The recent ‘Nature and Climate: What Next for Totnes Constituency’ meeting in Kingsbridge brought together around 250 local people, many of whom are active locally in community groups seeking to address nature and climate issues. There were many good natured exchanges and much common ground at this event. We all want to see the destruction of nature ended and global warming limited to 1.5 degrees.

Groups like Till the Coast is Clear, Kingsbridge Climate Action and Wild About Kingsbridge who co-hosted the event with Zero Hour (the coalition sponsoring the Climate and Ecology Bill) are crucial.

They are people who are delivering necessary change along with organisations like the Devon Environment Foundation, Devon Wildlife Trust, Sustainable South Hams and the many more who attended.

They also understand the personal benefits that accrue at a human level when, as Gary Jolliffe of Till the Coast is Clear says, ‘chaotic, digitally hijacked minds are soothed from being enveloped by nature and re-energised and inspired by positive action’.

There were many calls for ‘support and leadership from our elected representatives’ to ‘tackle the biggest issue of our time’ and deliver a ‘legally binding commitment from our leaders’. Following the meeting, Anthony Mangnall agreed to meet Zero Hour in September to discuss these vital issues and possible ways forward.

We hope that they have a productive meeting and that we can report some progress afterwards.

Here in Devon, both Devon County Council and South Hams District Council have declared Climate and Biodiversity Emergencies, and both Councils have written climate action plans setting out measures to reduce our emissions locally and protect and enhance nature. But these plans alone won’t take us to Net Zero. This is an issue that must be addressed in our communities, workplaces, schools and homes, but it also must have the full support of national government.

Clearly, we cannot afford to ignore the climate and nature crisis.

It is generally accepted that the cost of clearing up after extreme weather events like the recent wildfires in London will be much greater than the costs of a planned transition to a low carbon economy that conserves and restores nature.

Clearing up the damage after the floods in Germany last year cost $40 billion alone.

Each year, human activities release more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere than natural processes can remove, causing the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere to increase.

Currently carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere are higher than for 3 million years. Net Zero is when no more CO2 is released into the atmosphere as a result of human activities than is removed by natural processes.

The aim is to offset unavoidable ongoing emissions from sectors like agriculture by restoring ecosystems which absorb CO2, and by using technology. There are major question marks over the feasibility of technological removals. This leads most scientists to say we must focus instead on reducing emissions more rapidly now.

When considering CO2, global warming is driven by cumulative emissions. It is the total amount we emit on the path to net zero that matters – not the date on which we get there. The global carbon budget tells us how much CO2 we can still emit before exceeding the amount of CO2 in our atmosphere that will lead to 1.5 degrees of global warming.

There is no use having a target of net zero by 2050 if our carbon budget is used up before then and we have already exceeded 1.5 degrees.

So what does the science require that we do, and how do we tackle the biggest issue of our time? South Hams Climate Action Network campaigns to ensure action on nature and climate is led by science. Over the next few months, we will be contributing easy to read science based articles on different parts of our economy that are causing or are affected by climate change and the destruction of nature – housing, transport, energy, farming, etc.

Locally in Devon, we are fortunate to have many respected scientists leading research and innovation.

We will be seeking contributions from scientists based at both Exeter and Plymouth Universities and those working in the Met Office in Exeter, reliable sources who are not motivated by commercial or political interests. In each article, we will be looking at what works and what is clearly not working, and what we as individuals, communities and the government can do about it.