CHAPTER VII

THE FUTURE – WHAT DOES IT HOLD?

For thousands of years the human race took from the earth what it needed, but at some point along our journey we started to take more, and since 1970 man has used up one third of the world’s natural resources. It is hard to know how we got here but sixty percent of the ecosystems essential to sustain life are already damaged and our world now stands on the brink of the sixth mass extinction, with up to one quarter of all mammals facing extinction over the next thirty years. The quality of life for those living in the developed world has reached new heights of health care, home comforts and travel. However the only reason that we can maintain such a privileged lifestyle is by the continued exploitation of the developing world using ‘free trade’ to take more than our fair share of timber, minerals and food, while polluting beyond what our ecosystems can withstand. Human values have become increasingly superficial and the way in which we perceive beauty perverse. The developed world increasingly turn to plastic surgery to try and preserve youth, while many of the worlds people do not even have access to clean water. Our supermarkets reject apples that are not the right size or shape and instead prefer to purchase only ‘perfect’ apples that have been sprayed sixteen times by 36 different chemicals. Gardens have fences instead of hedges, short green grass and non-native plants all of which is destroying our wildlife. Of course there are those groups whose inherent interest is to protect our natural world and they have shown that success is possible. Brazil has 1.25 million hectares of certified forests and there are now over 46 million hectares of certified forests worldwide. There has been a forty percent increase in the Giant Panda population, the Black Rhino population is at its highest figure for a decade and Turkish bear dancing is no more. The hard truth though is that such success continues to be over shadowed by greater loss, which in part results from governmental policies of the developed world, including those of my own government. The UK plans to build new homes at a twenty three percent higher than average rate over the next fifteen years, which equates to an area the size of Hertfordshire. It continues to widen its roads enabling more people to live further from their work place and rely even less on public transport, and it remains off target for its

reduction in CO2 emissions, and when it comes to recycling why do we continue to pick up waste from people’s doorsteps who choose to recycle little?

Bluebells in my local woods What about the US? I am aware that this book gives it a bad press, but the facts speak for themselves. However my perception of the people of the US is that they are hard working, genuinely warm, and probably no more to blame than anyone else in the developed world - the problem is that the country is very insular and as such the behaviour of its people is strongly influenced by its governments selfish foreign policies that are principally concerned with protecting the nations own interests with little regard for elsewhere.

If we are serious about protecting the environment, on which our long-term well being depends, our economies must be based around sustainability, renewable energy must become a priority and we must support the developing world. Our way of approaching the environment stems from a vision inherited during a time when the world’s resources seemed endless, which has long since passed. Our current life style is not sustainable, we are using up the world’s natural resources 30 percent faster then they can be replenished, and this is with a population of almost seven billion - our world is home to 1,000,000 more people every week and the population is expected to rise to nine billion by 2050. Even those disinterested in the environment ought to take note. Our current wealth has not brought with it happiness, the youth of today have higher levels of anxiety, depression, crime and substance misuse. The adverse effects of climate change are likely to produce increased suffering and the continued deforestation will reduce our ability to discover new medicines. Falling stocks of fossil fuels, increasing frequency of human conflict and associated rises of fuel prices will eventually make travel less affordable. A big step towards sustainability can only be achieved if we can focus both people’s minds and big industry on the environment. The term ‘out of mind out of sight’ is a very accurate way of describing our view of the natural world. In today’s world shopping is not about what we need but rather what we can have, and all the glossy marketing makes it easier for us to ignore the global destruction behind mass consumerism. In the UK like many other countries we pay VAT (Value Added Tax) on luxury items, the logical step would be to replace this with an environmental tax. In this way those products most damaging to the environment such as non-FSC wood and fossil fuels would cost considerably more. This would not only enable consumers to be aware of the environmental effects of their purchase but it would also focus big industry to change their ways. Industry is based on profit and the only things that will force industry to change its ways are if its profits are less.

There is also a need to protect much of the remaining rainforests as well as increase the amount of national parks and wildlife corridors. Once we have done this then we can calculate what resources remain and then plan human activity around this.

Fox at sunset

The further development of renewable energy remains a priority and some of the reasons for this are obvious such as a reduction in global warming and levels of pollution. But one of the main reasons is to reduce human conflict, and also the dependency of developing countries on the large multi-national corporations of the developed world. There is a further reason to promote renewable energy and that is acceptability. I believe that people will never want to give up there car for public transport, or to stop flying. The provision of more green energy will allow such choice to continue. The developed world has to be very mindful in the way it relates to the developing world. If our current era of consumerism is passed on to the developing world, which after all houses the vast majority of the world’s population, the consequences do not bear worth thinking about - China has already become the world’s second largest producer of carbon dioxide and is building five new power stations a week. On the other hand it would be rather hypocritical of us to be dam the economic progress of Brazil, which still has twenty two percent of its population living under the poverty line, or China, a country in which economic growth has brought 400 million people out of poverty in the last twenty-five years. There is no doubting however that China is not immune to the problems of global warming and indeed has much to lose with vast populations susceptible to the flooding that will be caused by rising sea levels. The developed world needs to help the developing world create a sensible balance between economic growth and protection of the environment - it is after all in everyone’s interest to protect much of the world’s remaining rainforests, the Amazon, Congo and Borneo. We must also tackle our governments who are pre-occupied with short-term cycles of re-election, and who far too often sit in the pockets of multi-national corporations whose primary aims are profits. However, it is up to all of us as individuals to change our own behaviour, for after all it is you and me who are most to blame. In the developed world we take far more than we need and support the most destructive multi-national corporations either by directly purchasing their products or indirectly by investing in the companies. For one, I have changed my lifestyle to support the environment. I still shop

but ethically, I re-cycle more and purchase renewable energy without paying more as I have now made my home more energy efficient. My garden still has a grassy area for my children to play in but the rest has been left to nature, which has rewarded me greatly by the amount of wildlife that lives there. I also give a small percentage of my income to those charities that help protect the most beautiful parts of our world and the wildlife within them. There is nothing special about me. The changes I have made to my life have not caused me any suffering or affected my quality of life in anyway, but what it has done is make my life a lot richer. I really am no different to you, so there is no reason why you cannot do the same. If we can all think about how we go about our daily life, take a little less and give a bit more back then there is hope for our one world, which is after all the only home we have.

Baby alligator

We stand on the brink of an environmental disaster that will affect us all, and from which there is no turning back. The problem has been caused by the unsustainable wants of the people in the developed world, fuelled largely by oil and driven by multi-national corporations. If we are serious about the problem in hand we need to consider population control, energy supply and the protection of the environment. Planet earth is struggling to cope with less than seven billion people and is simply not big enough to cope with the predicted nine billion people by 2050, or at least not without unimaginable amounts of suffering. The desire for oil has already led to wars with massive human tragedy and has divided the people of this earth. In order to reduce conflict the governments of the developed world need to be honest about their intentions in central Asia and negotiate rather than fight. Equally important is the need for all nations to become increasingly reliant on renewable energies. With regards to the environment man has already inflicted an ugly scar on its face and we can ill afford to cause more harm as after all our future depends on the wellbeing of these ecosystems. The fate of our world hangs by a thread, the time of the Industrial Revolution has passed, what we need now is the start of an Environmental Revolution. This is not going to be instigated by our governments who sit comfortably in the pockets of multi-national corporations, but instead by normal people like you and me. Dr Tim Cunliffe 1st

January 2011