It’s more than a bridge

How a Thames bridge closure prompted a reckoning: living my best life whilst not helping wreck the climate.

This is a blog from and about Barnes in south west London.

This is personal

I came to climate change late.   2015, to be precise.   Of course it was affecting me. I just wasn’t aware of it before then.   Reading a daily newspaper over coffee has been one of my simple pleasures for over 30 years, and working in news and current affairs meant I was no stranger to the headlines.  The thing is, I didn’t do anything with my awareness.  I was a passive observer.   

I know what changed. 

That year I took on a new role leading a team of forward-thinking professionals at the BBC: software engineers, designers, producers, story-tellers and the like.    Our mission was to explore emerging technologies to ensure the BBC stayed relevant in the next decade. Among these teams, one focused on examining the media industry’s impact on the environment.

Their work staggered me.

Need to do something

BBC Research and Development had a global reach.  The technical standards they created helped billions of people worldwide.   A tweak here or there could have profound positive consequences on a range of issues from literacy to social inclusion.  

And climate change.   

I needed to know more.   I took a day’s training in carbon literacy.   Within a year, all the staff in the department - over 200 people - had done the same.  

More changes followed, professionally and personally.   At work they were planned.   At home, less so.   But looking back I can see a logical arc.   I reduced the amount of meat I consume.   I bought an e-bike. 

At work, my seniority combined with my role meant I was often asked to keynote events, often to contextualize the challenges and opportunities my team faced. I developed a list of generational challenges.   I will write about these later.   Climate change was the first item on the list. 

Enter The Bridge

Then in April, 2019 came the event which connected those global challenges with my lifestyle.  Hammersmith Bridge was closed to all traffic.    The Bridge was on my journey to work.   I live in Barnes, SW13.   I worked in Shepherds Bush, W12.   

There followed a huge discussion locally about the impact of the closure.   Over 22,000 cars had been using the bridge everyday.   Now they needed to drive somewhere else.    The vast majority of people demanded the Bridge be re-opened as soon as possible.   

I was not sure.   Professional and personal thinking blended.   

What is a credible solution?

HL Mencken, the American essayist, observed:

‘There is a well-known solution to every human problem — neat, plausible and wrong.’

If climate change is so pressing.   If we each have to make some adjustments.    If transport in the UK is about 26% of emissions and we are serious about Net Zero, why restore this local enabler? 

I attended public meetings.  I listened to informed commentators.   I talked to political candidates as they asked for my vote on the doorstep during local and General Elections.  

I was confident about one thing.  It is not enough to say either fully restore The Bridge for cars or allow only pedestrians. If we continue to allow tens of thousands of cars to dominate this part of London, how does that support Net Zero?  If we keep the bridge for ‘walkers and wheelers’, how do we manage all those cars in this corner of the city?    

This needs a more nuanced answers. That means trade-offs.  Mitigations.    Innovations.   Adaptations. The stuff of my career.

Again the professional and personal meld.  

I wanted a better answer to the question, what should we do about Hammersmith Bridge?  How do we balance urgent climate action with the realities of modern urban life?  I want to contribute usefully to the civic debate on this topic.   

I don't have a neat answer. I wanted a way forward that I found useful. My manifesto. My plan for living in this corner of south west London.

Framing the issue

I am often overwhelmed when first confronted with a new problem or opportunity.   I feast on new data, opinions.   My brain fizzes.    In order to help me cope with this, I have come to rely on models or frameworks.   They force me to focus.  To make sure my views are cogent, coherent and, where necessary, comprehensive.   

Since the start of Summer 2024, I have used this question to organise my thinking on this space: 

How do I live my best life in the world’s greatest city during this climate emergency?

I am going to crystallise my answer to that question on this blog.  

It is an effective way to develop a knowledge base.   I find it helps to write or record my thinking.   I have over 10,000 Apple Notes on various aspects of my life. My notebook and fountain pen are with me at all times, even at football and cricket matches.   Writing sharpens my thinking. 

This blog will stop me pursuing daft ideas.  I don’t want easy slogans.  I want actionable ideas.  The act of writing acts as a check, a filter.   We all need guard-rails.   

Further the blog’s existence means when I talk to someone, he/she/they can assess my credentials.   

This is for me. For now

Initially, I am not going to promote this blog or indeed actively pursue subscribers.  In part this is because as I start, I am not sure if and how it will end. I am going to give it six months and then take stock.  In this initial phase, this blog is for me. It is about my learning.    

I am an amateur writer.  I am an aspiring placemaker and environmentalist.  No more.   But I care deeply about these issues and my city, and I want to fashion a perspective grounded in curiosity, reflection, and a desire to do better.

I intend to test this thinking. Not only with those likely to agree with me on adopting a people-first solution. But also the drivers who want their bridge back. That engagement is important to me and will improve my understanding.

All I ask, then, is you accept what follows in the spirit it was offered.   I am a storyteller who lives in South West London with a lifetime’s commitment to the public realm. 

That was story 1.