Record heat, record emissions, record fossil fuel consumption. One month out from Cop28, the world is further than ever from reaching its collective climate goals. At the root of all these problems, according to recent research, is the human “behavioural crisis”, a term coined by an interdisciplinary team of scientists.
“We’ve socially engineered ourselves the way we geoengineered the planet,” says Joseph Merz, lead author of a new paper which proposes that climate breakdown is a symptom of ecological overshoot, which in turn is caused by the deliberate exploitation of human behaviour.
An interesting read, but the solution of using our media to influence human behaviour into being pro-ecology ain’t gonna work unless being sustainable is equally as profitable which it cannot be because sustainability is ultimately linked to less consumption of primary resources which is, contrarily, one of the biggest drivers for economic growth.
One thing the article highlights rightly is that all this focus on renewables should be secondary to humanity needing to simply consume less. It’s a change we can make within a generation and would be far more impactful than any technological advances or deliberate population control.
Any idea how it could be possible for humanity to consume less?
Perhaps we need public campaigns from influential figures advocating for minimalism and simplicity. Or some sort of deeply spiritual second Renaissance…
First things first: make planned obsolescence illegal.
The vast majority of consumer products are designed to fail earlier than they have to, leading to a shitload of needless waste over which consumers have no real control.
Also, continue to limit single use plastics. Single use anything, but especially plastics.
And of course, phase out all uses of fossil fuel and derived products as viable alternative materials and processes become ready.
There are historical examples of this happening for some resources (eg: forests in Japan)
Eh, no. We need actions not more virtue signaling and telling others they should be the first to start. If you want public figures to be involved there’s only one thing they can do, lead by example.