A Random Man on Planet Earth: October 2009

Saturday, October 24, 2009

Changing finance - Financing change

I recently came across this wonderful image of a butterfly used on the poster for the UN Environment Programme Finance Initiative (UNEP FI) 2009 Global Roundtable in Cape Town, South Africa (held 22-23 October 2009). The purpose of the meeting was "to explore ways towards achieving sustainable financial markets and economies".

Interesting image:

Reminds me of a couple of things:

First, ecological modernisation - the ugly Caterpillar changes into a beautiful butterfly - but have unsustainable financial markets and rationalist accounting systems really begun to 'change' into butterflies? Or are there simply planning more beautiful caterpillars which will continue to 'eat us out of house and home'? After all, the old 'ugly caterpillars' of 'progress' have already caused a lot of damage to the ecosystems of Earth.

Given that there is much being done by many businesses to become 'green' and much still to be done, the question remains 'is enough really being done?' or are we fooling ourselves that we are on the right track?

Second, the image reminds economists that biodiversity (esp. butterflies) and the environment are as important as having a healthy economy. Or will people simply want to continue to spray it with some (often hideous) chemical, already on sale for just such a purpose. Current thinking often suggests a narrow and technocratic 'solution' to 'cure' the increasing level of nasty 'bugs' we face. This global round table suggests that at least some economists are starting to rethink the basic assumptions of economics. Changing economics itself is definitely needed if we are ever going to build a sustainable society, but we also need to change the way we think about 'nature' itself. This is going to be difficult, given that many now live in unsustainable cities that are (often) far removed from 'nature' and its complex ecosystems. But we all need clean air to breath and clean water to drink and a climate that can support the ecosystems that humans depend upon. So really, we need to make some progress in the way way we think about the world around us all.

Third, the butterfly effect. This reminds me of the Ray Bradbury science-fiction story on the effects that follow from the actions of one butterfly (among others such as HG Wells "The Time Machine"). The effects of changing the way finance is regulated will have many profound effects indeed, but without proper levels of finance and technical support for the developing world to take up renewable energy technology, for example, there will never be a solution that is acceptable to the developing world in the upcoming Copenhagen climate change conference in December. Not long to go now to get things in place.

Anyway, it is good to see some high level discussion of including social and environmental concerns into finance. I also like the 'financing change - changing finance' dualism, but wonder if perhaps this is a large part of the problem. Many people (including many economists and many governments) still see the choice as one of jobs versus the trees or economy versus the environment.

See my post on topic here.

What is needed is a wider (more holistic) worldview that considers the many things that cannot be measured using rationalistic methods (or worse done poorly) and are therefore given less importance in the 'grand scheme of things'.

** If you enjoyed this post please also check out:

Splitting: 'jobs' versus 'the environment'

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New Green Jobs ??

Top 10 Environmental Posts

COMMENTS ALWAYS WELCOME !!

So please, tell us what you think.

How to save the planet? Psychology

An interesting article by Professor David Uzzell (Professor of Environmental Psychology at University of Surry) on "challenging assumptions in the psychology of climate change".
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He challenges 4 assumptions that are often made:
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1. Everyone experiences similar barriers to acting sustainably
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"Different strategies will be required for different groups depending upon the different barriers they erect to sustainable behaviour."
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"In a study examining the barriers to changing from disposable to modern reusable cloth nappies, it became clear that different groups of parents had different constraints and needs - convenience, self belief, experience, initial institutional (e.g., hospital) support, incentives, information for spouses, stigma and cost (Uzzell & Leach, 2003)."
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"One way of thinking about these barriers, the kind of strategies that are required to overcome them, and the prioritising of them as target groups is to define these groups in terms of 'would, could, can't, don't and won't'."
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2. The young are most supportive of pro-environmental actions
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Lyons, Uzzell & Storey (2001) found that young people (aged 18 - 35 years): were the most strongly opposed to changing their behaviour as they considered being forced to recycle was an infringement of individual freedom. They resented being told what to do and admitted that if they felt under pressure to recycle they were less likely to do it. They objected to penalties for not recycling and joked about the "recycling police and a police state", and about having bins with alarms fitted that went off when you threw out a recyclable item. They considered that recycling and pro-environmental behaviour change should not be a priority because they perceived few immediate, serious and tangible benefits or costs to the individuals concerned. They considered that the environmental effects of waste generation were too distant to motivate change, and small lifestyle changes were seen to have "zero effect" on what is regarded as a global problem.
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3. Recycling has a positive image
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"most of the role models associated with recycling were negative."
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"The prototypical recycler identified by the young people was an "old man in his fifties with a beard or a woman in a tie-dyed t-shirt and dungarees". The young parents had various stereotypes of people who recycle: an ecowarrior image, Swedes or other Scandinavians, outdoors types, people who buy IKEA furniture or someone who is perfect."
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"The middle-aged group described a recycler as "someone boring"."
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4. Children will change their parents' attitudes and behaviours
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Uzzell (1999) "concluded that the role of children in encouraging sustainable behaviours in the family occurs only rarely, typically in more middle-class and better educated families."
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"In the majority of homes we found low levels of concern about environmental problems, with parents having little knowledge about environmental problems and in some cases negative attitudes towards education, low levels of motivation and poor self esteem in respect of their educational role."
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"It cannot be assumed that simply giving children environmental change information and relying on a process of osmosis will lead to enhanced concern and action. "
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Well worth a read and available at:

http://www.psychology.org.au/inpsych/challenging_assumptions/

** If you enjoyed this post please also check out:

Some interesting podcasts on climate change

Adaption of People and Forests to Climate Change

The New Green Economy

New Green Jobs ??.

Friday, October 09, 2009

Online Research Conference on Climate Change

Climate 2009 is the world´s second on-line research conference on climate change and a major tool on climate change communication, worldwide.

The event will be held on-line from 2 to 6 November 2009 and around 100 papers prepared by some of the world´s leading researchers, will discuss the economic, social and political aspects of climate change.

The Conference will be organized around four main categories of papers:

Social aspects of climate change
Economic aspects of climate change
Political aspects of climate change
Projects which focus on the social, economic and political aspects of climate change, as well as educational and awareness-raising initiatives

Moreover, the Conference "Climate 2009 / Klima 2009" will pay a special emphasis to research linking climate change with one or more of the Millennium Development Goals categories:
poverty and hunger;
universal primary education;
gender equality and women's empowerment;
child mortality;
maternal health;
HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other diseases;
as well as environmental sustainability.
Join Climate 2009, join the chats and inform yourself about the latest developments in the field of climate change.

Further details and registration (which is free of any charges) are available at:

http://www.climate2009.net