The "Choice" Economy
Global warming has finally made it to mainstream consciousness. The public at large (myself included) have finally started to realise, and accept, what many of the top people in the scientific community have known for decades – our fossil fuel dependent way of life is a direct cause of instability in the global ecosystem creating the potential for devastating consequences. Perhaps it was the sheer number of people in the scientific and environmental community who were speaking out with one voice that turned the tide of public opinion on this subject. Or maybe it was Al Gore and his climate change road show with images of melting polar ice and illuminating charts and graphs that managed to touch our collective nerve. Or perhaps it was the freaky behaviour of the one thing that really matters most to people in the UK – the weather. Whatever the reason, the environment is near the top of the list of public concerns and is now a subject that can be introduced into most conversations without fear of inviting looks of bewilderment or topic-changing tactics from your friends.
Part of the reason that it has taken so long for most people to really start to appreciate the issues and potential impacts of climate change is because, so far, for most of us, focusing attention on the environment has been seen largely as a choice. As inhabitants of highly sophisticated industrialised societies we are accustomed to seeing the world as a series of choices. We are consumers, and through experience have refined our ability to decipher, compare, and select the best ideas from the vast array competing for our attention. Seeing the world in terms of choices is a skill that helps us navigate and make sense of the welter of messages that are vying for a share of our limited attention bandwidth. It is as much a coping mechanism as it is a positive attribute. We instinctively give privilege to the concepts that we find compelling or pleasurable. The rest we consign to the margins.
Like a brand or product that is seeking to attract customers, the environmental movement has had to compete for attention and support with a message that, in comparison to other ideas on the market, is not very pleasant. I have been slow to get fully onboard with this issue because I have been one of these choosy consumers. Of course I have understood the logic of the argument that links environmental change with our carbon-consuming way of life. But could I be bothered to change? Hardly. Somehow, deep inside, I guess I figured that over time, we would all need to slowly make small adjustments in our behaviours which would have a slow, but positive effect on the environmental problems that the scientists have been talking about all these years. Even with the warmer summers, wetter winters, and stories of floods, hurricanes, and other weird weather, the real problem has always felt somewhat removed from my daily, climate-controlled, indoor existence as I travel between home, office, airport, and hotel.
I suppose that having two small children has caused my sense of perspective about the future to stretch out a lot further than it ever used to. Instead of living my life in 3-5 year segments based on job cycles or the average length of a business case, my horizons now look out 18-20 years as I think about the world my two kids will inherit. The economic consequences of the fact that we will be moving from a world dominated by growing amounts of cheap oil to a world dominated by shrinking amounts of expensive oil are immediately obvious, and, unless we are able to make significant changes in the way we live or in how we produce the energy to run our lives, the future will be a lot more challenging than it is today.
Part 2: Sticking our Head in (Middle Eastern) Sand
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