HOW TO STOP CLIMATE CHANGE BEYOND THE IMPACT OF A 1.5% INCREASE IN TEMPERATURES
1. Recognise the seriousness of the problem. With global human populations well above what we know we can live with sustainably, we are in very uncharted waters. Climate change and biodiversity collapse are existential threats, requiring that we give both issues supreme priority. At the same time all people on earth must have hope and faith in the future, or we can not expect the collaboration and adaptation required.
2. A planned global decarbonisation program needs to be developed based on achieving net zero carbon by 2035. To achieve this there has to be a willingness to use as much of the available space for carbon pollution to create non-carbon based alternative energy systems.
3. Basic human needs the world over must be prioritised. This means appropriate energy efficient housing. Access to very healthy food produced sustainably. Appropriate clothing produced sustainably. Appropriate education and healthcare.
All of this means a level of international collaboration we have never seen. It means all of us, especially in the richer countries, accepting that we will not have the material wealth we are used to. It means living for years under quite severe restrictions on travel and resource use. It means accepting a command economy at some levels. It means learning to think of ourselves as part of a great global family, living on a living planet that needs us to tread much more lightly and with a love for all life.
It does not mean that we must be unhappy, or have uninteresting and unrewarding lives. We have both technical and cultural challenges to work on. It can be the best of times, where we learn that competition is always less than collaboration, that trauma asks for love and forgiveness, but above all, that we are part of the beautiful web of life that shrouds our planet, with a special responsibility to be careful and kind to all life.
Few of our politicians are fit to be part of this transition. We need a revolution, not of violence, but of a commitment to the future we want and the hopelessness we reject. The leaders will have to follow.
