“And above all, watch with glittering eyes the whole world around you because the greatest secrets are always hidden in the most unlikely places.” – Roald Dahl
As the Global Apollo Programme elevates hope and ambition with promises of delivering a carbon free future within ten years, Systems Thinker James Greyson suggests that an "imaginative leap" is necessary to shift the complex paradigms which have created the global climate crisis.
Drawing on the creative insights of author Roald Dahl, Greyson, who heads the BlindSpot Think Tank, stresses the need to search for solutions in places we would not expect to find them.
Our world and its problems should have been watched for long enough. Inequality, debt, financial instability, corruption, conflict, ecosystem damage, waste and poverty have been seen through history. These big problems have been watched by problem-solving professionals since at least the 1972 UN Stockholm Conference. Despite all efforts since then the risks that the conference declaration warned about, such as “massive and irreversible harm to the earthly environment on which our life and well-being depend”, just grow and grow. After all this time there are still no solutions in place to avoid that unpredictable moment of irreversibility when any global problem overtakes any hope of recovery. Even now, this moment could be avoidable so we should be seeking new possibilities.
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Dahl’s advice to watch with glittering eyes reminds us that civilisation need not continue to undermine itself. As professionals we need not continue to struggle with fragments of global problems only to see things worsen overall. The complexity and interconnectedness of the world’s systems can be harnessed to solve problems they’ve previously caused. We can be curious and excited about finding hidden opportunities for systemic change that not only minimise damage but also reverse historical damage. By embracing Roald Dahl’s imaginative legacy we can edit out the big risks to our future and add amazing new chapters to our shared story.OECD Insights
MoonStruck
Greyson's profoundly creative suggestions mirror the sense of magic and excitement elicited by the Global Apollo program's proposal to inexpensively internationalize carbon neutral energy by 2025.
"The challenge is as big as putting a man on the moon," says Richard Layard of the London School of Economics, one of the founders of the programme along with other prominent scientists, economists and industrialists. "It took £15 billion a year over 10 years to get a man on the moon, and we're suggesting that's the absolute minimum needed globally per year to crack this problem."
The plan uses the extraordinarily successful International Technology Roadmap for Semiconductors, price reduction model and would require participating nations begin next year to ante up 0.02 percent of their GDP b to construct smart grids, address energy storage and fast track the shift to renewables.
Yet, while the Apollo proposal has been met with huge fanfare, skeptics argue that the 'space race' to lower the prices of renewables does not necessarily incentivize companies to leave fossil fuels in the ground nor does it address the need to rapidly reduce current levels of atmospheric greenhouse gases.
Earlier today at the Bonn Climate Talks, the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change released a study warning delegates that combatting global warming demands a radical shift and not just "a fine tuning of current trends."
"The guardrail concept in which up to 2C would be considered safe would be better seen as an upper limit, a defense line," said Andreas Fischlin, a co-leader of the report.
The "elephant in the room," said senior scientist Thomas Stocker "is what we can do to change the trend in emissions." (Reuters, "Radical transition" of economy needed to curb climate change-study
Toying with with the creative vision of famous British storyteller Dahl, Greyson suggests that "our way of looking determines whether we find what we’re looking for."
Solutions on the scale and speed that are needed will probably not be found where everyone has been looking already, but within our collective blindspots. Looking for what we’re missing, especially when we’re missing something big, is itself missing from global problem-solving work.We can identify new paradigms for the system, such as circular economy, where used resources end up again as new resources. Then we can make policy to quickly switch the paradigm world-wide, for example by insuring the waste-risk of products. Then the new paradigm can self-organise everything else, phasing out waste from products and lifestyles everywhere.
• Follow the UNFCCC Process on Twitter: Bonn Talks, #cleanenergy, SB42
• Follow James Greyson @blndspottingand @Climate_Rescue
The Climate Action Hub
The Climate Action Hub is a platform to inform and mobilize action on environmental campaigns on The Road to Paris. The UNFCCC negotiators will meet at COP21 to ratify a legally binding treaty to ensure global warming remains below 2°C . Follow the progress on Twitter via the COP21 hashtag.
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