Feng Zhaokui

The next step to save the earth

By Feng Zhaokui (China Daily)
Updated: 2009-12-29 07:52

The Copenhagen conference ended on Dec 19 with an accord "full of vacuous visions and commitments". Though it reconfirmed the principle of "common but differentiated responsibilities" endorsed by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the Kyoto Protocol, no concrete consensus was reached in terms of the global emissions reduction action after 2012 and relevant funds and technology support.

Fierce discussion and discord exhausted representatives participating in the summit. However, the outcome of the talks is "extremely disappointing" and is considered as "missing the optimum opportunity in history to save the earth climate".

This tortuous scenario let me involuntarily recall the luxury liner Titanic, which with 1,316 passengers and 891 crew on board, sank when it collided with an iceberg in 1912, one of the top 10 human disasters in the 20th century. Now, the iceberg might be melting for global warming and would not block any liner, but the fate of the sinking giant vessel has increasingly become a symbol of the future destiny of our earth voyaging in the universe.

Climate change and other environmental crises essentially could be seen as a mirror of the morbidity of human civilization. This kind of morbidity might be called "disorder of civilization" with symptoms manifested in the imbalance of relationship between human beings and nature, the disorder of the overall relations among individual, state and the earth, global gap between the haves and have-nots, the maladjustment between the development of material civilization and spiritual civilization, the imbalance of material forces growth and the increase of people's capability to harness material strength and a lack of sense of responsibility for future generations and so on.

The next step to save the earth

With regard to the polarization between the rich and the poor, we could see: On the one hand, the haves in wealthy countries indulge in their sumptuous and lavish hedonism without scruple and consume more resources and energy far beyond their reasonable necessity for life; on the flip side, the extremely impoverished living in tropic rainforest districts which are called "the lungs of the earth" and other areas with crucial influence on global climate change have to fell scores of rainforests to obtain farmland and firewood for a living.

When some far-sighted personages stand out boldly to demand the wealthy nations to reduce dissipation, make contributions to protect global environment, which is our public property, and think more in the interests of our infants and later generations, certain individuals with vested interests will tend to make sweeping comments that "the poor again are begging alms". These commentators may forget that their garish wealth not only comes from milking numerous toil of the poor but also let the whole world to answer for the heavy environmental cost.

Concerning the disorder of material civilization and civil enhancement development, a US scholar several years ago once said: "I think what I am most concerned is our (people in western countries) insatiable attitude in resources consumption"; this is "a reflection of our culture which suggests that we are wrong in our spiritual advancement and at least in American society we are excessively consuming material wealth". Maybe somebody could recall a well-known saying that the world has more than enough to satisfy people's needs but could hardly contain human greed. And so the "exhausting" arguments described by the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon at the Copenhagen meeting is just a kind of competition between the "need" and the "greed".

Numerous talented and diligent scientists and engineers have created so stunning and powerful technological and industrial strength, while the world is too fragmented to use these technological achievements to the greatest advantage. Though mankind is facing environment degradation, resources scarcity and food shortage and while we have the scientific and industrial potentials to solve these problems, what we are lacking is a mechanism with common understanding and whether we could concentrate all the human wisdom and creativity on addressing the crises.

An important lesson left by the Copenhagen conference is that until now people all over the world have not reached a correct consensus and establish an effective management mechanism to harmonize the relationship between human being and nature.

Nevertheless, there is no authoritative organization to warn wealthy countries to pinch their greed and take more concrete actions to leave a sustainable world for the existence of mankind.

In developed countries, especially in the US, which boasts of its "soft power", there are outstanding politicians and strategists who are sharp-sighted when safeguarding their national and capital interests. However, due to constraints by national selfishness and domestic interest groups, such talented individuals are inclined to be narrow-minded, stingy, hypercritical and foolish over global green issues.

The author is former deputy head of the Institute of Japan Studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

(China Daily 12/29/2009 page8)