The Climate Project, reflections

It's been nearly two weeks since I attended The Climate Project training... in that two weeks, I've been communicating with folks to begin to line up presentations, but I have not concentrated on the materials so much -- I'm planning to do that this weekend en route to Stockholm -- so I'll have 14 hours on the bus (roundtrip) to take it on.

But for now, I thought I'd share a few reflections about where climate change / global warming fit into the framework of sustainability. This is important because, as I'm re-reading the materials that we've be given and starting to dive into some of the details, I'm realizing that not everyone gets it. Not everyone understands that global warming is very closely related to energy demands, which is very closely related to food security, which is very, very closely related to water access, which is closely related to pollution, and all of which are very, very closely related to population.

The sense that I had when I was at the training is that Gore gets how inter-related all of these issues are... and he's chosen to focus on climate change because it is one issue that basically has scientific consensus. Nothing ever gets scientific consensus -- so this is a BIG deal. So the focus is on global warming, and this issue is used to introduce people to a systematic way of thinking about all of these problems... which may be overwhelming at first... but when you start to spend some time with it, you realize that solutions to global warming are - at least the good ones - similar to solutions for many of the other problems we face as a human society. So I'm optimistic.

And then... I see some of the details in a piece of the presentation about global warming solutions. And I'm concerned, because it focuses on where in the public's mind global warming ranks as an issue. So... as a speaker who is speaking about the issue of global warming -- it's important that I know where the issue ranks in the minds of the people that I'll be speaking to. However, as people interested in solving the issue of climate change, we have to be aware that our issue is very, very closely related to a whole lot of other issues... including social issues around the world... and that we can't solve one without solving them all.

As I explore this topic further, I see many explanations of this way of thinking -- this mechanistic way of thinking that has us looking at specific problems in isolation -- much as we would if we were trying to fix a machine. Car won't start? Ok - does the engine turn over when you turn the key? Yes - then it's not the battery. Must be something else. And so on and so forth until you can isolate the one thing -- the one part -- that is causing the problem.

The thing is -- living systems don't work that way. You can't narrow it down to one specific thing that is causing the problem... so there can't be one specific solution -- there is no silver bullet. There is, however, according to Gore, silver buckshot. So go forth and load yourself with silver buckshot...

I must run -- but keep thinking about things, and I'll do the same.