The Real Reason Climate Change is a Tough Challenge

Image via WikipediaBy Harold Forbes
What makes the whole energy/ climate change issue so difficult for people to engage with? I believe it is because it really does challenge us to ignore our selfish desire for an "easy life" in order to give future generations a chance of having a liveable planet.

The science of climate change isn't new: the greenhouse effect was first described in 1824, the first prediction that man's activities could impact the climate in 1908. The first claims that our activities were afflicting the climate came in the 1950's and over the past 30 years the evidence has simply become stronger and stronger.

The real problem is that there is enough oil and coal left in the ground that if we dig it up and burn it, the mean temperature will rise to levels that were last seen when there was no human life on the planet. Whether human life could survive that is open to much debate; personally, I doubt it very much. We, the current generation, are faced with a choice; find a way to reduce our carbon pollution or condemn future generations to a wrecked planet.

Fossil fuels are extremely potent and flexible; they have had the luxury of a 168 million year concentration process after all. However, few people buy petrol, diesel or even A1 aviation fuels. They buy the ability to travel from a to b, light and heat for their homes or offices, a holiday abroad. In order to even up the play field for renewable energy resources to get up to speed, we need to fully cost fossil fuels to include the cost of the damage caused by their use. We use fossil fuels because they seem "cheap", but money is a purely human invention and the concept of "cheap" means something different to each of us. To my mind, how can something be "cheap" if the cost is a trashed environment?

I do not believe that ordinary people are happy with the idea that by engaging in their everyday activities they are destroying the future life of the planet. The complexity of the change required may be difficult to imagine: it is hard enough for a smoker or a drinker to imagine what life might be like without their chosen vice. But, if human consciousness is to have any meaning at all, then we must make that change. The money system is the only thing we have that is powerful enough to deliver in the timeframes that we seem to need. We need to reinvent how we account for economic activity so that we are rewarded for living with the planet, not on it.

It is going to take a Herculean effort to overcome the issue but the great thing about being human is how quickly we can react and change, once we have decided that we want to do so. Hercules was once faced with the choice of virtue or vice. Ever lasting fame or a life of earthly pleasure. In these days of reality TV and X-factor style competition, surely we would all like to be humankind superheroes?

Harold Forbes is Author of "How to be a Humankind Superhero: a manifesto for individuals to reclaim a safe climate". Read chapter summaries at http://www.hksuperh.com

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