Full ‘One Degree War’ interview
June 2, 2009 by Dirk Visser
Filed under videos
This is the full interview (27 minutes) by Peter Willis, Director of CPSL South Africa, with Paul Gilding and Prof Jorgen Randers on their ‘One Degree War’ plan.
A 5-minute edited version with more background is available here…
Copyright © 2009 · All Rights Reserved ·
I agree that all of these things need to happen, but this is very optimistic. Where is the part of the plan where we seriously take action to curb human population growth? We are already at numbers too high for what the Earth can support. That and our concomitant use of available land for livestock and monoculturous crops is a major driver of global warming (we need space for those sequestering forests!). Even if all of the steps discussed in the “war” plan are put into place, life on Earth (as we know it) cannot continue with 10+ billion people on the planet. It is immorally irresponsible for anyone to have more than 2 children in this day and age, and this message (probably harder for the general public to accept than the consequences of climate change) needs to be put onto the public agenda.
Jeanne is absolutely right. Additionally we cannot continue to use a business model that is dependant on growth to be viable. Growth means more extraction and exploitation of resources. History shows we dont do this in a sustainable way.
So, we have three pillars:
1) An environment which is saying no more, please.
2) A growing population which is saying we need more,
3) A business model which depends on growth to be viable.
THIS DOES NOT ADD UP AND WILL ONLY LEED TO TROUBLE…IT IS ONLY A QUESTION OF WHEN UNLESS WE FUNDAMENTALLY CHANGE OUR WAYS. Will this happen? Not without pain, i’m afraid.
Is population growth an easier target for change than a campaign to reduce greed? Changing behaviour, getting people to live more consciously and reducing consumption AND a reduction in population growth will all be required. It is not enough to have fewer people, we all need to learn to be satisfied with simpler, less consumption-driven lives as well.