Nearly half of UK adults have defeatist attitude to personal climate impact, poll claims

Majority polled report feeling guilt when failing to recycle

Richard Jenkins

Friday 25 October 2019 18:51 BST

(Getty)

Nearly half of UK adults have a defeatist attitude regarding their own personal impact on climate change, according to a new poll.

The survey of 2,000 people found 40 per cent of respondents confessed to having an “I’ll do it tomorrow” approach to being more eco-friendly.

A total of 17 per cent of respondents said they forgot to turn the lights off at their house, and 23 per cent drove short distances they could easily walk.

Around one in four confessed to still buying carrier bags from the supermarket rather than using bags for life, while more than a quarter throw food waste straight into the bin, rather than composting it or putting it into food waste.

More than a quarter also put their washing on at 40 degrees or higher.

Finding food on the front line of climate change

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1/17Finding food on the front line of climate change

Finding food on the front line of climate change

Balkisa Zakow, 25, with her twins Hassan and Ousseni, Tombokiery village, Niger

At nine months’ pregnant with twins Balkisa Zakow, 25, feared she wouldn’t have the energy to give birth. A devastating drought made Balkisa’s harvests fail, made food prices soar, and then forced her family apart. Her husband migrated in search of work to earn money to provide for his young family, leaving her heavily pregnant and alone. “Sometimes if my husband had money he sent it to me so I could eat. Sometimes the money just doesn’t come,” she said. “I was worried I wouldn’t have the energy to give birth.” But seven-month-old twins Hassan and Ousseni are lucky, they were born the night after Red Cross support came to Tombokiery village, Niger. The Niger Red Cross provided the family with a small cash grant. “A Niger Red Cross volunteer told me to go first because she saw how exhausted I was. I used the money to buy food, then I went back home to sleep feeling relieved. Before sunrise I had given birth to my twins.”

Yuki Sugiura/British Red Cross

Finding food on the front line of climate change

Aissa Garba, 65, gazes out of the window of her home in Tombokiery village, southern Niger

Last year’s drought made Aissa’s crop fail, leaving the family with nothing to eat. In the Sahel rainfall has become erratic and wet seasons that people rely on are shrinking. The Sahel has one of the driest climates in the world, people who live here have always been incredibly resilient, are now having to adapt and survive to ever harsher conditions. The region is almost one degree hotter than in 1970 and could rise by several degrees by the end of the century. Record hot spells, desertification, loss of crops and increasingly unpredictable weather patterns are reducing people’s ability to feed themselves. Mothers are forced to eat just one meal a day so that their children can eat.

Yuki Sugiura/British Red Cross

Finding food on the front line of climate change

Herbs dry in the entrance to Aissa’s home

“When we had enough we ate three times per day, but during the shortage we only had one meal a day. The children were always following us, crying because of their hunger but we had nothing to feed them,” said Aissa. “But the Niger Red Cross brought us a cash grant. We bought millet and some rice, and with that we chased the hunger away.”

Yuki Sugiura/British Red Cross

Finding food on the front line of climate change

Rabi Chibkao, 56, and her granddaughter Aicka Danyabou, six months, at a Red Cross nutrition centre in the village of Kiéché, southern Niger

Six-month-old Aicka is struggling to gain weight. It’s been a month since her mother died and her grandmother Rabi has brought her to the Red Cross nutrition centre for help. The centre provides support to mothers and babies, weighing infants and measuring their upper arms for signs of malnutrition. The pair are two in a long queue waiting for help but a shortage of the nutrition supplement plumpy nut means that Aicka is still not at a healthy weight. Rabi said: “I had been feeding her cassava flour but I noticed didn’t help her much. When she has plumpy nut it helps a lot but sometimes there isn’t any. It has made my life very hard to bear. You can’t take care of a child properly if your own life is not good.”

Yuki Sugiura/British Red Cross

Finding food on the front line of climate change

Ingredients for a Kuwo porridge with cassava

Ingredients for a Kuwo porridge with cassava, which are given to families of malnourished children visiting the Red Cross nutrition centre.

Yuki Sugiura/British Red Cross

Finding food on the front line of climate change

Ai Naliguido, 40, and her son Aboul Aziz, four, in their village of Kiéché, southern Niger

Aboul, four, is small for his age because severe malnutrition left him physically stunted. Across the Sahel 1.5 million children are acutely malnourished, one in five will die before their fifth birthday. “His body was very weak and he was so thin,” said his mother Ai Naliguido. “It was just Garri I was feeding him made with some corn-meal, or millet.” “I took him to the hospital every week and they gave him plumpy nut. I’m so relieved that he got the help he needed to get stronger. He has gotten a lot better.” She said. Niger Red Cross volunteers from the nutrition centre visit communities to show mothers how to get the most nourishment from millet flour and drought tolerant root vegetables like cassava, which helps to keep children healthy.

Yuki Sugiura/British Red Cross

Finding food on the front line of climate change

Ali Naliguido's empty bowl

Yuki Sugiura/British Red Cross

Finding food on the front line of climate change

Hassi Seyni, 30, sits with her son, Mohamad Moufitaur, 15 months old – in Tombokiery village, southern Niger

First the drought made the harvests fail and then food prices inflated so high even the very basics became unaffordable for Hassi Seyni and her family. Her husband, like many others, was forced to leave to find work to earn enough money to feed the family. “We got really fearful because many men fled and left the women on their own,” said Hassi. “When he (her husband) has some money he sends it to us. This is how we lived.” “With support from the Red Cross we bought some bags of millet and corn. We bought some vegetables and some condiments. When your conscience is free from problems and you get to eat. Then you can think about the future.”

Yuki Sugiura/British Red Cross

Finding food on the front line of climate change

Hassi Seyni eats couscous with baobab leaves

Yuki Sugiura/British Red Cross

Finding food on the front line of climate change

Drought resistant millet and the different ways it can be used at the mill run by a women’s cooperative in the village of Gurguzu, southeast Niger

Millet is a drought resistant crop. Stems are stripped by hand and the grain pounded into flour which is slowly mixed with boiling water to make two, a thick white paste which is a staple across the region. Alternatively, water can be added to the flour to make porridge. Millet is a good source of carbohydrate but eaten alone lacks the vital nutrients needed as part of a balanced diet. When it’s available sauces are added to give flavour – such as the leaves of the Baobab tree. The mill is run by a women’s cooperative group and allows the whole village to buy grain at a cheaper price than in the market, it also helps to ensure the price is less volatile in the lean season.

Yuki Sugiura/British Red Cross

Finding food on the front line of climate change

Millet being hand stripped

Yuki Sugiura/British Red Cross

Finding food on the front line of climate change

Drought tolerant cassava grown at the Red Cross market garden

During the lean season a shortage in food forces the prices up to unaffordable amounts for many families. The market garden helps the local community to grow their own food and helps to stabilise prices during the lean season.

Yuki Sugiura/British Red Cross

Finding food on the front line of climate change

34-year-old Ouma Azzika with goat she was given from the Niger Red Cross

Ouma Azzika has seven children to feed. She received this goat from the Red Cross as part of a project supporting women to provide enough food to feed their families during the lean season when food is most scare. As well as providing milk, the goat can be sold at the market to earn money to buy food.

Yuki Sugiura/British Red Cross

Finding food on the front line of climate change

An empty bowl and spoon in Tombokiery village, Niger

Yuki Sugiura/British Red Cross

Finding food on the front line of climate change

A child is weighed and arm measured at the Red Cross nutrition centre in the village of Kiéché, southern Niger

Yuki Sugiura/British Red Cross

Finding food on the front line of climate change

A traditional cooking pot used to cook tuwo in Tombokiery village, Niger

Yuki Sugiura/British Red Cross

Finding food on the front line of climate change

Niger Red Cross nutrition centre sign

Yuki Sugiura/British Red Cross

The majority admitted to feelings of guilt when binning something that could have been recycled, while a third said they believe there is more they could do when it comes to recycling in their household.

A total of 37 per cent said they had installed a smart meter to monitor their energy usage, with a view to reducing how much they use, while four in 10 said they do more now than they did a year ago, in a bid to help the environment.

But while the same percentage say it’s because they care about their own futures, 48 per cent did it to make the planet better for their kids in years to come.

But nearly a fifth of respondents said they weren’t convinced that climate change is a real problem, and three in 10 said the importance of it has been over-exaggerated.

To highlight the positive impact that one person acting now can have on the future of the environment, Smart Energy GB commissioned the survey and launched a new partnership with the National Trust. At six National Trust sites across the UK, augmented reality installations will offer a look at what the natural world could be like in 30 years’ time.

Visitors will be shown a projection of the year 2050, highlighting what could happen to well-loved places if the nation fails to take steps to become more sustainable.

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“This study clearly indicates many Brits don’t realise that the small steps they can take will have a positive effect on the environment, but the good news is we all have the power to make a difference,” said Sacha Deshmukh, Smart Energy's chief executive.

“Visitors to the National Trust will see first-hand what could happen if we don’t all take action now.”

The National Trust hopes the venture will demonstrate its commitment to tackle the climate emergency by using less energy and protecting the environment, by capturing the energy of mountain streams, installing solar panels and smart meters in historic houses, and looking after woodlands.

SWNS

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