Time to look at the way we live
New Delhi   05-Jun-2008
<b>Humanity is living beyond its environmental means and running up ecological debts that future generations will not be able to pay. Our generation has the means and the responsibility to avert that outcome, says Sarthak Behuria. </b> Changing climate is redefining our world for all times to come, and for the worse. Across the world, public concern over exposure to extreme climate risks is mounting. And this concern is increasing with every flood, every storm, every heat wave and unprecedented climatic conditions such as the recent cyclonic ravage in Myanmar and episodes of drought, flooding and extreme temperature the world over. Not only that, the number of affected and vulnerable people is on the rise. Our planet is under siege. There is now compelling scientific evidence that climate change induced by hundreds of years of human activity is pushing the world towards ecological disaster. There is no hard-and-fast line separating ‘dangerous’ from ‘safe’ climate change. Many of the world’s poorest and most fragile ecosystems are already being forced to adapt to dangerous climate change. However, beyond a threshold, the risk of largescale human development setbacks and irreversible ecological catastrophes will increase sharply. Large-scale reversals in human development will be triggered, undermining livelihoods and causing mass displacements. Twenty years ago, Chico Mendes, the Brazilian environmentalist, spoke of the ties that bound his local struggle to save the Amazon rainforest to a global movement for social justice. He said: “At first I thought I was fighting to save rubber tress, then I thought I was fighting to save the Amazon rainforest. Now I realise I am fighting for humanity.” The battle against dangerous climate change is part of the fight for humanity. Winning that battle will require farreaching changes at many levels — in consumption, in how we produce and price energy, and in international cooperation. However, the most confounding problem that we face is to find a simultaneous solution to our energy needs while addressing the concerns of climate change. What we do today about climate change and sustainable growth has consequences that will last forever. Part of the change attributable to greenhouse gas emissions is not reversible in the foreseeable future. We are, therefore, making choices today that will affect our own lives, but even more so the lives of our children and grandchildren. The scorching pace of growth and heightened economic activity worldwide is impacting demographics to a considerable extent. This represents escalating levels of trade, rising disposable incomes, increased industrial production and evolving lifestyles, all this eventually translating into growing use of energy. However, the present threat to our environment has the potential to change our lifestyles. It will challenge all our assumptions, and no combination of alternative energy systems currently known will be able to support the way we’re living. What we must now learn is how we can ‘cope’ with the impact of changing climate. This is, however, one part of what is needed. The other, more difficult, is to reduce the level of energy consumption and resultantly, the level of our current emissions. This is indeed difficult because global efforts to reduce emissions so far been high on rhetoric and low on action. This, however, will have to change. The only question is, can we learn new ways to simultaneously build wealth and well-being without putting our planet in jeopardy? The only answer is we have no choice. The writing on the wall is clear — we will have to change the way we live. We will have to downscale and re-scale virtually everything we do. Here, I wish to underline the growing importance of energy conservation and sustainable development with respect to the preservation of environment. Enhanced energy efficiency across sectors has the potential to deliver a ‘double dividend’ of reduced carbon emissions and energy costs. What is of utmost importance, especially for the developed and developing economies is the tough balance between economic growth and a possible curb in green house gas emissions. Per capita green house gas emissions, which for India is a fraction of the world average and is not expected to change for many years to come, should be one of the key parameters in determining equitability of contributions for curbing emissions and protection of environment. What is desirable and inevitable in the long term is to de-carbonise energy supplies to the extent possible. For this to happen, government policies have to play a vital role in demand management and in adjusting tariffs and taxes in such a way as to ensure a smooth transition from fossil fuel economies to alternative, renewable fuel regimes. In the ultimate analysis, the scarcity of fossil fuels would not be as important as the adverse impact they would have on our planet Earth. This shift in view would play a critical role in optimising costs, ensuring reliabilities, sustaining resources and integrating these with the concerns of sustainable development. Climate change, energy security and the urgent need to increase access to modern energy services for the world’s populace create an enormous need for more efficient low-carbon and no-carbon energy supply options. Creative responses based on solid research, shared knowledge and engagement of people at all levels is required to meet the critical challenge. Global warming, by all accounts, seems to be an exponential situation whereby the damage already done will make matters even worse. Even if we cease all carbon dioxide emissions as early as tomorrow, climate change would continue because of what has already been released, dumped and spewed into the ecosystem. This inertia built into the system means there is a long time lag between today’s carbon mitigation and tomorrow’s climate outcomes. Evidently, humanity is living beyond its environmental means and running up ecological debts that future generations will be unable to pay. Our generation has the means and the responsibility to avert that outcome. Climate change challenges us to think about human inter-dependence. The battle against climate change can be won, but only if people across the world demand action and governments develop collective solutions to a shared threat. At the same time, we believe that collectively we are all part of the solution and individually, all of us can contribute our mite to reduce the carbon footprint. One of Mahatma Gandhi’s sayings retains a powerful resonance in a world that has to redefine the relation between development and Earth’s ecology: “Earth provides enough for everybody’s need, but not enough for everybody’s greed.”