Talk of geo-engineering as a possible solution to Climate Change scares me.
It suggests that some believe we can continue using fossil fuels as we are doing at present and still ‘dodge’ the repercussions. Apart from the costs (and who should bear these) and the possible unintended side effects, geo-engineering, unless it were to ‘scrub’ CO2 from the atmosphere, still wouldn’t address ocean acidification which has seen a 30% reduction in shell thickness of crustaceans and which threatens to collapse the marine food chain. That we are even considering geo-engineering shows how desperate our situation is becoming.
Surely it is a much better use of our ingenuity to ‘exploit’ our vast solar, wind and ocean resources to produce all the ‘clean’, low carbon energy we need. In fact, most of this technology is already proven and simply needs to be rolled out.
Imagine a world powered by clean energy sources;
- a world where oil spills that devastate ecosystems are a thing of the past because we no longer need to drill 3 kms into the ocean floor to feed our need for oil;
- a world where groundwater is not tainted by a deadly cocktail of fracking fluids;
- a world where wars are not fought to secure an ever diminishing supply of fossil fuel;
- a world that can rely on a climate that allows our agricultural sector to feed us;
- a world where “one in a hundred year” weather extremes don’t happen every two or three years and
- a world where even the poorest of peoples have access to a reliable source of cheap clean energy.
THAT is the world I want my kids to inherit – NOT one where Climate Change makes the mere act of living a hell on earth.
We are more than just apes with shoes. We can build a future worth being proud of – a future that is bright with possibility, hope and fairness. We can take one of two paths: we can stay addicted to fossil fuels and commit the equivalent of species (not to mention other species) extinction or we can end our addiction to fossil fuels, create a future worthy of the civilised society we like to imagine we are and leave our children and grandchildren a legacy we can be proud of.
I would like to think we will choose the latter…