Pond Scum, scum, and other scum
Those of you passionate about pond scum – or addicted to interest rates, or afflicted with pernicious diseases – understand that progress is described in DTs or doubling times: the time it takes the scum/money/disease to double in population. When it comes to pond scum we are largely indifferent; when it comes to money we want DT to be as short as possible, and when it comes to disease we would like to delay the day of reckoning by extending the DT as much as possible. But very few of us associate climate change with pond scum.
That, dear reader, is a mistake.
The first global experiment
We are currently embarked on a huge experiment on earth – the experiment of “how to manage a super-successful species with an impossibly short doubling rate on a quite small planet”. By which I mean, that we have quite a short doubling rate historically speaking and earth has no doubling capacity at all. So we are filling up every aspect of our planet with our presence, our waste, our demands, and the like. And the rest of the planet (meaning other mammals and fish and mushrooms and insects not to mention the water and the air and … you see where I’m going…) has no say about this at all.
So at first gradually, and now pretty quickly, we are pushing other species out of our way, which means out of existence. You may be feeling triumphant about this: A sign of superior intelligence! A sign of greater strength! A demonstration of power! …and a sign that God is on our side!
Perhaps.
Or perhaps, this is a test we need to look straight in the face, and address.
Hardwired to behave like pond scum?
When I was born, the population of the earth was 3 billion people. You can thus assess to the year when I was born, or assume that I am wise beyond my years, or just an old crank. Each is, within measure, true. But it should be noted that fewer than 50 years later, the earth is ~6.8 billion people. That is to say that we are increasing at a very rapid rate. In fact, the rate of increase when I was born was roughly 2.2% year – a doubling rate of 31 years. We met that handily I’m afraid to say.
And when we double, we more than double our appetites. When I was born (let me come clean – we’re talking 1960 here, not the dark ages…) there were no mobile phones (replaced every 2-3 years); laptops (replaced every 3-4 years); fax machines (come and largely gone), or most of the other absolutely essentials most of us live with today with hardly a thought (though plenty of complaints… and even more waste).
Thus we have increased our per capita consumption of calories, meat, processed foods, packaging, fuel, electricity, batteries, furniture… pretty much everything. Which means that the rate at which we consume our planetary resources is even more rapid. So it is no wonder that WWF tells us that we have exceeded the earth’s capacity: that rather than live off the interest, we are living of earth’s capital.
We have now affected the global climate to a point that scientists consider detrimental to our prospects for survival as a species. And, like junkies hooked on drugs, we are so hooked on oil that even though we know that oil only makes things worse, we are exploring new sources that will take only slightly less energy extract than they will provide: oil sands.
Even though we are smart enough to see that we are heading in the wrong direction, we are hard-wired by millennia of evolution, to deal very well with immediate threats like a lion about to eat us, and very poorly with incremental threats – like climate change – even if they have equally detrimental consequences.
Pond scum, and . . . scum
Which brings us back to pond scum. If the doubling rate of pond scum is one day it can take weeks and months – even years – for the scum to cover half the pond. But the day the pond is utterly covered with pond scum – and undrinkable, unswimmable and ultimately unlivable, is just one day after that. Yet when the pond is half full, everybody thinks, “well, it’s not that full, we still have some time, it’s growing bit by bit…”.
And this is where scum come in. We are already hardwired not to really feel slow incremental change, even if our brains can see what is really happening. And some companies are playing on that: sowing doubt (where scientists have basically none). And others (who find it easier to do what they are doing today than change for the better) jump on the bandwagon, and suggest that any changes will bring down the system and create havoc… They are creating the urgent monster that inspire our brains to fight or flee: in this case, fighting people who attack the status quo in the name of climate change.
Here’s why that (scummy) strategy works:
Dan Gilbert, Harvard professor of behavioural biology has studied the human brain for decades, and determined that we are brilliantly designed to respond to evil predators who suddenly threaten our immediate well being. Long term climate change doesn’t meet our brain’s warning and fear needs. But the alarmists who threaten we’ll lose our way of life due to climate change – well they are the problem. Blame the messenger!
Beyond scumminess:
What you want to do is implement small changes, that can grow incrementally until, like pond scum, they are everywhere – without breeding resistance.
- At Yahoo they ran a competition to cut CO2 for each employee by 20% for one month. They provided power-saving-tips, carpooling, meatless lunches, etc. The prize if the company made it: see the CEO & COO fight wearing sumo-suits. Not only did this work, it so invigorated that organisation, that many other changes came to the fore, and while not all the initiatives lasted continuously, many did, and new ones had a chance to be evaluated and adopted.
- At IBM they said – “we want to make a business out of being green – so anything you think you can sell, we have to do internally. That will give us credibility in the market place.” Not only did that excite people who wanted to sell ideas; it excited people who were back-office and could invent a product that company could then sell.
- At Wal-Mart they said to employees and suppliers: Here are our super-ambitious goals. We want to improve year-on-year – but we won’t micro-manage – you tell us what’s best. We’ll work with you to get there, and we need you to work with us to get there.” And while they had areas of focus (such as packaging) the benefits came from new products (such as concentrated detergents and compact fluorescents); and new processes (such as cooler lighting in freezers that reduced airconditioning).
We will survive…
With strong intentions we can rise above pond scum, use the brains we’ve built over millions of years of evolution, and grapple with the environmental problems we have actually created for ourselves.
Because the alternative is to grow like pond scum, choke our own home, and possibly choke our means for existence…
Image by Swampman on Flickr.
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