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In My Opinion

Why being human could prove suicidal

It's time to get real: Mike Tregent

The survival of our species won't depend on a few eco-heroes. All of humanity needs a big wake-up call if we are to preserve the future of our planet, argues Mike Tregent

'Tenure terminated - breach of contract'. Will this be the letter the human race receives from our landlord? It may sound like something from Hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy, but it may well also serve as the epitaph to our species if we do not curb our wasteful ways.

In the run up to Copenhagen there was a flurry of activity, both scientific and political, and positions and postulations abounded. However, sieving through the wreckage of the summit, it struck me that we will need to adopt a global form of collectivism, hereto unseen, and embrace such change.

If we are to reduce our impacts significantly enough, that we will be capable of powering, feeding and sustaining a large global population, then we will be seriously challenged. There are many people trying and some good examples out there, but it is critical mass that counts.

I have taken one example to try and demonstrate the difficulties we face in our perception. We vilify the large off-road vehicle, and maybe rightly so, but a large four-legged friend has four times the carbon footprint. I'm not advocating barbequing your pet in order to take the sport utility vehicle down to the coast, but in the not too distant future, choices will have to be made.

There has also been a lot said about geo-engineering - engineers by their nature love a grandiose scheme as a means to a solution. I'm not against our magnificent industrial revolution heritage, however there is often a hidden price tag attached to such grand schemes, we need to be diligent and thoroughly investigate these ideas before we embark.

To date, most of the schemes that have been proposed - orbiting deflectors, ocean seeding, atmospheric seeding - have all met with scepticism on the ground that they are too costly, too risky or that we can't determine that they will produce the desired results (without even bigger undesired results).

At the end of the day it's down to us, each as individuals and collectively, to practice good housekeeping and to live within our means - not just financially, but sustainably. I suspect that there is a lot of expectation management needed along the way, but I would rather that than the realisation that the landlord is not coming to fix the heating!

Mike Tregent is principle officer (waste) for the Environment Agency

Posted on 12 January 2010

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Is waste still a dirty word when it comes to public perception?

Yes, they don't see the potential value of it
Maybe, but attitudes are slowly changing
No, it has almost become sexy!

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