A day will come

As a teenager watching television, 10 years ago, I decided I wanted to dedicate my life to sustainability because of a single campaign advertised on MTv. Since 2012, I have been working in this sector from various aspects before returning to study Climate Change in hope of answering the last pieces to my puzzle. Over the last few months I have investigated the barriers society has faced in the pursuit of a green future. I was eager to learn what had been tried and tested, what was successful, what was in progress and what potential barriers still existed to a green movement and ultimately future. I noted the significance of climate change within this pursuit, quoting the 2007 IPCC report in stating that “[climate change] is part of the larger challenge of sustainable development. As a result, climate policies can be more effective when consistently embedded within broader strategies designed to make national and regional development paths more sustainable”. 

The provision of solar panels to poor communities has improved the quality of life, reduced their carbon footprint (predominantly through forest clearing and burning for/of wood) and consequently, the reduced their contribution to climate change.

Our achievement of sustainability largely balances on our ability to live within our climate threshold. As a result, I named the blog “climate contingency” relating to the fact that the condition of our climate is dependent on our ability to achieve a sustainable way of life, and vice versa. The two were highly intertwined throughout this investigation. I realised that inorder to assess our current and future progress, I needed to consider our past. I identified three dominant barriers to achieving sustainability as public perceptions, politics and economics and discussed the evolution of each of these up to our present situation. More recently, I discussed our green future as being our ability to meet our needs, sustain our current quality of life and preserve wildlife and natural areas. All three of these aspects I found largely depended on politics and conservation of natural resources, confirming my suspicions that a number of former conflicts with achieving sustainability remained at large today albeit in different forms. Surprisingly, I felt economics was less of a barrier or concern for the future, perhaps lending the argument of de-growth as discussed in Internal Wars some strength. Indeed, as early as the 1890's, Native American Indians warned "when the last tree is cut, the last fish is caught, and the last river is polluted; when to breathe the air is sickening, you will realise, too late, that wealth is not in bank accounts and that you cannot eat money." 

US$5 billion was spent on global food aid to assist disaster areas in 2016 alone with natural disasters predicted to increase in the face of climate change. 

The flow chart below demonstrates the degree to which each barrier is intertwined with the next and their role in sustainable development. 

A summary visualising the complexity of topics discussed in this blog, their connections to each other, sustainable development and a green future.

In reviewing these barriers, I have come to conclude, that the recent past has seen substantially more progress toward a green, sustainable future compared to that since the concept was first highlighted in 1983. I believe on our current path sustainability is attainable, however, I am doubtful that on this current path we will achieve a way of life green enough to remain within our planetary boundaries of 2.5°C warming. I attribute my reasons to limited political will and a lack of the radical revision of policy and implementation necessary for this threshold. The uncharted territory of sustainable modern society adds further doubt to the prospect of remaining within this goal as we learn through trial and error and continually discover more facets to earth systems. I do however, acknowledge that the impact of educational mass movements in the call to correct these policies, implement sudden change and embrace behavioural adjustments should not be underestimated in its ability to create a sudden (and unexpected) green transition. It is in this faith, that I remain hopeful. I uphold that my choices every day make a difference and that if such a movement should evolve, I will be a contributor to it. I buy local and seasonal produce, I recycle, I walk, I do what I can and if everyone did so today, it would be a different world tomorrow.

Through my work in conservation and agriculture I have have found that education is the greatest opportunity for behavioural change and beliefs but most importantly to be the change you wish to see. 

So in ending this investigative journey, I would like to leave you with the quote from the Switch campaign on MTv that inspired me 10 years ago:

"I promise you, a day will come, where our grandchildren will look back and they'll ask one of two questions. Either they will ask "What in God's name were they doing? Didn't they see the evidence? Were they too blinded, too calm, to take a deep breath and look at the reality of what we are facing? Did they think all the scientists were wrong?... What were they thinking?" or they may look back and they'll say "How did they find, the uncommon, moral courage, to rise above... and do what some said was impossible?" - Al Gore (2007)

Thank you to everyone who has read and commented on this blog, it has been a most enjoyable education. 

Recycle, reuse, walk, educate, care for our environment... Think green! We all make a difference.