Will the USA and China cooperate against climate change?
23/5/2009 Editorial comment. Do you think that public opinion is beginning to swing towards action to stop catastophic climate change?Obama is a new beginning and there are signs of cooperation between China and the USA. So the UN is optimistic about a global agreement at Copenhagen at the end of 2009.
So perhaps the public are more concerned, more in favour of global action, but not necessarily willing to accept any changes in their lifestyles and expectations. Ofcourse, these changes are inevitable EITHER through effective global measures which cannot succeed without major changes in lifestyles and expectations OR as a result of increasingly rapid climate change, if nothing effective is done to stop it before it is too late.
Can we persuade people that accepting major change in lifestyle and expectations now, by coordinated global action. is much better than having far worst changes imposed on them and their children by the unmitigated forces of climate change, if we do nothing?
This is not a time to wait and see, this is the time to act in the two ways available to everyone. First, think hard about your own lifestyle and expectations and start to cut back your emissions. Make the easy cuts quickly and learn how much better life can be - but then persist and continually grapple with the hard cuts.
If, and only if, you are succeeding try the second way. Make a deliberate decision to use gentle, sensitive but persistent efforts to influence the people around you. Remember that the people you know best are most likely to be influenced so find ways of letting them know what you are doing and why, even if it seems to intrude on your relationship. And reach out to everyone you are in contact with, bringing this vital understanding into every area of life.