Global Warming - are we doomed or someone will start thinking about it?

I heard about the term Sustainable Development four years ago during session that was touching Social Responsibility in my local AIESEC chapter.

Sustainable development is a socio-ecological process characterized by the fulfillment of human needs while maintaining the quality of the natural environment indefinitely. The linkage between environment and development was globally recognized in 1980, when the International Union for the Conservation of Nature published the World Conservation Strategy and used the term “sustainable development.” - definition by Wikipedia

Session was referring to role that each individual has in the society, and how can we act in the way that is sustainable and accountable to towards future generation. It is a fact that we spent not so irrelevant amount of the natural resources (water, wood, oil, etc), and by recent climate changes it is obvious that pollution level passed that red line.

USA, EU, Japan – this are the major polluters in developed world, USA with 1/3 of carbon dioxide emissions is leading. On the other side you have developing world, lead by China, India and Brazil. They extreme growth demands more resources, more energy.

I have the opportunity to live in India and its biggest city Mumbai (and see the situation from the first row), and only comment I have about Sustainable Development here is – they don’t care. City is over-polluted, littering on each piece of land, huge amount of cars (leading to extreme C02 emissions), water pollution, this are just few of the problems. And this is one of the biggest world population (by some predictions will be the biggest population in few years).

Some of you maybe heard about the Kyoto protocol , common agreement to reduce greenhouse gases that cause climate change. Even dough 174 parties have ratified the document, not much was done. USA as the biggest polluter has never ratified it; others like India and China are exempt from the protocol. And only this three mentioned countries make 3/4 of the emission!

Where is this world going? Is profit the only filter through us can perceive decisions? Why can’t we use high technologies to become more energy efficient and use cleaner sources? Why do we need to look to which extent others are polluting so we cannot make it less in order not to endanger our industrial development? Why doesn’t some of big polluters lead by example in saving the planet!?

Maybe you will get few answers by reading this article I found on BusinessWeek.com, just hope someone who makes decision and has common sense has read it…

Will India And China Destroy The Planet Through Global Warming–Or Save The Planet By Forcing The West To Reduce Carbon Emissions? by Bruce Nussbaum

I went to a wonderful dinner on Wednesday night with the theme of “India’s Intrernational Agenda.” Late in the conversation, about 10:15PM someone asked the very astute Minister of Finance Palaniappan Chidambaran, about an article in the FT saying that if India and China continued to modernize along the lines of the West, with tens of millions of cars, the resulting carbon emissions would, in effect, cause global warming on a scale that would destroy most of the earth. India and China, in short, needed to find another, better way, of growing.

Wow, the reaction by the Minister of Finance was fierce. He said energy and economic growth are linked and India has the right to grow and the right to consume energy. He said it is unfair to ask developing countries not to use as much energy as the West. India is entitled to grow and to consume energy that emits carbons.

The Indian Finance Minister went on to say that India has agreed to keep its maximum per capita carbon emissions just below that of the West (I believe that is the metric he used. If it isn’t, will folks in India let me know the precise measurement). If the West lowers its emissions, so will India. India’s per capita carbon emissions are currently way below that of the US or Europe so they will be growing strongly as India grows economically.

Of course, the Indian Finance Minister is completely correct—India and all emerging economies have the right to grow and must grow. The challenge ahead for all countries, the US, India, China, Europe, is to change the way we all grow to cut back on carbon emissions. There are huge economic opportunities ahead in this. We can grow our way out of our carbon conundrum. Who will build the first 100 mpg car? The first mass-produced all electric car? The electric jet plane? The newest public transportation system? The lowest priced video-conferencing system that cuts back on travel?

The hybrid Prius outsold the old Ford Explorer last year in the US, a sign that people are waking up (at least waking up to $3 a gallon oil). Transforming the US carbon economy which is sending its wealth and ownership overseas to non-democratic nations is both an economic and foreign policy priority.

And don’t bother asking India and China to do what the West won’t. They won’t. Pressuring them to cut back can only lead to trouble.

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