This morning I read with some dismay yet another polarised argument about climate change between a ‘denier’ and a ‘scaremonger’. Irrespective of my own view of the subject – which incidentally comes down firmly on the side of pragmatism. I don’t give a monkey’s if I’m proved wrong in 20 years time; let’s not take any risks with our kid’s future right now – I’m particularly disappointed to see this tribalism around the subject. I thought it was clear to anybody paying attention that there is not a single problem that we’re currently facing and there’s certainly not a single solution.

My sense of unease was conveniently and very eloquently summarised by Richard Heinburg on a video posted to Energy Bulletin yesterday and tweeted this morning by Rob Hopkins, embedded below:

Beyond Copenhagen – Now what?

In it he talks about the ‘foregone conclusion’ that the Copenhagen summit was going to fail because our global climate policies (or lack thereof) come about because the global economy is predicated by robust economic growth and no politician that wants to be re-elected dares to introduce policies that force us to reduce this consumption.

He goes on further to detail what he calls 5 game ending issues facing us at present, namely:

• Topsoil erosion
• Water scarcity
• Loss of biodiversity
• Potential death of the oceans
• Climate change

…plus of course the short-term issues that we face with dwindling fossil fuel reserves and a global financial economy (still) on the edge of collapse.

He suggests (hopes!) – like many others – that any solutions will come about at a local level through initiatives like the Transition movement & Community Supported Agriculture and that fossil fuel based energy needs to be treated as the precious commodity that it is and be priced accordingly.

Will it be enough?

Well, I’m of the opinion that what is very likely to occur if we don’t try and ‘be the change’ doesn’t bear thinking about. It’s simply not a viable option to do nothing or to continue to argue for business as usual whatever your opinions are on the minutiae of the science relating to any one of the many issues that we face.