Global sustainable development

MARY COLWELL

Song of the earth

Such is the environmental degradation that humanity has wrought on our planet, scientists believe we have entered a new geological era. As world leaders gather to discuss sustainable development, a commentator offers a novel solution to the issues that threaten our future

he aims of Rio+20 are laudable. The official website describes this meeting of world leaders to set goals for sustainable development as finding ways to reduce poverty, advance social equality and ensure environmental protection on an ever more crowded planet to get the future we want. Quite a challenge for just three days. Of course the meeting, which starts on Wednesday, stands on the foundations built after the 1972 UN Conference on the Human Environment and the Earth Summit in Rio in 1992. This is an ongoing journey for all humanity, exploring ways to be who we are on a planet that appears increasingly more restrained. It will be long, complicated and fraught more of an expedition than a journey and it will only be completed successfully if everyone wants to be part of it and is determined to do what it takes. Humanity has no option but to take Rio and its recommendations seriously. The issues we face are huge: overfishing of the oceans and changes to their salinity and acidity, depletion of fertile soils, deforestation on a massive scale, pollution of lakes and rivers, declining biodiversity, lowering of the water table, destruction of habitats in mountains and lowlands and changes to the composition of the atmosphere. Never before has humanity had such an effect over so much of the earth. Our actions are so far-reaching that scientists are defining a new geological era the Anthropocene, or Age of Humans and we are struggling to understand how to deal with what we are doing. It is not simply that our

The great green macaw, a native of Costa Rica, is one of the species threatened by deforestation. Photo: Reuters, Juan Carlos Ulate actions are altering the earths ecosystems through extraction of resources, population pressure, emissions and waste; we are fundamentally changing earth processes. Previous eras have been defined by events such as the shifting of tectonic plates or meteorite strikes which affected the whole earth. For example, 60 million years ago a meteorite impact caused the extinction of the dinosaurs that ended the Age of Reptiles and paved the way for the Age of Mammals. We are now observing something interesting and alarming which points to another global shift. Since the last Ice Age, the temperature of the earth has been unusually steady. For the

previous two and a half million years, it experienced periods of freezing cold interspersed with warm interglacials. However, for the last 10,000 years the average temperature has levelled out and we have been enjoying the stability that a steady state brings: the introduction of agriculture and the development of civilisations. Geologists call this the Holocene. Through this time we transformed from hunter gatherers into farmers, settled in cities, traded around the world and became increasingly interconnected. It has been a good time for the human species. By 1750, we had broken away from the constraints of muscle, wind and water power and begun to exploit new forms of energy, namely fossil fuels, which rocketed our ability to use resources. By 1950, after the devastation of the Second World War, we dismantled old orders and massively increased our connectivity, both financially and through information. This was a significant date. Suddenly, population boomed, resource use took a giant leap forward and we became more reliant than ever before on fossil fuels. The effect on the planet has been tangible. Carbon dioxide is increasing by two parts per million each year, which is unprecedented in geological time. We now use half of all the fresh water flowing to the oceans, which leaves very little for the rest of life. The loss of biodiversity is estimated to be between 100 and 1,000 times higher than a normal background extinction rate observable in the fossil record, and some believe we are in the sixth mass extinction event the earth has experienced. Humanity is now the single most influential factor in changes to planet earth. It is as though we are trapped on an escalator of economic growth through increasing use of resources with no emergency button to stop its movement, and we seem incapable of jumping off. Much hand-wringing will now take place as we all try to make a round peg squeeze into a rigidly square hole. We all want sustainability but we all want increasing standards of living, so what is the solution? Scientists such as the Australian climate change expert Will Steffen and others believe the only way is to recognise boundaries. We are used to setting boundaries for our children and ourselves in social situations, he says; this is normal. However, we seem incapable of setting boundaries for our use of the planet,

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even though the consequences of overstepping the mark will be disastrous. Steffen defines nine planetary boundaries that must restrain our activities climate change, ocean acidification, aerosol loading, level of biodiversity loss, freshwater use, chemical pollution, land system change, biochemical loading and ozone depletion (note that climate change is only one on the list). If we adhere to these boundaries, we can manoeuvre within them and set our goals for equity and economic growth. Without boundaries, however, we will simply spiral out of control. This seems very sensible, a plan for the expedition towards a sustainable future for all. But do we have the grit and determination to follow it, and how should Christians respond? I cant help but wonder what would happen in Rio if everyone involved in formulating plans wrote seven things down on the top of their notepads. They are seven gifts of the Holy Spirit wisdom, understanding, courage, knowledge, fear of God, counsel and piety. Perhaps the words themselves could be changed to more user-friendly versions as they take quite a bit of unpacking for the uninitiated, but they are ways to develop the inner strength that will be required to succeed. isdom will help us to detach ourselves from the purely material and help us to love the world in a way that is holy, not avaricious. It will allow us to see things as they really are and not hide behind falsities that tempt us into delusions, which is what a consumerist society depends upon. Understanding will allow us to draw conclusions from what we have perceived through wisdom, the practical actions we need to take in order to achieve a life that is holy. Counsel allows our hearts to respond promptly to what is required It is the gift, writes Catholic author Scott Richert, that allows us as Christians to be assured that we will act correctly in times of trouble and trial. Fortitude or courage gives us the inner strength to overcome fear and remain steady in will, no matter what. Knowledge is the ability to make right judgements when faced with conflicting choices, which is essential when we face the confusion of the situation we are in. Piety will help us to do what is needed with a joyful heart, not one heavily burdened with dread and worry. Unless we act out of love and joy we wont sustain the path we have to tread. Finally is fear of God, which is not fear of punishment, but a desire to obey. The gifts of the Holy Spirit are not championed enough in todays secular age but they are deep wells upon which to draw; without them, it is hard to see how we will do the right thing. For so long we have behaved as though we are centre stage and everything else is the supporting cast. It is time to redefine our role on earth. Environmental writer and entrepreneur Stewart Brand puts it beautifully: We are as gods, we might as well get good at it. I Mary Colwell is a former BBC natural history producer and a writer on the environment.

PETER HENNESSYS THE LION AND THE UNICORN

We relish the efflorescence of flaunting when we put on something flash

Ezra Pound once described the difficulty in distinguishing between news and news that stays news. Will the stretched weekend of the Queens Diamond Jubilee fall into the first or the second category? My money is on the second for a range of reasons. First, there was an abundance of spectacle and sound caught on a cornucopia of electronic media broadcast and individual for it to be retrievable with ease for generations to come. The fuss about whether or not the Coronation service of 1953 should be televised is a question scarcely comprehensible to anyone under the age of 70. Secondly, for all the rain, it will feature in the collective memory of the country (and the history books when they are written) as a lustrous counterpoint to the grim backdrop of the national, European and world economies. The Diamond Jubilee would have dazzled anyway, even if the background had been benign. As a country we relish the occasional efflorescence of flaunting when we put on something flash but stylishly flash in Kenny Everett (best possible taste) terms. What a pleasure it was to shove aside economic woes with a shot of celebration over four whole days. The Times of 6 June illustrated this nicely. The outer cover of the paper carried a photo of the Queen waving from the balcony of Buckingham Palace on the front page and a picture on the back of the RAF Battle of Britain Memorial Flight (Spitfires and a Hurricane clustered around a Lancaster bomber) as the Rolls-Royce Merlin engines sang so sweetly above The Mall. The first dozen or so pages were taken up by Jubilee coverage. Not until page 15 did you find Germany must take action to save world economies, warn finance ministers and Spanish prime minister pleads for bailout as bond rates peak. Social and constitutional historians will linger over Diamond Jubilee weekend too. Why? Because as the pollsters Ipsos MORI emblazoned their opinion survey on

28 May: Support for monarchy is at all time high. Of the 1,006 Britons polled between 12-14 May, 80 per cent wished theUK to remain a monarchy with 13 per cent wanting to see a republic. Historians, no doubt, will contrast this with the equivalent poll of 6-7 September 1997, taken in the immediate aftermath of Princess Dianas death, when the comparable figures were 73 per cent and 18 per cent. The change since 15-17 April 2011 was noticeable, too, when the tally came in at 75 per cent and 18 per cent. And the May 2012 YouGov poll showed Queen Elizabeth running ahead of the institution she embodies 86 per cent of those polled thought that the Queen herself has done a good job during her time on the throne, with only 5 per cent thinking she has done badly. A sage old friend of mine, familiar with the ways of the court and of Whitehall and Westminster, was not surprised by this surge in support both personal and institutional. He reckoned that there has been a relative effect at work with ministers, politicians generally, civil servants, the media, bankers and the police not exactly enjoying the hosannahs of a grateful nation in recent times (my words; not his). Im sure there is much in that. For the Queens has been a gold standard reign the exemplary constitutional monarchy. At risk of plunging into romantic goo and, beyond that, into the tricky waters of national character, I do think that the country adores not just the razzle dazzle splendour of such occasions as a nation of would-be pearly kings and queens, but we like a reason now and again to put aside the class, status and other assorted social anxieties that all too often grind us down,reducing such a lot of the national conversation to a drizzle of complaint, a reprise of resentment and a shower of scapegoating. By the time you read this, we may be back to business-as-usual. But, for rather more than four days, we put pretty well all of that aside in honour of an 86-year old lady who embodies the timeless virtues of dignity and duty. Our better selves were on display in June 2012 and historians will remember that too. Peter Hennessy is a cross-bench peer and Attlee Professor of Contemporary British History at Queen Mary, University of London. His Distilling the Frenzy: writing the History of Ones Own Times is published this week by BiteBack. 16 June 2012
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