Brittiläinen
keskustavasemmistolainen The Guardian kirjoittaa Suomessa vielä
melko tuntemattomasta tieteen Blue Planet
ympäristöpalkinnosta ja sen saaneesta tiedemiesryhmästä, joka ennustaa
lähestyvää tuhoa ellei pian tehdä sosiaalisia muutoksia globaaliin
talousrakenteeseen ja tulonjakoon. Käytännössä ryhmän ohjeistus on samaa
vasemmistolaista eurooppalaisvihamielistä kansallismasokismia, jota on totuttu
kuulemaan jo pitkään korrektisti valikoidun "tiedeyhteisön" suusta. Universaalia elämää
uhkaavan humanismin pyhästä lehmästä ei olla valmiita luopumaan, vaan viileän
rationaalisten ratkaisujen sijaan ryhmä tarjoaa päiväunista sijaistoimintaa
kuten lisää tulonsiirtoja kolmansiin maihin kuin myös sellaisia "kauniita,
hyviä ja kannatettavia" asioita kuten marginaaliryhmien voimauttamista (!)
päätöksentekoprosessissa ja naisten koulutuksen lisäämistä.
Näiltä liberaalin valtamedian rakastamilta tiedemiehiltä se saa kuulla haluamiaan ratkaisuja, joista itse ongelmat ovat alunperin aiheutuneet. Kali Yugan aikana tuollaiset ratkaisuyritykset pikemminkin vain jouduttavat tuhoa. Hyvä niin, sillä eihän tämän nykyisen järjestelmän pohjalle voi rakentaa mitään pysyvää.
Näiltä liberaalin valtamedian rakastamilta tiedemiehiltä se saa kuulla haluamiaan ratkaisuja, joista itse ongelmat ovat alunperin aiheutuneet. Kali Yugan aikana tuollaiset ratkaisuyritykset pikemminkin vain jouduttavat tuhoa. Hyvä niin, sillä eihän tämän nykyisen järjestelmän pohjalle voi rakentaa mitään pysyvää.
THE
GUARDIAN, Monday 20 February 2012
Abuse of the environment has created an 'absolutely unprecedented'
emergency, say Blue Planet prizewinners
Celebrated
scientists and development thinkers today warn that civilisation is faced with
a perfect storm of ecological and social problems driven by overpopulation,
overconsumption and environmentally malign technologies.
In the face
of an "absolutely unprecedented emergency", say the 18 past winners
of the Blue
Planet prize – the unofficial Nobel for the environment – society has "no choice
but to take dramatic action to avert a collapse of civilisation. Either we will
change our ways and build an entirely new kind of global society, or they will
be changed for us".
The stark
assessment of the current global outlook by the group, who include Sir Bob
Watson, the government's chief scientific adviser on environmental issues, US
climate scientist James Hansen, Prof José Goldemberg, Brazil's secretary of
environment during the Rio Earth summit in 1992, and Stanford University Prof
Paul Ehrlich, is published
today on the 40th anniversary of the foundation of the UN environment programme
(Unep). The paper, which was commissioned by Unep, will feed into the Rio +20 earth summit
conference in June.
Apart from
dire warnings about biodiversity loss and climate change, the group challenges
governments to think differently about economic "progress".
"The
rapidly deteriorating biophysical situation is more than bad enough, but it is
barely recognised by a global society infected by the irrational belief that
physical economies can grow forever and disregarding the facts that the rich in
developed and developing countries get richer and the poor are left behind.
"The
perpetual growth myth ... promotes the impossible idea that indiscriminate
economic growth is the cure for all the world's problems, while it is actually
the disease that is at the root cause of our unsustainable global
practices", they say.
The group
warns against over-reliance on markets but instead urges politicians to listen
and learn from how poor communities all over the world see the problems of
energy, water, food and livelihoods as interdependent and integrated as part of
a living ecosystem.
"The
long-term answer is not a centralised system but a demystified and
decentralised system where the management, control and ownership of the
technology lie in the hands of the communities themselves and not dependent on
paper-qualified professionals from outside the villages," they say.
"Community-based
groups in the poorer most inaccessible rural areas around the world have
demonstrated the power of grassroot action to change policy at regional and
national levels... There is an urgency now to bring them into mainstream
thinking, convey the belief all is not lost, and the planet can still be
saved."
The answer
to addressing the critical issues of poverty and climate change is not
primarily technical but social, say the group. "The problems of
corruption, wastage of funds, poor technology choices and absent transparency
or accountability are social problems for which they are innovative solutions
are emerging from the grassroots."
To
transition to a more sustainable future will require simultaneously redesigning
the economic system, a technological revolution, and, above all, behavioural
change.
"Delay
is dangerous and would be a profound mistake. The ratchet effect and
technological lock-in increase the risks of dangerous climate change: delay
could make stabilisation of concentrations at acceptable levels very difficult.
If we act strongly and science is wrong, then we will still have new
technologies, greater efficiency and more forests. If fail to act and the
science is right, then humanity is in deep trouble and it will be very
difficult to extricate ourselves.
The paper
urges governments to:
• Replace
GDP as a measure of wealth with metrics for natural, built, human and social
capital – and how they intersect.
• Eliminate
subsidies in sectors such as energy, transport and agriculture that create
environmental and social costs, which currently go unpaid.
• Tackle
overconsumption in the rich world, and address population pressure by
empowering women, improving education and making contraception accessible to
all.
• Transform
decision-making processes to empower marginalised groups, and integrate
economic, social and environmental policies instead of having them compete.
• Conserve
and value biodiversity and ecosystem services, and create markets for them that
can form the basis of green economies.
• Invest in
knowledge through research and training.
"The
current system is broken," said Watson. "It is driving humanity to a
future that is 3-5C warmer than our species has ever known, and is eliminating
the ecology that we depend on for our health, wealth and senses of self."