Green shoots of change beginning to take root
Environmental writer looks at the small changes that could have a big impact on improving our world
THIS piece is about good news and represents my attempt to shoehorn several small changes, gestures, and suggestions into one grand event that will hopefully ripple throughout the whole world, and ultimately cause a complete, climate and biodiversity-friendly transformation of human society.
Do I have any support for my flight of fantasy? Yes, indeed. In chaos theory, the butterfly effect suggests that a very small change in initial conditions can lead to the creation of significantly large future changes. Please note: my list of small things is not exhaustive. Here goes.
Oil majors, the bane of the environmental movement, are changing their tune, and their business models, because ‘green’ activist investors are rebelling, inter alia. For example, more than 35 investors, who collectively manage more than $2 trillion in funds, have formed a coalition, and together they are ‘pushing’ ExxonMobil to change its board and further embrace renewables. BP has also committed to shift away from fossil fuels (ie. cutting its oil and gas output by 40% by 2030) and more into renewable energy (ie. installing 50 gigawatts (GW) of renewable energy in its portfolio by 2030).
NGOs, government advisors, and research institutes around the world are also agitating for change. An independent review in Australia has called on the Morrison government for a thorough revamp of environmental laws, and to save the country’s besieged ‘iconic places’. In India, calls are growing for a ‘catchall policy’ akin to the so-called Green New Deal – this is despite India being a world leader in the renewable energy sector, despite its widescale adoption of clean cooking, and despite its voluminous roll-out of energy efficient lighting. The Malaysia Productivity Corporation has implored local industries to embark on circular economy practices, ie. reducing, reusing, and recycling materials across consumer goods, building materials, food, and the like.
Big, multinational corporations have read the wind and are starting to do their part. A bugle call to action, known as the Business Ambition for 1.5 degrees Celsius commitment, was recently issued by a global alliance of UN agencies, business, and industry leaders (to date, more than 300 companies, with a shared market capitalisation of $3.6 trillion, have signed the commitment). And more companies are signing up. Last week, the star-spangled behemoth,
The star-spangled behemoth, General Motors has announced plans to phase out all its petrol and dieselpowered vehicles by 2035
General Motors (GM), announced plans to phase out all its petrol and diesel-powered vehicles by 2035, and will be fully carbon neutral by 2040, thus, eliminating emissions from all its products and all its global ventures. And Ikea, the Swedishowned retail giant, has bought 11,000 acres of forestland in southeast Georgia to safeguard it from development.
Globally, major cities, towns and villages are also embracing new, environmentally friendly ways of doing things. The frontrunner is the city of Amsterdam. When the first wave of the Covid-19 pandemic crashed onto European shores during April 2020, the city’s government decided to take up the theory of ‘doughnut economics’ both as a way of dealing with the current crisis and averting future ones. This essentially means slotting the lives of Amsterdam’s 872 000 residents into the optimal location between the “social foundation”, where everyone’s needs for a good life are met, and the “environmental ceiling”. In other words, the city is attempting to provide its citizens with life essentials, whilst avoiding exceeding the city’s ecological ceiling. This, they hope, will be achieved by merging the goals espoused by ‘doughnut economics’ with the principles of a ‘circular economy’. The city is introducing vast infrastructure projects, job schemes, and new policies for government contracts with the aims of protecting the environment and natural resources, lessening social exclusion, and ensuring good living standards for all.
Shortly afterwards, Copenhagen’s city council decided to follow Amsterdam’s example, as did the Brussels region. The Antipodes responded similarly with Dunedin, one of the major centres on New Zealand’s South Island, welcoming the concept of regenerative ‘Doughnut Economics’ via the adoption of the Thriving Cities approach to measuring sustainability. Across the Atlantic, the city of Nanaimo in British Columbia, Canada, and Portland in Oregon, USA, have also decided to roll out their versions of the ‘doughnut economics’ model. What about closer to home? Well, cities and towns in the South West, like Exeter, have pledged to become carbon neutral by 2030 after declaring a climate emergency.
The overarching quest of these initiatives? The integration of socially aware, environmentally centered economics on a national scale.
Am I being too Pollyanna-ish? Maybe.
But, positive, environmentallyresponsive change is happening, and you and I must remain vigilant, because change is difficult, and many reactionary forces will try and scupper transformational efforts. Onwards and upwards to a better, greener future, I say.