Here’s a fascinating new tool from the Guardian Environment site. It features a series of sliders for consumption, travel and energy use. You can move them up or down and see how this would affect Britain’s CO2 output. The challenge is to reach an 80% cut while balancing demand for energy. Give it a go – it’s very instructive.
I managed it, but in my scenario we consume 60% less and travel 80% less. There is no air travel, zero food waste, almost no cars, and more sustainable diets. If you want to fly, something else has to give. It’s quite a stark reminder that the future is not just more of the same with different technology. There is no way around the issue – if we want to cut our carbon emissions to a sustainable level, we need to drastically scale back our consumption of the earth’s resources.
Once you’ve had a go, you can see how the three main political parties would reduce CO2, although only one party was brave enough to actually show their results!
The Earthbound Report 
Great tool, with one huge flaw. Many of the factors you can adjust are on a per-capita basis. Yet there is no option to increase or reduce population in this tool. Sadly, this can leave the impression CO2 emissions reductions targets are easier to meet than they really are. The tool apparently leaves population growth out of its calculations. So its results would only apply if the UK were to achieve zero population growth.
Dave Gardner
Producing the documentary
Hooked on Growth: Our Misguided Quest for Prosperity
http://www.growthbusters.org
Good point. With a growing population, you’re constantly undoing the energy savings you’re making.
Britain’s population was fairly stable until the last decade. Most of the recent rise is due to immigration, which makes it a particularly difficult political issue.