report translation of Corporatewatch.org on techno-fixes
by The Lucinda .
original PDF in English: download / available online .
See above:
CHAPTER 1: THE TECHNO-FIXING
CHAPTER 2: Addressing change by techno-climate setting: problems and alternatives.
CHAPTER 3: The perspective of dominant firms on climate change.
The TECHNOFIX: conclusion.
The rapid increase and continuous CO2-emitting facilities on a new decade may make avoidance of dangerous climate change impractical, if not impossible.
Politicians and companies are wrong not because they crave the bad technology but because they consider only one aspect of climate change. As we noted in Chapter 2, we need to change on many fronts: technological, social, political, economic. They are all related, but the plan has a social role.
This report does not present itself as a manifesto. We should beware of those who think they have an answer for everything, nothing is simple. This is a contribution to a discussion that engages us all now and that should be in the crosshairs of each of us in these times of crisis.
technological change.
It is not enough in itself but it is vital. We need to have requirements of criteria for sustainable energy. Many technologies that are conventionally called "renewable" (biofuels and other bioenergy, hydropower on a large scale, biogas and waste incineration) do not help the situation. The technologies that are now operational and can help us move towards more sustainable societies are those on which we must address.
We need research and development to increase the effectiveness of these technologies, improve energy storage capacity and seek the mastery of technologies that can utilize renewable and sustainable.
change policy.
The climate control is within the political sphere and not just the economic sphere. It is necessary that time member of society to make decisions regarding the solutions we adopt. This requires a commitment to democracy and an action policy that does not rely on the creation of markets, but on how we produce energy for distribution, and which govern the way we consume.
economic change.
As the "consumer age" comes inevitably to the decline, we need to find how to master the transition to a society whose economy is based on requirements management that is fair and sustainable.
The current economic model is not up to par. The estimated values of a particular action or no action on climate change is trivial, we can not give a value of the critical impact calculations (the collapse of ecosystems) that entails. We need a scientific understanding of the problem based on a survey of measures that are most effective, fair and sustainable and not just attractive from an economic standpoint.
Social Change.
is one that will all other changes, if it is done. He might have led to changes that have taken place so far.
must calibrate the needs of the limitations of global resources by encouraging cooperation, change of lifestyle, and use of appropriate technologies. We need to manage our food, our transportation, our homes our farm land and our economy more sustainable. These sustainable solutions must be done, mostly small scale and on a given territory, to target the needs of local people. To achieve these objectives we must cooperate at a community level.
Some would argue that if the problem is global, solutions must be too. But this would ignore the complexity of the situation: the solutions to global does not take into account local impacts and dynamics at smaller scales. It can certainly be measured more easily. Replacing a fuel for another can reduce a measurable quantity of emissions, while more local interventions or behavioral changes are more difficult to predict or quantify. Social changes are less easy to understand if we take the prism of a systems analyst carbon or an accountant. That is why the mechanisms put in place have failed, they missed the most important factor.
Very often, when people who work for these social changes explain their point of view, they said they "believe in fairy tales. "They do not fake, but they are close to reality.
You want a fairy tale? Try this: Keep
- issue of greenhouse gases, exacerbating the problem of history over the next 20 years while hoping that something will.
- Sit on key technologies-in-hands that are not yet finalized and that will not work for some.
- Nothing about a third of emissions from deforestation and agriculture.
- Do nothing to solve the underlying problem, namely the excessive consumption of resources.
You may end up not fairyland, but surely on a planet unrecognizable, populated desert plastic, fake trees and clouds making machines.
So let's be really realistic. Technology will be helpful in developing solutions, but they are not a panacea. Other changes much more important than the technology is technically feasible, and it depends on our immediate actions to achieve them. We have to overcome major obstacles. But with all the knowledge and experience we have, and our extraordinary capacity for adaptation, as we have not reached the limit of 2 degrees, we still have a chance. And do not take it would be suicidal.
The start towards a sustainable solution to climate change could resemble the situation we find ourselves today. The science is indisputable. Opinion public begins to rise. Politicians and companies pretend to offer solutions but people do not believe any more. Some politicians are even beginning to question the perpetual economic growth. The seeds of change are sown. It has a lot to do to germinate these seeds and bring them to maturity, there is still time, we can still do it.
