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With all the talk about climate change and the need to dramatically reduce our greenhouse gas emissions around the world it can be difficult to imagine that one person’s, or one family’s, actions can make any difference. Looked at in isolation they will not have a significant impact but taken together with the actions of millions of other people they will certainly contribute to a significant reduction in the emission of greenhouse gasses and a safer climate,

While it is true that governments and industries need to make the biggest changes to significantly reduce our reliance on fossil fuels they can be influenced by society at large. Governments depend on voters for support and industries need a ‘social licence’ to operate in certain ways.

I would like to tell you about an online project called the “One Person Can __“  Project. It is a nationwide apolitical project which is designed to inform the nation, including our decision makers, about the safe-climate actions all sorts of people are already taking and thus has the potential to influence all levels of government.

The core of the project website, www.onepersoncan.org , is a survey that collects answers to simple questions about typical climate friendly actions such as switching off unnecessary lights, riding a bike or insulating your home. Essentially the One Person Can website says, “Look at how much safe climate action is happening!” Of course the more people who complete the survey the more safe climate actions there are to report.

The survey results will be sorted by state, local government area and federal and state electorates, and will be made known to the various levels of government who will be asked to promote the survey and the results in their communities. So the more people who complete the surveys the greater influence there will be on elected representatives.

Another positive feature of this website is that the questions in the survey may encourage people to take more climate friendly actions than they are currently doing and thus further reduce their greenhouse gas emissions. As well as the questions there are links to a number of comprehensive information panels explaining the actions that are asked about in the survey.

I would encourage everyone to have a look at this website to see how much safe climate action is happening around the nation and to also complete the survey to add their actions to the results. The survey is very easy to do and it will take 10 – 15 minutes to complete.

The website again: www.onepersoncan.org