Article // Climate Change, Profligacy, Poverty and Destruction: All Things Are Connected

By Brian Moss. — Climate change is linked with profligacy in richer societies, poverty in the developing world and destruction of natural ecosystems everywhere. Adaptation to climate change is essential because the effects are already with us, but it is a short-term manoeuvre that pretends the problem can be tolerated indefinitely and fails to recognise the linked problems. Mitigation through the curbing of carbon emissions is essential but is proving very difficult. Temperatures will not stabilise until carbon sinks annually match carbon emissions. Our problems are global and so, therefore, must be our ultimate governance. Much needs to be done to achieve such governance but time is short. Three immediate steps are possible: agreement to begin curbing carbon emissions substantially but also to increase greatly the extent of natural carbon-storing ecosystems through contraction of agriculture and reform of food production and distribution systems to favour healthier diets; replacement of GDP by an index that accounts for the natural and human costs of exploitative economic activity and discourages environmental damage; and corresponding reform of taxation systems to recover the true costs of that damage. These three steps could begin a more optimistic path for the future.