Why my verdict gives hope to climate change believers

I'm not the high priest of climate change. My environmental beliefs are rational, and courts were right to find in my favour
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On Tuesday the employment appeal tribunal ruled in my favour that a belief in man-made climate change and the moral imperative to do something about it can be classed as a philosophical belief under British employment regulations. This means that individuals who genuinely hold such a belief can benefit from legal protection against discrimination.

Only a few years ago I was ignorant of the very precarious environmental situation we are in. I cycled to work and recycled my waste but I also flew abroad on holiday and for work, drove fast cars and had no knowledge of or concern about carbon emissions. Then, in 2004 my wife and I left our London jobs and set off on an adventure that would change my outlook dramatically.

We drove a (very slow) 50-year-old Morris Oxford car from Oxford, England, to Oxford, New Zealand on a fundraising journey that required fuel, flights and shipping. Ironically it was on this journey that we witnessed some of the effects of climate extremes and their impact on people's lives. In north Africa we stayed with people living underground to escape the intense heat; in India we witnessed the problems of severe flooding, and in Australia we stayed on a farm where the family struggled to grow crops due to drought. On the positive side, in New Zealand we saw some of the low-carbon technologies that can facilitate a comfortable, low-carbon lifestyle.

We were lucky enough to stay with people of many different religions including Christians, Muslims, Coptic Christians, Hindus, yogis and Bahai's. People from all faiths and walks of life showed us great warmth and kindness and it struck us that, despite their differences, they all shared some common ground regarding a concern for the welfare of other human beings.

I do not subscribe to a religious faith, but I do share a concern for the welfare of other human beings, and it is this that motivates me to take action on climate change. How could I continue to live in a way that would increase the already dangerously high levels of CO2?

Scientists say the impact of climate change will get much worse if we don't urgently cut our emissions. The arrival of our son two years ago has brought an even greater focus to our efforts.

At this time of year I feel that we should remember those who have laid down their lives for our freedom and our future. In my view, to properly show respect and appreciation for their sacrifices we should do our utmost to protect our future.

My family enjoys a healthy, happy, relatively low-carbon lifestyle that reflects a positive choice to be part of the solution to, not part of the problem of, man-made climate change. We no longer fly, we have eco-renovated our home, most of our journeys are by bike and we don't eat much meat. I am also a big supporter of the 10:10 campaign.

I believe there is a moral imperative upon us all to individually take action to cut our own emissions as well as making others aware of what they can do. When in Oxford, New Zealand, we were introduced to the wonderfully insightful book, written over 50 years ago, The Lorax (by Dr Seuss). One quote from it that I particularly like is: "Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It's not."

Despite the concern expressed by some commentators about the judgment – that it could be used by climate sceptics to brand climate change as a pseudo-religious, irrational belief system - I hope that in practice it will encourage people who share my beliefs to speak up about climate change in their workplace and seek practical measures to cut emissions.

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