Yesterday was by far most beautiful day of the summer. A warm morning turned into a hot day, water flat lika a mirror reflecting the odd fair weather cloud slowly drifting by. Now and then a boat passing by some distance away, or a party of canoes and kayaks approaching the dock.
Jumping into the water was a necessary refreshment even though the lack of warmth during the height of summer has kept water temperatures well on the chilly side. And the abundance of stinging jellyfish necessitated keeping a good lookout making the swim not fully enjoyable. Therefore its was even more pleasurable to sit on the dock, drying in the sun and drinking coffee while reflecting on life and nature.
I have spent every summer at this place on the coast. This is where I go to recharge, to get new energy for work and life. But it is also where I have a personal memory long enough to observe the changing time we are in. I can see what has changed during a generation, my generation. We tend to adjust our memory, forgetting what it was like 5 or 10 years ago. But I have been here long enough to have both my memories and real images to compare with. And climate change is becoming evident here too, most clearly as the erosion caused by rising sea.
My reading this weekend has been “Big World - Small Planet” by Johan Rockström and Matias Klum. It is an excellent book that clearly shows that we are on a rollercoaster that has started to accelerate. We have noted the changes, but have not yet grasped that we are close to a tipping point. in If we don’t urgently change course and slow down, we will spiral out of control and the planet may throw us off. We risk creating an Earth that will not be forgiving to humans. Climate change is about us, not polar bears.
What the book advocates is a total shift of mind, making us all planetary keepers. The old exponential growth paradigm must be rejected. Instead the authors argue, we need to create growth within limits and the limits are the planetary boundaries. But the longer we wait the more the limits will shrink. There will be many big bumps and steep slopes ahead, lots of times when we will loose our balance before we hopefully reach stable ground.
But as much as I liked the book, there was something missing. The positive attitude and optimism is encouraging. The authors exemplify with five key areas where global transformation is needed:
- Renewable and sustainable energy systems
- Sustainable and healthy food systems
- Circular economic models for business, societies and communities
- Sustainable urban futures in a world where 70 percent of all people live in cities
- Sustainable transportation systems
Here, the book states, technology can play a dominant role in the transition needed. And yes, technology will be crucial for solving the grand challenges ahead. The rapid decrease in cost of and increase in use of solar photovoltaic energy is encouraging. But the [lack of] behaviour change may be a trip wire for sustainable development.
I see two major obstacles on the path forward towards a resilient, sustainable and equitable future. One is power and control. There are those that value power and wealth far above a common future. In the USA, hundreds of millions U$ are spent on buying politicians that can stall any political development towards a sustainable world. Many industries sees the business opportunities of a real green future. But some companies have all to loose and little to gain from a green and clean development and they might not go easy. Big Coal is dying but may still cause a lot of harm. And even on the “green” side, there are those [not these authors] who rather see their solution being implemented than the best for the planet. Getting credit becomes more important than doing the right thing.
The other main problem is war and conflict, many also to at least in part driven by climate change. There are already several ongoing wars that drain our resources, causes refugee catastrophes and makes us invest in weapons instead of clean-tech. A few in the list are the conflicts in Somalia, Sudan and Syria. But also closer to us, the Russian occupation of Crimea and support to the “rebels” in Eastern Ukraine threatens to derail the European peace and stability that we took for granted after the fall of the Berlin Wall. In the short run we need to increase our defence spending to avoid a greater ill, but in the long run there is no way we can afford global military spending on the present level if we are to effectively handel climate change.
Power, climate and energy are interconnected. These hinders are a reality and will not go away by optimism only, we need to discuss how tackle these political, societal and economical threats. As the authors I agree that we need a combined top down and bottom up strategy. But so far no political leaders willing to take a political risk to act boldly on climate. Acting only when not having to run for re-election as President Obama is not enough.
Coming back to where I am just now, I also agree with Rockström and Klum that connection to nature is crucial for the task that lies ahead. We need to understand than nature is not an externality, it is where we live and what provides us with the most essential things needed for survival; air to breath, water to drink and food to eat.
Last night I was standing looking up at the Milky Way. It was a long time, too long time since I had been able to really watch the Milky Way, to observe all the stars to small to see for the naked eye but still forming an opaque band over the night sky. In Sweden summer skies are to light to allow the Milky Way to appear. You need the darkness as contrast to see the lights, a darkness that arrives with the deep dark nights in august.
So maybe as you need the darkness to see the starlight, we need to see and accept that there is real darkness to be able to work for a lighter future.
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