23rd June, 2009

NILS VON KALM

Now or Never - A Sustainable Future for Australia?

Tim Flannery

Black Inc, 2009
ISBN-13: 9781863954297

"Flannery's book contains many worthy ideas which, if they were implemented, would go a very long way to solving the crisis that is currently on our doorstep. The tragedy is though, that if governments took up the courage of turning these ideas into policy, there would be vested interests waiting right outside to block every move."

It has become noticeable that the tone of recent reports, articles and books on climate change is becoming increasingly urgent. This book by 2006 Australian of the Year, Tim Flannery, continues the theme of urgency, with its desperate sounding title, and it's picture of a clock showing just a couple of minutes to midnight on the cover.

This volume, which first appeared in Quarterly Essay in September 2008, outlines the desperate situation the earth now finds itself in, and Flannery's solutions to the crisis. It is then followed up by a series of replies by others in the field of climate science or research (the one exception being Richard Branson who, through his Virgin group of companies, is making his own attempt at limiting his carbon footprint). One of the responses is from Ian Lowe, current President of the Australian Conservation Foundation. As Lowe points out, “the fundamental message of Flannery's essay is that we need to recognise the limits of ecological systems and build that recognition into our planning”.

Throughout this essay, Flannery talks often of the earth as Gaia - the earth as a living organism. This hypothesis, first coined by climate scientist James Lovelock in the 1960s, spawns the idea that the earth was not made for us but that we were made for the earth. Flannery then says that "This realisation of our purpose is at odds with some of the most powerful currents in our western civilisation, including the Christian tradition I grew up in”.

I think he is partly right. A proper understanding of Genesis 1 tells us that we are to "till and keep" the earth. However, to say that we were made "for" the earth borders on placing the earth on a higher plane than humanity. Additionally, to talk of the Gaia hypothesis in terms of our purpose for existence, has unmistakable religious overtones. I believe we were made to ultimately serve God, and that includes caring for the earth that God created. Further thoughts about this can be seen in my article, 'Why should Christians Care for the Environment?'.

Flannery has received much criticism from others in the environment movement over comments he has apparently made about nuclear power. Whether those comments were portrayed accurately or not, he invites further criticism in this volume for talking up the potential of so-called 'clean coal'. It needs to be emphasised however, that Flannery makes abundantly clear his strong preference for renewable energies, and devotes considerable time to the benefits of geothermal, among others. The only reason he talks up clean coal is because time is rapidly running out and we need to use all the alternatives available to us to have any hope of long-term survival.

Flannery's book contains many worthy ideas which, if they were implemented, would go a very long way to solving the crisis that is currently on our doorstep. The tragedy is though, that if governments took up the courage of turning these ideas into policy, there would be vested interests waiting right outside to block every move. That does not mean we should not try however, for, as our own Prime Minister has said, this is the great moral challenge of our time. And after all, history belongs to the dreamers. This is about doing what is right, and trying to save that which God loves.

Flannery introduces his discussion on sustainability by invoking the 8th commandment - do no steal - in this case, from our children's future. Then follow some excellent discourse on the moral argument for doing all that we can. Some of this could have come straight from the Old Testament itself. Consider this in the chapter on the age of sustainability:

“So what kind of society is likely to value the lives of those yet to be born to such an extent that it will sacrifice a little present wealth in order to assist them? Clearly, there is a relationship between how we value ourselves and our fellow members of society, and how we value the generations to come. Societies that treat their members fairly in law, that seek to eliminate poverty and great inequalities of circumstance of wealth, and in which care - perhaps one could use the word love - for each other is manifest in -day-to-day life, are surely best equipped to deal with the great challenges of this century”.

The point he makes about sacrificing a little present wealth is then expanded upon by showing the utter futility of arguments that say the economy will be doomed if we take action to avert climate change.

The graph (right) shows the complete fallacy of this argument - "The red line shows the explosion in wealth expected between now and the end of this century if GDP continues to grow in the order of 1.5 per cent per capita per annum. The green line shows what a reduction in per capita GDP in Australia really means if we commit to stabilising greenhouse-gas concentration at 450ppm CO2e by 2050”.

450ppm is the level at which “the world's climate scientists say we need to keep our greenhouse-gas concentrations in our atmosphere to if we are to have even a 50 per cent chance of keeping global warming below a critical threshold of two degrees above pre-industrial levels.” The figures in the graph are based on Australian Treasury estimates.

As Flannery states, this graphs needs to be on T-shirts all over Australia to ram the message home. In the last 12 months we have seen Governments in rich countries the world over have no hesitation in bailing out banks to the tune of billions of dollars. In one of the many responses to this essay, Barrie Pittock, author of Climate Change: Science, Impacts and Solutions, makes the profound point that “we have to make certain that the politicians understand that securing climate stability is at least as important to the economy as saving the banking system”. As well as being printed on T-shirts, I believe this message needs to be screamed from the mountain tops.

God loves this world. He made it and said it was very good. A Christian response is to love what God loves. This book goes a long way to opening our eyes to what we in Australia can do to play our part.

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