| "A person's life is composed of minutes and is most | | | | probably much poorer) life by their mid and later life. |
| fulfilled by working and bringing one's earnings to the | | | | Most of us, and certainly those who have given up |
| family table." So wrote Tim Gautreaux in the | | | | smoking, drinking or overeating, are aware of how |
| Guardian Magazine on 31st July 2010. Tim is a | | | | difficult, and how much time, can be involved in |
| Louisiana local whose life has been turned upside | | | | making change. Making the change to how we |
| down by the oil spill in the Mexican Gulf but with | | | | generate the energy that underpins our civilization is |
| those few words he illustrates why the problem of | | | | going to be no different. Thankfully, it is equally |
| global warming is so difficult for most people to | | | | achievable. There is just one more little problem that |
| engage with, far less get engaged with solutions to | | | | needs to be sorted out, though. |
| climate change. | | | | "A person's life... is most fulfilled by working and |
| The human life is not the shortest span of time living | | | | bringing one's earnings to the family table." Money has |
| things can spend on the planet, nor is it the longest. | | | | been around pretty much as long as modern humans |
| Biological life spans are so much shorter than | | | | settled down to become farmers. Money is an |
| geological ones that it can sometimes seem | | | | important part of our societies today and most of us |
| impossible to believe that what a person does in their | | | | will have frequent contact with it during our daily lives. |
| life can have any effect on the planet's climate. But | | | | Denied access to it makes us feel lesser beings. |
| humans have found powerful ways to speed up how | | | | How we account for our money, however has a |
| they can impact the environment. | | | | much shorter history. All modern accounting and |
| Over geological time, a drip of water falling on a | | | | decision making tools only became possible after the |
| stone will wear it away and the flowing of the | | | | invention of double-entry book-keeping a little over |
| Colorado River generated the Grand Canyon. But less | | | | 500 years ago. It literally changed the way that |
| than a human lifetime ago, during the nineteen fifties, | | | | people were able to think about their economic |
| when hydrogen bombs a thousand times more | | | | activities. |
| powerful than the atomic device that destroyed | | | | At the heart of the system is the concept of |
| Hiroshima were being tested, the US Atomic Energy | | | | balance: ones assets and liabilities must always be in |
| Commission seriously suggested that a new and | | | | balance and the strength of an entity is represented |
| better canal could be created through Panama using | | | | in its "balance sheet". |
| just a couple of dozen of the devices. While the | | | | There is however an unfortunate element to the |
| threat of thermo-nuclear war has, thankfully, | | | | timing of this development. 500 years ago there |
| receded, the climate is being impacted by the | | | | were many fewer people on the planet and they had |
| aggregation of our individual actions. | | | | not discovered how to use fossil fuels like coal, oil |
| In many ways, Global warming can be thought of as | | | | and gas in any meaningful way. Little wonder that the |
| being caused by processes that are more akin to the | | | | originators of the system overlooked the fact that |
| drips of water which have been concentrated into a | | | | using the natural services of the planet like fresh air |
| powerful jet of water. Every time we use fossil fuels | | | | and clean water carried a cost. Even when these |
| to generate our electricity, every time we use petrol | | | | costs did begin to be evident, the economists |
| gasoline to power our vehicles, every time we burn | | | | decided that the environment could simply be |
| gas for our central heating, every time we use oil | | | | considered an "externality"; something that existed |
| based fertilizers to grow our food, every time we | | | | and operated separately from the economic system. |
| clear a forest for its lumber or to convert it to | | | | That has brought us into the ridiculous position where |
| pasture, we contribute to the problem. It has been | | | | our economic activity not only is destroying the |
| going on for generations and while the early ones can | | | | future but we are able to reassure ourselves that |
| fairly claim to have been acting in ignorance, the | | | | such action is "rational behaviour" because using the |
| science of climate change dates back to the middle | | | | fossil fuels is the "cheapest" way to get energy. |
| of the 19th century and the first calculations of | | | | Faced with such a situation, the only really rational |
| human activity's potential impacts to the early part of | | | | response is the change the system so that we |
| the 20th century. | | | | reward our economic activity on the basis of how it |
| Evidence that the effect was actually occurring has | | | | replenishes the Earth's eco-systems so that when |
| been growing for about two generations now and | | | | ordinary people go to work the earnings they bring |
| today it is unequivocal: 97% of scientists working in | | | | back to the family table are not at the expense of |
| the field support the tenets of human induced climate | | | | their children. |
| change*. | | | | We have invented an accounting system before: |
| But "a person's life is composed of minutes". Why | | | | there is no reason we should not invent it again. But |
| should this be the time to worry, to take action? | | | | this time base it on encouraging us to live with the |
| Quite simply because people the problems that rising | | | | planet rather than on it. A system that will assist us in |
| global temperatures will bring are already becoming | | | | reclaiming a safe climate. A system that will bring |
| evident: without action now, people already on the | | | | make climate change solutions profitable and |
| planet now will face a much more difficult (and | | | | attractive. |