My corn on the cob

Due to popular demand (well, two out of the five people who read my blog), I am going to write a short post describing my new job.

I am working for Defra – the government’s department for environment, food and rural affairs, in their climate change team. I am part of CESA (climate energy science analysis) in the response strategies and greenhouse gas emissions group. Last week we hosted a workshop on achieving a Low Carbon Society (LCS), with people from all over the world, which was really interesting. I will stop there with the descriptions as this paragraph might end up in acronymical madness (see dave’s blog for a good acronym descriptive posting). But I think it is safe to say that in a few weeks time I will know the Kyoto protocol, UNFCCC, IPCC, Stern Report etc etc backwards.

The good news is that it is a wonderful mix of the science and the social. Obviously there is a lot of science involved; but then there is the actual influencing of policy, getting people to change behaviour etc. It is also an international topic, so the north/south differences are involved. A very good exposure to how all these issues play out in the real world.

So far I am really enjoying it and I think it will be a great experience (as long as I can keep it a secret that in the last year my airmiles have consisted of a flight to Norway, two flights to Malawi, one to Cape Town and one to Sri Lanka…..)