The importance of being informed

In a way this whole CO2 thing is our placebo. We are “doing something about our wicked ways” after-all. And maybe our polluting ways have given us an over inflated sense of power and control over nature itself. Maybe we can do what King Canute failed to do and we can hold back the tide. Assuming that is that CO2 is the only cause.

However the big danger is that while we sit there at the waters edge, shouting “stop!” at the rising tide, we ignore what we are actually doing to the environment. More than 99 per cent of environment-related media stories are about CO2. But is it 99 per cent more dangerous to our survival than all the other things we are doing?

Now don’t get me wrong. I’m not pro-car: or in the pay of the oil companies. To survive our species must live sustainably in harmony with the eco-system. We must stop polluting in every way. We must change the way we live or eventually Mother Nature will punish us and we will go the way of T-Rex. That is inevitable. The big question here is, by “tackling CO2” are we addressing the problem, or ignoring it and potentially making it a damn sight worse for our ultimate survival? No doubt other pollution reducing benefits will come from CO2 reducing activities; however, would it not be more efficient to deal with the actual problem directly rather than indirectly? Recent media reports have shown that corporations are already simply moving their worst polluting activities to the developing world where carbon restrictions will be less onerous. Is the human life there worth any less?

The world economy is being re-shaped through the development of a new multi-trillion dollar global financial industry paid for by an indirect tax on all consumers. The question you must ask yourself is whether this is the right solution to the problem at hand?

The downside with making an informed opinion from this is, of course, is that you can never be 100 per cent sure you are right. You can only make the most informed choice based on the balance of probabilities from the information you have received. Many of us, no doubt, will have placed considerable intellectual credibility on taking a stance on this whole subject. However each one of us must keep our minds open to new arguments and information. There is too much at stake and ultimately we must be prepared to take a volte-face if necessary.

As CS Lewis very presciently once said  “We all want progress, but if you’re on the wrong road, progress means doing an about-turn and walking back to the right road; in that case, the man who turns back soonest is the most progressive.”