The Last Best Hope to Combat Climate Change

With governments unable or unwilling to pass climate change legislation we need to consider how others have successfully faced serious adversity. In the US there is no hope for climate change legislation for the remainder of President Obama's first term and the recent victory of the Canadian Conservatives has shelved government support for a low carbon economy in that country for the next four years.

Due to the fact that we are unlikely to see significant policy and legislative actions, we need to consider other ways of advancing meaningful change.

Perhaps we need to revive the eternal wisdom of well respected leaders like Abraham Lincoln. This is a man who successfully navigated virulent opposition. Lincoln said, "I am a firm believer in the people. If given the truth, they can be depended upon to meet any national crises. The great point is to bring them the real facts."

In our times the provision of the 'real facts' is impeded by the propaganda machines of powerful oil interests and the politicians who are beholden to them. Nonetheless, we must try to move forward, As Lincoln said, “You cannot escape the responsibility of tomorrow by evading it today.” Despite the obstacles we face we must press on,"The probability that we may fail in the struggle ought not to deter us from the support of a cause we believe to be just." Lincoln encourages us from the grave to work tirelessly towards what is right. “To sin by silence when they should protest makes cowards of men.”

Lincoln was one of the greatest leaders in human history and in his day he faced a series of challenges, most notably bloody resistance to the emancipation proclamation. Lincoln's "last best hope" letter to Congress contains some statements that are relevant to the dire environmental crisis we face today.

On December 1, 1862, one month before signing the Emancipation Proclamation, President Lincoln sent a message to Congress in which he said:

"We can succeed only by concert. It is not "can any of us imagine better?" but, "can we all do better?" The dogmas of the quiet past, are inadequate to the stormy present. The occasion is piled high with difficulty, and we must rise -- with the occasion. As our case is new, so we must think anew, and act anew. We must disenthrall ourselves, and then we shall save our country."

"Fellow-citizens, we cannot escape history. We of this Congress and this administration, will be remembered in spite of ourselves. No personal significance, or insignificance, can spare one or another of us. The fiery trial through which we pass, will light us down, in honor or dishonor, to the latest generation. We say we are for the Union. The world will not forget that we say this. We know how to save the Union. The world knows we do know how to save it. We -- even we here -- hold the power, and bear the responsibility. In giving freedom to the slave, we assure freedom to the free -- honorable alike in what we give, and what we preserve. We shall nobly save, or meanly lose, the last best hope of earth."

Although these words were written almost 150 years ago, they resonate in light of the current environmental impasse. Today our very survival depends on freeing the environment from the slavery of human abuse.

As Lincoln said, “America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves.”

© 2011, Richard Matthews. All rights reserved.

Next: Business Will Lead the War Against Climate Change

Dan Miller on the Psychology of Climate Change and the Business of Change

In 2009, Dan Miller, managing director of the Rhoda Group, delivered a presentation called A Really Inconvenient Truth at the Hillside Club in Berkeley, California.

Miller discussed the four scenarios of action vs. inaction in the face of climate change. He came to the obvious conclusion that we must do all that we can to resist the perils of runaway climate change.

However, climate change still does not have the critical mass of support it needs to bring about major changes in the short term. We need to know why so many do not seem to understand the urgency climate change, we need to understand human psychology.

The psychology of climate change explores some interesting ways that humans identify threat. Miller explained that humans have a tendency to react to six kinds of threats, namely threats which are:

1. Visible
2. Have a precedent
3. Are confirmed in the media
4. Have a simple causality
5. Are caused by another
6. Have a direct personal consequence

The problem is that climate change (eg, CO2) is not visible, nor do we have a precedent in recorded history. The media has only confused people about climate change due in part to the fact that the causality is anything but simple. Further climate change is not caused by another, it is caused by us and we cannot see the direct personal consequences.

Growing levels of GHGs in the atmosphere increase the number of hurricanes, draughts, floods, wildfires and pandemics. Climate change will also lead to dramatic coastal flooding due to rising sea levels.

Despite the seriousness of the situation we face, Miller states, "there is a lot we can do and there is a lot we have to do." People can do little things like drive a fuel efficient vehicle, eat less beef and increase energy efficiency. People can also share the urgency of climate change with others and communicate with their elected officials about the need for legislation.

Miller indicates that to avoid runaway climate change, our political leaders need to enact the following legislation:

-Cap-and-trade or CO2 tax
-Mandatory energy efficiency standards
-Ban on new coal fired power plants
-Phase out of existing coal fired plants
-Eliminate subsidies for fossil fuels
-Give subsidies and incentives for clean energy
-Massively increase energy/climate research spending

Miller also says that we need strategies to manage extreme weather which is unavoidable even in the most optimistic scenario. Despite its unpopularity, we need to support global family planning to manage population growth.

In addition to their personal lives, individuals can exhibit greater environmental awareness in the work they do. They can encourage their partners, employers and colleagues to act with a greater awareness of their footprint.

Towards the end of his presentation, Miller suggests that the business community has a role to play in navigating the way forward to manage climate change.

Miller points out the risks associated with optimized inventory systems. He indicates that just in time inventory management will unravel in an economy ravaged by climate change. Miller suggests that rather than optimizing, businesses should be robust enabling them to adapt quickly to the loss of a supplier or distribution chain.

Miller states that even with consorted collective efforts to reduce our production of GHGs and prepare for the effects of climate change, geo-engineering (the ability to artificially control the climate) will likely prove necessary.

Although climate change is unstoppable, if we wait too long to reign it in we will not be able to prevent far more catastrophic impacts.

To see the full lecture on Fora.tv click here.

© 2011, Richard Matthews. All rights reserved.