..Emissions trading; more radical thinking

Posted: Sat Sep 08, 2007 11:08 am    Post subject: ...Emissions trading; more radical thinking


Following on from polar bears, it is a relatively quick matter to dispatch the other two propositions and leave you clear to focus.


Will emissions trading, carbon caps, litigation and new
technologies succeed in changing behaviour enough to protect our environment from its biggest threat?


Given what has been said about polar bears, the answer is clearly a resounding no.

We have missed the boat, and are left standing on the quayside, watching forlornly as the distance between us grows inexorably with each passing moment and it sails merrily off into the sunset.

No amount of wheeler-dealing with bits of paper is going to change that, and persisting in trying to buy a berth after the ship has sailed is little more than the panicked response of hysterical people confronted with the realisation that the consequences of their own folly are now inescapable.

The boat we missed was the Noah’s Ark. Unfortunately, given present conditions, there will not be another sailing for the foreseeable future, though with good fortune service may be resumed in ten thousand years or so.

So we find ourselves in what might be described as a counter-Titanic situation – on board we would have been safe; left on dry land we will shortly find ourselves hitting the iceberg - of which there are likely to be more and more given the rate at which the Arctic is breaking up – and submerged under sea water.

The only rational response is to sit down calmly, assess the situation with absolute objectivity, and prepare for what is now inevitable to the limits of our ability. Which is what I take Wild Law to be all about, in essence.

And if it is rigorous and honest, that assessment must reach the unavoidable conclusion that the cause of all the problems is not just a little too much pollution here and there, but the very basis on which western lifestyles are constructed.

Two hundred years of industrialisation have led with absolute inevitability to the situation where the entire planet is trashed and all of us are doomed to live like urchins on a landfill site – inescapably condemned to a lifetime of bad air, polluted water, degraded food; surrounded by rubbish and decay on every side.

The only rational conclusion is to admit the heretical realisation that we simply cannot continue to live in this way. To have the wisdom to change voluntarily to a way of life that embraces simplicity, moderation and respect, radically reduce our demands on the planet, and learn that there is far more peace and happiness to be had in simple pleasures that are inaccessible via a lifestyle of fast living and frenetic consumption.

Apparently the UK population lives at a level of materialism that would require three planet Earths to sustain it, were it universal. We simply cannot go on like this and pretend that a bit of tweaking with the system here and there will render it harmonious and sustainable. It is just pie in the sky, and we have already consumed far more than our fair share.

None of this is to say that there is no place for emissions trading, carbon caps, litigation or new technologies. On the contrary, faced with having to manage change on a massive and probably unprecedented scale, they are amongst the most powerful tools we have for that task, are critical accordingly, and are desperately needed.

It is merely to try to bring home that we remain in denial whilst we try to kid ourselves that these, alone, are the solution, and that we can simply blank out and go back to partying on as outrageously as we did before – exclusively on the expense account of planet and the dispossessed – once we have made a few more tweaks to the system.




So does the problem require more radical thinking?


Inevitably yes, and most urgently. Which surely is what Wild Law is all about. Happily you are meeting to do just that. Go for it for all you are worth.


Stay happy


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