Is there any room for optimism over climate change?

This month, the United States and China agreed to reduce their greenhouse emissions for the first time, but sceptics point out that the deal is merely another piece of climate change diplomacy, worded in terms of intention rather than action. 

The deal states that the US intends to reduce its emissions by 26-28 per cent from 2005 levels by 2025 and that China intends to achieve peak CO2 emissions around 2030 and increase the share of non-fossil fuels in primary energy consumption to around 20 per cent by 2030. Notably, no figure was given for “peak level”. Currently, China is the world’s biggest emitter of greenhouse gases. The European Union, meanwhile, has pledged to reduce greenhouse gas emissions 40 per cent by 2030. However, expressions of intent will change nothing in the absence of action through political will. 

The international community has sought to achieve climate stability through instruments such as the 1992 Kyoto Protocol, but without much success, largely because of political-economic reasons. All countries today, irrespective of their ideological or religious orientation, are guided by the political philosophy of growth and development rooted in a consumerist worldview. 

Rising Asia and the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) are in no mood to offer an alternative philosophy or policy of growth and development. In this era of euro-zone crisis it is now Asia’s turn for growth and development, but little attention is being paid to the impact of that growth on ecology and bio-diversity at the global level. 

Today, humanity lives in a state of self-destruction through destruction of nature.

The present ecological crisis is a humanitarian crisis and it calls for a responsible and balanced approached to development. The modern triumph of science and technology directed at attaining human dominion over nature has devastated the environment. It began with a materialist philosophy that underpins every ideological orientation, whether capitalist or communist. And it seems that the future led by China, India and others will be no different, as the actors change but the philosophical roots remain untouched. 

John Milbank, founder of the post-modern school of Radical Orthodox Christian theology, views modern materialist philosophy as fundamentally exploitative, nothing less than a violent subjugation of nature via knowledge and research. Reason and rationality were employed to justify all-out human control and mastery over nature, but the result is the present global warming, climate change, tsunamis, typhoons, natural disasters and also socio-economic and ethno-religious conflicts over resources. In contrast, genuine development is not measured by the number of high-rise buildings or news cars, but in being responsible stewards of the home in which we live and on which we depend. 

In her recent book “This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs the Climate”, Naomi Klein warns that mere policy changes will not address the challenge of global warming. Instead it requires structural change at the political-economy level. She writes: “Our economic system and our planetary system are now at war.”

Our current ecological predicament requires balancing the market-responsive economy with the principle of moral capitalism and the cultural and religious resources found in all the great world religions – Hinduism, Buddhism, Christianity, Islam, etc. There is a need to revisit issues of how biodiversity and ecosystems have shaped human consciousness and behaviour; what are the beliefs of world’s religions towards living systems; how should religions, governmental departments, educational institutions and the business sector respond to environmental concerns; how emerging scarcity of natural resources will become the trigger for conflict and violence; and the need for new understanding of the nature of existence in terms of human-ecology relations. 

These critical questions are the focus this month’s “International Conference on “Ethics, Climate Change and Energy”, organised by Mahidol University’s International Centre for Buddhist-Muslim Understanding and Faculty of Environment and Resource Studies, in cooperation with the Qatar Red Crescent and the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung on November 27-28 at the Mahidol University, Salaya campus. 

Among the speakers are Professor Malcolm Wilson, member of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which was co-awarded the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize with former US vice-president Al Gore. He will speak on “Energy Production and Use in a Carbon Conscious World”, while Qatar Red Crescent president Dr Mohammed bin Ghanem Al Ali Al Maadeed will deliver the keynote talk on “Impact of Climate Change in the Humanitarian Crisis”. Others at the conference will focus on the challenge of global warming in light of different religious traditions, and on the policies of Thailand, Malaysia, China and Indonesia towards greenhouse gas management. 

A special session devoted to His Majesty King Bhumibhol’s model of energy conservation, a part of the Royal Development Projects, will be presented by Mingquan Wichayarangsaridh, permanent secretary minister of natural resources and environment.

Global warming has placed us at a crossroads. As countries we can either continue seeking uncontrolled growth or we can take a different direction. The latter seems unlikely, for consumerist growth is more attractive than opting for sustainable progress – what Klein calls “managed growth”. At best, at the individual level the adoption of a few effective habits by Thais and others – such as reducing the use of plastic bags, recycling, limiting the number of brightly lit sign boards at street corners, teaching climate consciousness in schools, turning off lights in school toilets and offices when not in use, etc – will be a small contribution to this gigantic global responsibility. 

Promotion of environmentally responsible behaviour among the public should not be a mere commercial gimmick. It needs serious attention, for it concerns our stewardship of a “silent” natural world whose suffering is going largely unnoticed. The world has entered an era of climate instability and ecological imbalance, but there is still a window for optimism that we can reverse this |crisis before it is too late. 

 

ASST PROFESSOR IMTIYAZ YUSUF is director of the International Centre for Buddhist-Muslim Understanding, College of Religious Studies, Mahidol University. To register for November 27-28’s “International Conference on Ethics, Climate Change and Energy”, |write to [email protected] |– seats are limited.