent parts of the global population – and this includes many UK birders – living within planetary boundaries requires, among other things, driving less and flying less. As contributors to the website show and recent research on the flying less movement corroborates, with a change of mindset, moderating our travel can paradoxically have a liberating effect and expand our horizons. When the website was launched on 31 August it was welcomed as a valuable contribution to the debate about birders’ response to the climate crisis. The tweet announcing it received positive comments, among others, from the British Ornithologists’ Union, a former head of RSPB England (on his behalf), and the head of international research at the RSPB and future head of the British Trust for Ornithology (on her behalf). I would like to invite readers to visit the website and make up their own minds about this collective proposal for a climate-friendly approach to ornithology. ■
❝ What matters are not individual emissions in themselves, but the fact that none of us thinks and acts in a vacuum ❞