Thought For The Day #36

Broadcast 3rd of November 2014 on BBC Radio Bristol

Audio available at http://www.mytalky.com/sXX

So we need stop using fossil fuels by the end of the century or we’re doomed. This is the conclusion of a report published yesterday by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Ed Davey, our Secretary of State for Energy describes it as, the “most comprehensive, thorough and robust assessment of climate change ever produced”.

One of the interesting things about Climate Change is that it’s something the whole world has to come together to solve. Somewhere in the back of my mind I dream of a Hollywood-style happy ending. I picture world leaders sat round a table in the Whitehouse arguing intensely, but then they come to an agreement. They start shaking hands and hugging and maybe one or two of them shed a tear because they’ve just saved the planet.

But I think we all know that’s never going to happen. Which is a shame. So maybe it’s time we got over our disappointment about how hopeless our modern world is at working together. I’m not saying we should give up. I’m just saying that perhaps we need to face the fact that it’s probably going to be many hundreds of years before civilisation is grown up enough to cooperate.

Metaphorically speaking maybe civilisation is still just a teenager; it loves to think it’s an adult, but in reality it can’t be bothered to tidy it’s room, let alone help mum with the laundry. I think Climate Change is going to be very messy indeed, but then whoever said growing up was easy?