Hope for a Climate Change Solution in the Wake of Copenhagen — If Governments Can't, People Can
The scale and speed of change required goes well beyond anything political leaders have ever had to contemplate, much less achieve. And even if the political will were there to achieve this level and speed of carbon reduction, the social change 1.0 tools at their disposal — command and control, and financial incentives — are not designed for this type of rapid, transformative change. They were purposely designed over two centuries ago for gradual, incremental change.
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If command and control and financial incentives are not enough to turn the tide in the necessary timeframe, can renewable energy and new breakthrough technologies come to the rescue of humankind? While a low-carbon future critically depends on new technologies, there is no credible scenario by which they can be brought to scale in the ten-year window within which our scientists tell us we must make major carbon reductions.
The dilemma we face is what systems theory calls second order change — or change that requires a system to transform and reorganize at a higher level of performance. When the easier-to-implement solutions prove inadequate for the speed and magnitude of change required, the system goes into stress and must evolve, or it will break down.
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A Cool Community also enables a city or town to enjoy the immediate practical benefits of more livable neighborhoods, greater environmental sustainability, and economic development. Furthermore, it creates a robust long-term carbon reduction capability by building the community leadership, carbon-literate citizenry, and political will necessary to sustain this type of change over time.
Phi Beta Iota: Gershon makes the standard mistake of believing the fraudulent UN International Panel on Climate Change data and prognostications, BUT he is the author of two sensible books on the subject, and there are nuggets of wisdom here. Environmental Degradation is the global threat, and within that #3 high-level threat Climate Change is a fraction of the problem, and within Climate Change carbon (as opposed to mercury, sulfer) is a tiny fraction further.
A few other links worth a look, including his two books:
Review: Evolutionary Activism by Tom Atlee
Review: Social Change 2.0–A Blueprint for Reinventing Our World (Hardcover)
Review: Low Carbon Diet–A 30 Day Program to Lose 5000 Pounds–Be Part of the Global Warming Solution!
‘Review: The Real Global Warming Disaster
Review: Global Warming False Alarm–The Bad Science Behind the United Nations’ Assertion that Man-made CO2 Causes Global Warming
