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I was watching an excellent programme on Sky the other day about the Smith family in England who had gone completely Green – environmentally speaking of course! They had turned their home into a 70% energy efficient house, were rearing animals and chickens for fresh organic meat, enjoying freshly laid eggs, growing vegetables and recycling 30% of their waste in really ingenious ways. Seeing them in action was very humbling as I sat there in my own energy guzzling home with probably negative energy efficiency, feeling guilty for not doing anything anywhere close to the Smiths… |
Now you have got to read this – did you know that, on average, just 10,000 Indian & Chinese families, with their newly-acquired affluence, will absolutely and totally dessimate all the environmental efforts of over 1,000,000 Smith-like families across the Planet. Just think of what this means; negative environmental behaviour like running zero efficiency homes, gas guzzling cars and no recycling has an impact on all the good efforts typical of the Smith family to a ratio of 100:1. So if you are in favour of saving the Planet, this is actually quite a depressing fact.
But ask yourself, how much effort do you ACTUALLY make day-to-day? Be honest. Isn’t it true that most of us do applaud and respect people like the Smith family above, but when it comes down to it, do little more than fill up the Recycling Bin every week. All of us know the impacts of bad environmental behaviour – the UN has just signed off on a report that predicts calamity for all of us if we don’t do anything, but a lot of people are missing the point about all of this. Even if the Western World cops on and we start becoming more and more like the Smith family, how are we going to convince the emerging industrial nations like China, India and Brazil to follow suit? Don’t forget that they’ve just started on the road to Western throw-away culture and excess, so it’s like giving a child candy and then promptly taking it back after the first bite! Looking at the dramatic shift in Eastern lifestyles for a moment, just fifteen years ago, there were four items most Chinese people aspired to: a bicycle, a small transistor radio, a wristwatch and a foot-powered sewing machine. Now, in many urban areas, the middle-class Chinese own their apartments, have at least one car and live zero energy efficient lives. The UN “GEO 2000 Environmental Report” paints a dismal picture of the future of our Planet, leading to millions of people having to migrate due to sea levels rising, mass starvation in Africa due to the increase in temperatures and lack of rainfall, severe economic impacts for all of us and so on. Well what’s the answer? You may ask… I believe that the only way to circumvent the overall problem is by World Governments having to impose strict rules on everything to do with wastage coupled with free public transport, better infrastructure to match this, generous grants for energy efficient homes and a real commitment to limiting wastage at all levels. This should also include wastage from supermarkets, as some 33% of all food produced in the World is destroyed. Remember the EU butter mountains of the 1980’s?
Let’s look at some facts. Every year, the World (which is currently 5.5 billion of us), consumes over 400 years of accumulated fossil fuel, which represents a 500% increase in usage since1960. Emerging economies such as China & India, hungry for oil to feed their massive modernisation and growth in car ownership will mean that between now and 2020, oil consumption will rise by over 60% and believe it or not, there will be around 1.2 billion cars, up from the current level of 700 million
The World’s biggest polluter, America, with just 4% of the Earth’s population yet producing 25% of all carbon dioxide emissions and accounting for a staggering 36.1% of all global greenhouse gases, has refused to adopt the Kyoto Protocol. Some 141 countries, accounting for 55% of greenhouse gas emissions, have ratified the treaty, which pledges to cut these emissions by 5.2% by 2012. But why? The answer is simple: Corporate payback. President Bush was on a promise to destroy Kyoto because he received over €50 million from energy companies at a time when Corporate greed went from bad to worse, e.g the Enron collapse with debts of $6 billion yet paying its former CEO over €121 million per annum. Not really too surprising.. Exxon Mobil, the World’s biggest oil Company made record profits last year of €10.4 billion. Governments around the World are artificially adding huge taxes to fuel. For example, OPEC has managed to transfer a staggering $7 trillion in wealth from American consumers to producers over the past three decades by keeping the oil price above its true market-clearing level. That estimate does not include all manner of subsidies doled out to the fossil-fuel industry, ranging from cheap access to oil on government land to the ongoing American military presence in the Middle East. Yes, it is a fact that the oil is running out and we need to do something about it now. During the 1960s, for instance, we consumed about 6 billion barrels per year while finding about 30-60 billion per year. Unfortunately, those consumption/discovery ratios have nearly reversed themselves in recent years. We now consume close to 30 billion barrels per year but find less than 4 billion per year.
What about our own Government? In 2005, the Irish Government failed to comply with the European Commission directive on the development of alternative fuel sources which required all EU states to bring the proportion of alternative fuels in the fuel mix to a minimum of 2% by the end of 2005 and 5.75% by 2010. Without going into unnecessary detail, there has been a systematic failure by successive Irish Governments to focus on alternative energy resources until really pushed to do so, yet standing by and wasting millions on lost tax revenue, fraud, chronic Government overspending on failed infrastructure projects and much more besides. Ireland has become one of the top oil-guzzling and energy-sapping states in the EU, consuming 50% more per capita than the average of the EU states. That’s not hard to understand given the acceleration of the Celtic Tiger and record numbers of cars and trucks on our roads, with little infrastructure thanks to the lack of planning and foresight by Government, with our legacy of the poorest rail infrastructure in Europe and continued apathy to move on many such issues. Most people don’t realise that an average truck does 1,000 times more damage to the road than a car, yet after 35 years, we still don’t have proper use of Rail for Freight in this Country. Tony Blair recently announced a huge investment in Nuclear power in the UK as a safe and effective alternative to the reliance on fossil fuels, with independent debates on how to treat nuclear waste and the cost benefits, involving reputable scientists and practical research stating that after years of problems, it has finally become one of the cleanest and most sustainable forms of energy, with a hundred thousand times less impact to the environment. The Irish Government’s response was immediate and predictable; the Minister for the Environment, Dick Roche, stated how he would “never buy electricity from Britain that was generated by nuclear power”.
He seems to mirror our deep-seated fear about being contaminated and the proximity of Sellafield, but the truth is that dramatic improvements have been made to these facilities and independent evidence confirms that there is little or no risk. Unfortunately, good news is rarely publicised, so most people are still remembering the problems 10-15 years ago, including Mr Roche himself. What the Government should be doing is focusing its efforts on looking at these facts and making us all aware of the options. Other countries have Ministers who are qualified to make good decisions and spend millions of euros on developing environmentally friendly infrastructure and alternative energy sources such as Geothermal energy from the ground. Already thousands of households are saving typically 70% of their energy costs from this free underground resource. Yes, it is true that the government is finally moving forward on these alternatives, albeit under pressure, but insists on charging 21% VAT on renewable supplies, unlike the UK and many European countries that are actively encouraging the renewable sector. So what’s the answer? We need professional and committed World Governments who can come to terms with backing the needs of the environment and the people as opposed to Corporations and profits. It’s as simple as that.
Jas Kalsi, BSc(Eng)Hons, MBA is a Management Consultant and former President of the Ennis Chamber of Commerce |
