Sunday, June 03, 2007

On Climate Change Issues


Climate change has been placed on top of the list of most important global issues these days. It, too, is the big issue for the upcoming G8 summit on June 6th-8th this year with Germany as the host.

You can type the 2 magic words on a search engine (mainly google, of course), hit the search button, and your screen will be hit by a list of millions of websites consisting facts, articles, and pics surrounding the topic. All of which can take days to read.

I reckon that there are two main possibilities of people's reaction to this, perhaps, most-debated issues:
1. No reaction AT ALL a.k.a ignorance, which most possibly comes from young people (although many optimists of "sustainability in action", mainly the environmental ones, are those of the young ones as well) who have been enjoying a life of hedonism, and thus "why bother?";
2. A reaction indeed, that can lead to either cynicism or optimism that such situations of climate change can be tackled by international action from every corner of different fields, including business entities since, most environmental pickles such as hazardous chemicals and pollutions in many developing countries are most likely the fruits of MNC's industrial activities within those countries.

However, it is indeed reasonable to say that attitudes towards climate change have briskly shifted, especially among those in business world. Although, each reason is not always that of genuine ones that are purely for the purpose of a sustainable world since there still exists business people thinking that the problem is not worth to tackle or not really occuring.

My recent visit to Eden Project, a brilliant project located in St Austell, Cornwall that highlights environmental issues in an engaging and inspiring way, has successfully engaged my contemplating mind with the issues of sustainable development including climate change. The visit reminded me of my last year's coursework paper for IPE module as part of my MA course. Having no significant interests (not that i didn't care at all) on sustainable development issues, i had ended up doing a research and thus writing an essay on the issue on which i surprisingly enjoyed working. Since then, the very issue has been among my considerable interests, which are quite many, i must say.

Both the climate change and eden project have lead me to an idea of an article on eden project and the climate change. Disturbingly, the actualisation of the article can not be achieved anytime soon, it's been hindered by my tormenting ACCA exam. So, I have left with no other choice than to pencil it in for finishing it soon after the exams.

Oh well, right then... i'm out for now!

4 comments:

Johannes said...

Which product would you buy?
a. a product which told you how much CO2 was ommitted to put the product on the shelf (carbon footprint)?
b. you'll buy the product you favor rather than worry about your carbon footprint

Leitizia said...

uhmmm...intriguing question!
I'd set my feet in between the lines of the a & b products. I'd lean more towards the a product, IF it's the exact product i need although less favorable. the opposite would happen IF there's no such favorable substance AT ALL concerning my needs. well...im a normal humanbeing who's never free of selfishness. Krishnamurti was right when he said that there's no such thing as selflessness at all.
BUT i fully support the idea of CO2 emissions...& i think it'll be much better if companies are to do the emitting deeds not only in producing the product but also in the product itself. A fully clean energy is best compared to the half-clean one.
Until then...i'll stay ambiguous by standing between both lines. after all, 'ambiguity' is my middle name ;)

Johannes said...

And while we are on the subject... this might of interest to you:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/g2/story/0,,2096987,00.html

;)

Alexandre Mercier said...

The real quest is to learn how to consume less energy. Yes buy an hybrid car, but the real solution is to use your bike or 2 legs as much as possible, then the bus and finally as last resort the car.

Plus, let's stop only focusing on big industrials. Yes they pollute, but citizens too, and it's soo easy to blame the others...