Last chance to change our behaviour

David Hillyard

There is growing awareness of the damage we are doing to the planet and the natural resources on which we depend, says David Hillyard. Yet, he argues in this week's Green Room, we still carry on along the same track regardless, refusing to make much-needed changes to our behaviour.

"Climate change has helped put the global environmental crisis on the map; but it is time to stop considering it as a single issue"

More than half of the world's fisheries are fully exploited, putting 27 million jobs and $100bn of income at risk, UN data shows.

One sixth of the world's population relies on fish as their main or sole source of animal protein.

Yet despite considerable effort by many groups, unsustainable fishing continues apace on a global scale.

The Amazon rainforest pumps 20 billion tonnes of water into the atmosphere each day, which drives global weather patterns and rainfall essential for people's survival.

Yet we continue to lose tropical forest cover and with that the services it provides, not least in the mitigation of droughts around the world.

However far removed from nature the human race may seem, we are inextricably linked to it.

The Earth's natural systems provide many essential goods and services that ensure our survival and enhance our lifestyles and well-being - such as food, medicines, building materials, climate regulation, flood defence and leisure opportunities.The ecosystems that provide these services are rapidly decaying to the point of collapse. Human-induced climate change, infrastructure development, the loss of forests and agricultural production are primary drivers of these losses.

The prevailing economic model that exacerbates these problems, rather than counteracts them, is fundamentally flawed.

"GDP is unfit to reflect many of today's challenges, such as climate change, public health, education and the environment," was the conclusion of Beyond GDP, an international conference on gross domestic product held in Brussels in November 2007.
Despite this recognition, governments have spent trillions of dollars around the world in the past year to get out of "recession" and get back to GDP growth at any cost, it seems.

Why? It seems as if the main goal is simply to maintain the current ailing market system and stimulate continued unsustainable consumption.

Slim pickings

The world's governments are meeting in Copenhagen in December to try and agree a global deal to combat climate change.

The chances of a sufficiently binding agreement that will meet the challenge of stabilising greenhouse gas emissions in a short enough timeframe to avoid "dangerous climate change" are slim.

But are we seeing the whole picture?

Climate change has helped put the global environmental crisis on the map; but it is time to stop considering it as a single issue.

Whilst we argue over the extent to which climate change is going to impact the planet, and while governments quibble over emissions targets, we are losing sight of the fact that ecosystem services provide the mechanisms needed to tackle climate change - such as capturing carbon, driving rainfall patterns and maintaining soil quality.

Maintaining the integrity and functionality of ecosystems is a real and present challenge for business, society and governments.

Without them, we have no hope of sustainably tackling climate change and we risk losing forever the natural environments that enable us to survive and sustain lives worth living.

Bridging the gap

Governments tend to be driven by nationalistic, short-term agendas - increasingly so, as natural resources become ever scarcer and they rush to "capture" as much "natural capital" as they can.

The need for systemic change and global solutions that transcend national boundaries

has never been greater.

“ We may invent new technologies at sufficient scale to capture and store carbon dioxide and control our carbon emissions, but are we missing the wider point? ”

At the same time, changing patterns of behaviour and consumption need to happen at an individual, local level.

So, what role does business have to play in tackling arguably the greatest challenge that our generation faces?

Business communities in both developing and developed economies are in a strong position to reach the individual at a local level and influence consumption patterns.

They can interact with and influence government at a national level, and can drive the international political agenda through bodies such as the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD).

Coalitions between business, informed experts, NGOs and governments are powerful platforms from which to explore and develop alternative business models.

These alliances could drive behavioural change both within companies and among consumers, encourage sustainable use of natural resources, allow communities to thrive and still allow the companies involved to satisfy shareholders' desire to generate profit.

The HSBC Climate Partnership - a collaboration between HSBC, Earthwatch, WWF, the Climate Group and the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute - is one example of how such

collaborative programmes can support measures to protect biodiversity and enhance livelihoods whilst also changing the way that business operates.

Whilst there are certainly some forward thinking local and international enterprises out

there, the international business community needs to continue working closely with international

bodies, NGOs and governments to identify a collective vision and action plan of what a "post-GDP" world would look like; where value is not determined by levels of consumption or sales.

This would be a vision where quality is defined by a new set of rules which restores ecosystems rather than destroying them.

Governments may then be brave enough to set policy agendas accordingly and incent

ivise and regulate to support a new approach.

We have already embarked on a global climate change experiment that has unknown results.

We must reduce greenhouse gas emissions drastically. We may invent new technologies at sufficient scale to capture and store carbon dioxide and control our carbon emissions, but are we missing the wider point?

We need more focus on maintaining functioning ecosystems and biodiversity that will regulate our climate and provide the other essential conditions we need to maintain human life on Earth.

In a world driven by a market economy, business has vital role to play in moving to this new future and can step up and play a leadership role in creating a sustainable future.

David Hillyard is the international director of partnerships for Earthwatch Institute, an environmental charity

The Green Room is a series of opinion articles on environmental topics running weekly on the BBC News website

Source: BBC News

Why Counting Carbon is a Key to Climate Change

By Kevin Parker and Mindy Lubber

Behavioral economists will tell you that the simple act of placing an electricity consumption meter in plain view can substantially cut a home's energy use. The same goes for real-time miles-per-gallon meters in cars, which change the way we drive.

These findings tell us something about behavior:

When the price of costly activities isn't hidden from us, we're more likely to pursue those activities prudently.

For too long the free market's accounting system has disguised the cost of one of our most destructive activities: emitting pollution that is making the Earth warmer. It has done this by making the market price of emitting those pollutants zero: These costs have simply not figured into what we pay to power our factories, heat our homes and drive our cars.

Recently, outside of New York City's Madison Square Garden, Deutsche Bank unveiled in plain view a meter of sorts on human-caused climate change, the great challenge of our age. The bank activated a 67-by-32-foot electronic billboard -- where some 510,000 people see it daily -- monitoring the real-time, cumulative pollution humans are emitting into atmosphere.

This "Carbon Counter" is no gimmick. It's based on cutting-edge climate change science, with actual emissions being updated every tenth of a second by MIT's Global Climate Change Program and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Nor is its purpose a gimmick. The out-of-sight, out-of-mind illusion that polluting is free must end and it must end urgently, because the true cost of emitting greenhouse gases is far from zero. Peer-reviewed science from every corner of the globe brings daily proof of warming global temperatures already melting glaciers and ice sheets, raising sea levels, disrupting agricultural patterns and requiring increased emergency spending from more extreme weather such as stronger hurricanes and prolonged heat waves and drought. That's why inaction in curbing this pollution -- 800 tons of it are going into the atmosphere every second -- will be far more costly than acting now.

But that's where the good news starts: First, we have the capacity to act. Second, a bill taking action on climate and energy policy is moving through Congress. Third, we have time -- though scientists say we are moving perilously close to potentially severe climatic disruptions.

Deutsche Bank is part of a large wave of global businesses that understand both the bottom-line risks for business and the huge investing opportunity this challenge presents. A global transition to a clean energy economy is a tremendous opportunity to create millions of jobs, safeguard our health, build sustainable prosperity and energy security, and hand our children the planet they deserve.

This won't come without cost, so let's not muddle the picture with the false choices of minimizing or avoiding them: The only options now are between the price of investing in a safer future and far greater, far less productive spending on mitigation.

That's where investors and government come into play.

Investors need certainty and a level global playing field to act. They can get both from government through the clear market signal of establishing carbon-emission limits -- limits that place a price on carbon pollution. That price will bolster energy-efficiency programs, renewable-energy sources and other low-polluting technologies and products. With the price of carbon pollution factored in, clean-energy alternatives to fossil fuels will quite rightly become far more price-competitive.

And we shouldn't underestimate the challenge: The scale of investments needed to reduce CO2 emissions to the level scientists say is needed -- a level that will limit temperature increases to 2 degrees Celsius -- is quite substantial. The International Energy Agency estimates that $550 billion a year needs to be invested in renewable energy, energy efficiency and other clean energy technologies alone over the next two decades to meet that goal. Current global investments on these activities are less than a third of that.

Legislation with strong incentives and clear market signals for renewable energy, energy efficiency and other low-carbon technologies will help catalyze needed clean-tech investments. In America that legislation now takes the form of the American Clean Energy and Security Act, sponsored by Congressmen Henry Waxman (D.-Calif.) and Edward Markey (D.-Mass.).

Comprehensive legislation will boost America's economy, health and competitive future. Equally important, it will greatly bolster our country's ability to credibly lead the world on climate change. A major international conference to write new rules on emissions will take place in Copenhagen in December: Other major carbon emitters, especially emerging-market giants like India and China, will be unlikely to act unless the richest nation and largest greenhouse-gas emitter shows its own strong commitment.

What gets measured gets prudently regulated. Starting last week a huge display at Penn Center reminds us that we have gone too long without accounting for a major cost of building our prosperity. An honest accounting -- honest with ourselves, our children, and our planet's fragile environment -- is an essential cornerstone of our future prosperity. The prospect of building tomorrow's strong economy while simultaneously slaying its greatest threat should fill us with excitement.

Kevin Parker is head of Deutsche Asset Management and a member of Deutsche Bank group's General Executive Committee. Mindy Lubber is president of the Ceres coalition of investors, environmentalists and public-interest groups and director of the Investor Network on Climate Risk.

Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/gwmCarbonEmissions/idUS229866026320090630

Population growth, climate change sparking water crisis: UN

PARIS (AFP) — Surging population growth, climate change, reckless irrigation and chronic waste are placing the world's water supplies at threat, according to a landmark UN report.

Compiled by 24 UN agencies, the 348-page document gave a grim assessment of the state of the planet's freshwater, especially in developing countries, and described the outlook for coming generations as deeply worrying.

Water is part of the complex web of factors that determine prosperity and stability, it said.

Lack of access to water helps drive poverty and deprivation and breeds the potential for unrest and conflict, it warned.

"Water is linked to the crises of climate change, energy and food supplies and prices, and troubled financial markets," the third World Water Development Report said.

"Unless their links with water are addressed and water crises around the world are resolved, these other crises may intensify and local water crises may worsen, converging into a global water crisis and leading to political insecurity at various levels."

The report pointed to a double squeeze on fresh water.

On one side was human impact. There were six billion humans in 2000, a tally that has already risen to 6.5 billion and could scale nine billion by 2050.

Population growth, especially in cities in poor countries, is driving explosive demand for water, prompting rivers in thirsty countries to be tapped for nearly every drop and driving governments to pump out so-called fossil water, the report said.

These are aquifers that are hundreds of thousands of years old and whose extraction is not being replenished by rainfall. Mining them for water today means depriving future generations of liquid treasure.

Fuelling this is misuse or abuse of water, through pollution, unbridled irrigation, pipe leakage and growing of water-craving crops in deserts.

Applying pressure from the other side is climate change, said the report.

Shifts to weather systems, unleashed by man-made global warming, will alter rainfall patterns and reduce snow melt, scientists say.

The water report was first issued in 2003 and is updated every three years. The latest issue, entitled "Water in a Changing World," is published ahead of the fifth World Water Forum, taking place in Istanbul from March 16 to 22.

The mammoth document made these points:

-- DEMOGRAPHIC GROWTH is boosting water stress in developing countries, where hydrological resources are often meagre. The global population is growing by 80 million people a year, 90 percent of it in poorer countries. Demand for water is growing by 64 billion cubic metres (2.2 trillion cubic feet) per year, roughly equivalent to Egypt's annual water demand today.

-- In the past 50 years, EXTRACTION from rivers, lakes and aquifers has tripled to help meet population growth and demands for water-intensive food such as rice, cotton, dairy and meat products. Agriculture accounts for 70 percent of the withdrawals, a figure that reaches more than 90 percent in some developing countries.

-- ENVIRONMENTAL DEGRADATION from water pollution and excessive extraction now costs many billions of dollars. Damage in the Middle East and North Africa, the world's most water-stressed region, amounts to some nine billion dollars a year, or between 2.1-7.4 percent of GDP.

-- The outlook is mixed for key UN MILLENNIUM DEVELOPMENT GOALS, which in 2000 set the deadline of 2015 for halving the number of people without access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation. The target on drinking water is on track but the tally of people without improved sanitation will have decreased only slightly by 2015, from 2.5 billion to 2.4 billion.

-- Water stress, amplified by climate change, will pose a mounting SECURITY CHALLENGE. The struggle for water could threaten fragile states and drive regional rivalry.

"Conflicts about water can occur at all scales," the report warned, adding: "Hydrologic shocks that may occur through climate change increase the risk of major national and international security threats, especially in unstable areas."

-- Between 92.4 billion and 148 billion dollars are needed annually in INVESTMENT to build and maintain water supply systems, sanitation and irrigation. China and developed countries in Asia alone face financial needs of 38.2-51.4 billion dollars each year.

-- CONSERVATION and reuse of water, including recycled sewage, are the watchwords of the future. The report also stressed sustainable water management, with realistic PRICING to curb waste. It gave the example of India where free or almost-free water had led to huge waste in irrigation, causing soils to be waterlogged and salt-ridden.

Source: Google News

Hub among 1,000 cities to turn out lights for climate change

By Michele Richinick, Globe Correspondent

Lights on the famous Citgo sign, Zakim Bridge, Prudential Center, John Hancock Tower, and other local landmarks will "go dark" for one hour this month as Boston joins cities across the world in a climate-change campaign.

More than 1,000 cities in 80 countries are expected to participate in Earth Hour on March 28, from 8:30 to 9:30 p.m. World Wildlife Fund, the event's sponsor, is asking individuals, businesses, governments, and organizations to turn off their lights for one hour to make a global statement of concern about climate change and to demonstrate commitment to finding solutions.

"We are asking people to vote with their light switch," said Dan Forman, a spokesman for World Wildlife Fund.

"For every light they turn off, it is in effect a vote for action on climate change."

Mayor Thomas M. Menino announced Boston's participation in the campaign yesterday at a news conference.

"We are very happy everyone in the mayor's office is fully on board," Forman said. "Boston has always been thought of as a progressive-thinking city. For them to come out and take action on climate change and rally the citizens behind this shows [Boston is] making a commitment to join a global deal when it comes to climate change."

Other participating US cities include Washington, D.C., New York, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Chicago, Atlanta, Miami, and Dallas, Forman said. The town of Acton is also on the list, which Forman said grows "by leaps and bounds" each day. Universities, including Harvard, have signed up to campaign for the cause.

Two million people participated in the first Earth Hour in 2007, which began in Sydney.

Last year, the event went global, with more than 400 cities around the world participating. Lights on structures including the Golden Gate Bridge, Sydney Opera House, and Empire State Building also went dark last year, as well as the Google homepage.

Fifty million people around the world - 36 million in the United States - shut off their lights to raise awareness last year.

Source: The Boston Globe