Illusions

“We will get the spread of the CO2 molecule under control” Doesn’t that sound ok? It’s not an illusion. The Covid-19 crisis has shown that the idea of what is possible can change faster than we imagined.

It seems that what we used to call a crisis, is something else.

Locust swarms, Syria-krigen, the fresh water crisis, endemic violence, climate change and the refugee crisis in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh don’t seem to qualify as a real crisis, measured in how we act to manage them.

Neither the Covid-19 nor these crisis are illusions. “Hopelessness” however, is. Action is not. When people and governments agree that we are facing a real crisis, the human race is able and willing to act.

There is no green illusion

The green economy is no illusion. It will happen. But maybe it is an illusion that it will take too long?

Before Covid-19, people might have thought: “I really don’t think we will find ways to cut CO2 emissions as fast as the experts say is necessary. Some countries, like Germany, certainly will do it’s share. But what about the other CO2 giants out there? Governed by presidents with absurd alter egos that leaves no hope?

Has this changed?

Governments have rolled out rescue packages of thousands of billions to combat Covid-19. If the same was done to stop the spread of the CO2 molecule, even the most impatient and pessimistic would have said: Wow, this is hefty, I think we can do it!”

Illusion busters

People around the world are commenting on where the pandemic may lead us.

Eric Doherly asks in Canadian richochet: “If we can change everything because of this crisis, why not another one?” Aaron Saad wonders if one of the biggest illusions in our time is “that our interests are best served by an economic system that determines our wellbeing according to whether and to what degree the market values our labour at a given moment.”

Using legislation to force industries transforming its production to accelerate innovation and use zero emission technology is perhaps not a usual stand in the USA. But Democrats in the Congress did ask President Trump to do just that combating the corona virus.

Crisis may not create something entirely new, but they may accelerate trends that were there from before.

Therefore, we should be ware of the illusion that the pandemic automatically will translate into a green economy. It needs a real push. We don’t have the luxury anymore to set economic growth before preservation of the natural world.

Opportunities

Some ideas have proven to move from illusions to real solutions. Here are some of them.

US Climate Alliance

For those who believe the world is doomed to go into the abyss, it is encouraging that those who take climate change serious don’t let the ignorant stop them. One example is the US Climate Alliance that has committed to reach the Paris Agreement goals. The Alliance represent 55 per cent of the American people and is the third largest economy, after USA and China (11.7 trillion USD).  som ønsker å nå målene i Paris-avtalen. Alliansen representerer 55 prosent av USAs befolkning og verdens tredje største økonomi (etter USA og Kina) på 11,7 trillioner dollar. The governor of the Bank of England said before the pandemic that “companies and industries that are not moving towards zero-carbon emissions will be punished by investors and go bankrupt.”

Hope spots

Oceanographer Sylvia Earle is working tirelessly to protect vulnerable marine areas. She calls them hope spots. These are places whit crucial ecosystems. While 12 per cent of Earth’s land surface is protected, only 6 per cent of ocean areas are. But thanks to Earle, the number of protected areas are increasing.

Food check on your mobile

What about scanning the bar code to ensure that the sea food you buy is environmentally safe?

Provenance is a British initiative that make this possible. When you buy seafood, you just scan the bar code and see for yourself how it is produced. All those involved from catching the seafood to processing it enter data about the production using block chain technology. This information cannot be changed when it is entered. This solution help people to see if it environmental sustainable and if working conditions are up to standards. A weakness obviously is that it relies on the quality of data entered.

More than 70 per cent of the millennium generation are willing to pay more for sustainable products, according to Provenance and 8 out of 10 want to know where it comes from.

Green shipping

Shipping emits around 2 per cent of the worlds CO2. More than 50.000 vessels and tankers are busy transporting stuff we need, or want. The industry works to find solutions for zero emission. The international maritime organisation decided in 2018 to reduce CO2-emissions from shipping with 40 per cent by 2030.

The industry also aims to reduce greenhouse gas emission by 50 per cent compared with 2008 and by 100 per cent by 2100.

Coal is loosing ground

Investments in coal-fired power has dropped with 75 per cent last three years. In 2015 investments reached 88 gigawatt. Last year this figure was down to 22.

There are more coal-fired power stations closing than opening. We will see less of them if this trend continues which is the first time in history. Investors are going for green projects. The return on fossile fuel investments decrease.

Plastic

Does it help removing plastic straws, Q-tips and plastic bottles from shops and restaurants? To some extent yes, but remains an illusion when we know that the worlds plastic production is expected to quadruple by 2050. In fact, 20 per cent of the worlds petrol production is needed for plastic production with today’s pace.

Big companies see that they can do something. The consortium between Dell, General Motors and several others are aiming to recycle plastic in their products. Plastic dependent toy maker Lego announced in March 2018 that the botanic pieces like leaves and trees will be made of organic plastic from now on. By 2030 all standard Lego and wrapping will be made of sustainable material.

Ocean Cleanup will use ocean currents to clean the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. They use a 600 meter long system that collects the plastic and bring it to land. The first prototype was tested 8. September last year, 350 nautical miles off the coast of San Francisco. Critiques claimed it was an illusion doomed to fail.

“One year after testing and failing we have succeeded to develop a system in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. This confirms the principles behind the idea”, the organisation wrote in October. In December 2019 they brought the first load to Vancouver, Canada.

Le Morne, Mauritius

The cover photo is no illusion. It is taken outside Mauritius. What happens is that sand and silt sediments move towards an underwater cliff abruptly ending in a 4000-meter-deep abyssal drop. The cliff and the island is shaped in an angle so that waves bring sand and slit as they bounce back from the shore towards and over the cliff edge. The phenomenon can also be viewed on Google maps here.

Credit: kiyyo2011/Flickr