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Eco Hero: Alan Simpson

Matilda Lee | 07.07.11

Alan Simpson is a former Labour MP and now advisor to Friends of the Earth. He is all you can ask for in a campaigner: passionate, inspiring and not afraid to speak out about what he believes in. Here he tells Greenhouse why he left politics, mixing literature and love and the reasons that new nuclear has no place in Britain's energy mix

What inspires you?

The certainty that there is so much more to us (and what could be) than we realise.

What makes you angry?

Those who don't see this.

If you were Prime Minister, what would be the first thing you'd change?

I want to open society up in ways that are both accountable and sustainable, so I suppose that sacking the Treasury, and bringing in some proper economists, is the place to start. Of all the bureaucracies in parliament, the Treasury is the most closed and regressive. Sometimes my only relief came in laughing at economic ideas (taken as truths) that, even as undergraduates we knew were crap. It is a classic example of allowing bright people to race away with absurdities. Too many Treasury policy wonks have a closer personal identification with problems of puberty than poverty. It is a Department that just doesn't get out enough...and which squashes the creative thinking needed to survive the coming crises.

Can individuals really make a difference?

We are entering the Age of Interdependence. Individual actions matter, but only make a real difference when they tie together. Turning a derelict shell into our eco-home was great fun, but left the question "So what about the other 25 million homes in Britain?" There are no individual answers to climate change. We have to collectivise our visions, and inspire each other to act upon a bigger canvas.

What are your views on renewables and nuclear in the UK's energy mix?

Nuclear is to renewables what flatulence is to a social celebration. Actually, flatulence is so much better because it doesn't leave a 1000 year clean up cost. Nuclear is the only energy technology whose costs increase generation by generation, and whose risks no one will insure. The accident at Fukushima and, more importantly, the policy shifts in Germany mean that new nuclear is dead in the water. Only the (highly financed) delusions remain but none of the finance institutions will throw a penny in its lap.
In North Carolina, PV and nuclear grid costs of electricity are already the same. Across europe, PV costs will break even at varying times within the next few years. Already, there are times when Germany gets all its electricity from wind and solar; even before tidal stream, hydro, deep-geothermal and biomethane gas grids get into the renewable energy game.

The Germans are the real game changers. Their policy changes not only break from nuclear, they are breaking the power of 'Big Energy'. Renewable energy is not only helping them decentralise and democratise their energy system, but also to cut their power price rises. Germany will be completely out from nuclear before 2020. We should all follow them. Nuclear has never been economically viable and never affordable. Rather than shell out massive new public subsidies in pursuit of a death wish, we should celebrate its passing, get a life, and get out a bit more.

What do you feel your greatest impact was as an MP? And as an adviser to FOE?

My greatest impact as an MP comes down to 3 choices;
a) the legacy of the Feed-in-Tariff amendments I introduced to the Energy Act 2008, where the cross-party majority of MPs I had put together were going to vote it through, whatever objections the government had

b) the longer term 'raft' of fuel poverty measures secured by the Parliamentary Warm Homes Group that I chaired for 15 years, or

c) the value, to wider campaign movements, of having someone irreverent (and sometimes humorous) in an institution that was always too conformist and cautious.

With Friends of the Earth, I try to bring the same irreverence and optimism. Sometimes it is more appreciated.

What’s more urgent: changing things from the inside or starting a revolution on the outside?

I left parliament because I thought it was intellectually 'out to lunch'. The times we live in require transformational thinking. There is no longer the luxury of a simple inside/outside choice. I left because I wanted the space to work in a different way, but I am happy to work with anyone 'inside' who is no longer prepared to wait around.

What is the best meal you’ve had in your life? Cooked by whom? Eaten with whom?

There are 2 outstanding (vegetarian) meals I have had. One was a sumptuous spread of local foods whilst travelling in Guillin, western China. The other was a simple Christmas Day meal of breads and cheeses on an empty beach in the Marema (Italy). In both cases, it was with my wife and young daughter.

Can you describe a typical work day?

It begins with a clear sense of 5 things I had planned to do, gets overtaken by 10 things I hadn't planned, and ends (if I'm lucky) with 2 exciting thoughts I hadn't expected. 'Cherry on the cake' days also include lots of cuddles and bedtime stories with our daughter.

How do you define success?

Never giving up on your dreams.

What’s the best advice anyone’s ever given you?

It was advice from both my grandad and Tony Benn that all the important changes 'never come from those who wait for permission'.

What’s your favourite book or film of late?

Anyone who hasn't read The Breakwater House, by Pascale Quiviger, will never understand how far you can be transported in a single line or sentence. But you can't recommend an author that you're married to. So my choice is between Philip Pulman's Northern Lights trilogy and Doris Lessing's Canopus in Argos sequence. Pulman gets it by the breathtaking implications of its ending.

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