Our reptilian brain slows climate change mitigation

The complexities of emissions trading schemes appear to appeal to the modern male reptilian brain.

Rather than actually doing something about the circumstances causing the unnatural warming of our home, it appears the "experts" elucidate to procrastinate even more as they hee-haw about what works, what doesn't and further worsening the delay through endlessly expounding the economics.

All this goes on and, sadly, they imagine, in their delusory state that they are actually doing something.

That’s somewhat harsh for they are actually doing something – they are further delaying urgently needed action to set the world on a trajectory that might slow the real damage caused by the world’s carbon dioxide emissions.

The grounding principle of emissions trading schemes, misnamed in Australia as a “carbon tax”, seems to be about preserving life as we know it, ensuring the profits of the rich remain intact and that those favoured by life’s inequalities do not surrender those advantages.

Meanwhile, as the favoured few scramble to hold “their life” intact, the world is becoming more deeply entrenched in a difficulty from which is it unlikely to escape unscathed.

Last night (March 12, 2013) an event symptomatic of such procrastination was organized by Melbourne’s Grattan Institute and hosted at the Collins Street office by what it self-describes “as one of the world’s leading law firms”, Herbert Smith Freehills .

A Tutorial Fellow in Law at University College, Mr Angus Johnston, discussed “The EU’s Emissions Trading System: Some Lessons and Prospects” bringing lessons learned in practical experience of the system to more than 50 people.

Enthusiasts of trading schemes see them as a step in the right direction, and maybe that is so, but abatement of the circumstances changing the world’s climate need the peoples and nations of the world to run, not step.

Mr Johnston was articulate, knowledgeable and, even though he may be personally committed to climate change mitigation, he appears deeply entrenched in a process that despite its grand intentions appears to do little more than distance us from the solution, although it has a “feel good” sense about it.

The event itself was indicative of why we even need an emission trading scheme for the venue, 101 Collins St, Melbourne, is palatial, the 42^nd floor, along with everything else, had a five-star hotel feel about it and the food and service was equal to that style, a style that is contrary to what will be needed to abate the dynamics that are worsening the world’s weather.

One questioner wondered about the enormous effort being put into maintaining the existing system and not very much effort being put into re-thinking the way we live.

Mr Johnston empathized with the questioner saying in the UK there was a political recognition of the re-thinking he suggested, but when they (the politicians) got down to the “nuts and bolts” of working it out they are unable to push toward the goal at anywhere near the speed required.

“There is something there that’s heading in the direction you are talking about and they are also looking at other systemic aspects in a way to try to be able to remake that system in a way that would be much more localized, power generation scenarios in terms of distribution and generation, in term of local levels of supply, in terms of efficiency measures and supply, all of that is there in the policy, but what’s interesting, everyone talks about it as being ‘low-hanging fruit’ and yet, for some reason, there doesn’t seem to be many people interested in harvesting it,” he said.

He argued that one way of taking some of this revenue and doing some real good would be to push it toward some of those systemic things the questioner raised.

Mr Johnston said proposed solution may not be a part of what we want when we get there, but it might be a part of trying to encourage the transition on how to get there.

He argued we needed to think rather seriously about the question as it may be the case that in failing rather seriously we will prove to ourselves that it is not good enough.