Money doesn't grow on trees, yet, somehow, the environment and the climate are big business. This is one of the issues I have with governing climate change. There is CO2 tax, Fines for exceding CO2 emission and ofcourse CO2 emission trade. The approach to climate change seems to be single-sided and of the monetary kind. I understand that there is an economical side to the problem. We've made our world dependant on money. Without that, unfortunately, nothing happens. Well, okay... little happens.
We approach the climate issue in the same way as we do Fishing and Farming. We overfish the seas and we overproduce foods. This has consequences for our economy and ofcourse the environment, so we regulate these branches. Here money is the binding factor.
With a growing attention to the environment and the climate, we do the same here. Governments slap on CO2 quotas, create taxes and fines and put in some rules, so it can be regulated. But what about the otherside of the issue? Is that ignored? Or is there just no money in the other options, so they are left alone? It wouldn't surprise me at all.
I've worked in the energy sector for about 15 years. I've seen a slow shift in favor of the environment, but I've also seen a money machine being developed. I kinda look at it as with dieting. And, as I am a big man, over 6 feet tall, weighing in at just about 220 pounds (I prefer 16 stone as it sounds less), I believe I can make this comparisson.
When you are overweight, there are 2 things you can do to lose weight.
1 - Eat healthier 2 - Burn more calories than you take in.
The same goes for the environment, this too, can be adressed in 2 ways.
A - Polute less B - Allow more space for the environment to regenerate.
When you go on a diet, you are going to eat healthier. Which is good and it helps, sure. But you will speed up the process by burning more calories, burning off excess fat. To help you do this, there is an enormeous industry with cooks, foodconsultants, personal trainers, etc, etc, who all have books and other stuff to sell to you so, you can reach your health goal, whilst simultaneously enriching them. Now, let's bring in the environment...
If we want to put less strain on the environment we can polute less. Which is good and it helps, sure. But you will speed up the process when you allow the environment more space to regenerate. This is something I don't see happening. There is a growing industry with all kinds of businesses with all kinds of products to sell to you so you can "polute less" and subsequently feel good about being "environmentally aware" or "environmentally responsible". Is that enough, or is it just soothing for your conscience? You can take a guess and what I think about this.
By endulging ourselves in "durable" and "evironmentally friendly" products we are moving around a lot of money, but how good is that for the environment? Why aren't we reducing our need for energy? Is that because it is inconvenient? And why are we still continuously creating space for buildings, roads, farmland and other utilities at the cost of that which we need to live, our environment. Isn't it time that we, in stead of just starting to eat healthier, we also start to actively burn off some fat?
Ofcourse we need to use products that use less energy. And more energy needs to be produced more durable and clean. But we should also use less of those products. Do we really need all those phones, tablets, computers, tv's, aircondition units, cars, and all the other appliances that use so much energy? Look how much strain the bio-industry puts on the evironment. Eating less meat, dairy, bread, fish would all help. Look at how much food we throw away. We really can do with less food and less appliances. With that we will polute less. But besides that. We can and should make more space for nature.
We are constantly making space to life comfortably, expanding towns, farmland, road and railwaysystems, leaving little to no space for nature. By doing this, we've also created a lot of space that we can't utilize at the moment but which is also not made available for nature to regenerate. This is a missed opportunity.
We can give back space we don't need, to let trees grow next to roads and freeways, or next to ditches surrounding farmland. We can let forests regrow, giving more space to free roaming animals. Animals needed to balance our own habitat. We can adapt our own living space, to accomodate nature, without having to sacrifice our own comfort and our own convenience. But it will take some effort, and yes, money.
Unfortunately it seems we cherish our own comfort, convenience and our money so much, that any kind of change to our current way of life, even the effort it takes to do a little something for the environment, seems to be an unwanted sacrifice. Even when it doesn't have to be. We can have our cake and eat it too.
Comments