Carbon Neutrality
overheard in the car last week.
“How about we make a start with carbon neutrality? And people can make their choices… it’s a war to save the world, it really is that simple. At the very least, we should all live within the same global footprint. So, for example, if you choose not to eat meat, that probably means you can drive further than meat eaters. Especially if you’ve got a smart car. And if you’ve got no car and you can’t afford food, then you are up for some serious offsets. Like education. And health.
Meanwhile, there’s work to be done at the big end of town. So how about following the advice of people that are doing some serious thinking and working towards a non-proliferation treaty on coal fired power stations.
What? Do politicians have something more important to do? Go on, save the world. It’s not that hard. Everyone’s ready to start the long march
Go on. It’s not that hard. It’s about changing habits. If we can give up smoking we can give up compulsive acquisition. Why not change what it means to keep up with the Jones’s. Go on, have a no-buy day.
And if it still seems too tricky then take a minute to ask someone over seventy what could be done. Living without some things obviously didn’t kill them. Our grandparents, they didn’t wash their clothes all the time. Smart people, those ones that have seen other times. They understand alternatives.
And they know stuff, like how air is sometimes as good as water and in a smarter world, our air won’t have added pollutants in it, like detergent has.”
this really made me think
I would love your comments
November 9th, 2008 at 9:29 am
Has anyone read Tim Flannery’s piece in Quarterly Essay - highly recommended. Says similar things but without the red-wine style semi-hysteria of the above (not that I don’t agree with this person but …). re the Flannery article, I question his view that we can’t just get rid of coal, that it’s gone too far. Shouldn’t we at least plan migration to renewables using the infrastructure? What do others think?
Another question for y’all … we’ve done the barracking for Barak (what to make of his Bob the Builder YES WE CAN ??) and change is closer … but how to keep carbon neutrality top of mind when people are worried about getting food on the table? Can we stop understanding green as a top shelf option? Energy efficiency and refusal to consume gratuitously are not costly are they? Given a long term view. Interest free loans with the energy saved on the new equipment going to payments would be a good start.
Okay - I’m out of steam. So here’s a quote from a 12 year old looking over my shoulder: ‘Carbon neutrality would have been a simple task if we all hadn’t become so dependent on our society to do it for us while we just waste without bothering to remember that carbon neutrality will never be completed if you dont bother about whats going on in your home.’
There’s hope growing up around us. See you in Geothermia …