Understanding the pitfalls in marketing carbon

It is a tragedy that we still follow the line expounded by the carbon emitters and polluters of the environment.

- RANIL SENANAYAKE

We have accepted a high debt and fossil dependency scenario as the indicator of ‘Economic Development’. Our concerns with adaptation to the ongoing climate changes brought about by our own actions, seem to be minimal. The current disasters of fishermen getting caught in sudden, random, wind events, are a foretaste of things to come. Sudden violent downpours that strip and erode the soil or delays in rain bearing winds that create harsh drought conditions, will become more frequent. The ‘climate affected’ population will grow with every event. We are witnessing the thin edge of the wedge.

These tragic planetary changes have been brought about by us humans, through the agency of a human created value system that glorifies consumption. The modern notion of economic development assumes that consumption and the turnover of money, powers growth and is, therefore, good. But it is this very activity that affects the global climate and produces profound suffering for much of humanity, so can it really be called good?

To understand this apparent dichotomy, we have to understand that the source of power to propel ‘Economic Growth’, is firmly anchored in the consumption of fossil energy. Oil and coal were seen as substances with untold promise the development of the industrial revolution. However, this was not a universally shared view. Others, with no vested interest in profit in the promotion of oil, saw it differently,

“Oil represents the sprits of a long dead world, that we use to satisfy our greed for power and sacrifice and our children in return.” (CESR 1996).