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Chasing wealth, ignoring worth, 12 July 2011
This image of melting Arctic ice from Greenpeace sums up an eloquent article by Damian Carrington in last week's Guardian about the race for the Arctic's natural resources - www.guardian.co.uk/environment/damian-carrington-blog/2011/jul/06/norway-arctic-natural-resources?INTCMP=SRCH. Here's an excerpt.
"Taking advantage of the melting ice to unearth oil and gas that will fuel yet further melting is a grotesque irony. But the race into the Arctic is inevitable in a world that prizes mineral wealth but takes the natural world for granted. Until resistance to transformative action on climate change and environmental degradation thaws, the true value of the Arctic will run through our hands like meltwater."
And the debate about combatting global warming is becoming increasingly polarised. In this Sunday's Observer, John Vidal discusses the growth in geo-engineering experiments by big business and entrepreneurs as UN talks fail to cut carbon emissions - www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/jul/10/geo-engineering-weather-manipulation?INTCMP=SRCH. He sees a divide between the scientists, corporates and entrepreneurs on the one hand and environmental groups and developing countries on the other. My question is why are people so inherently suspicious of the motives of big business and scientists - surely these kind of experiments are worth doing and being well resourced? 'Big business' has the resources and the profit motive, yes, but intelligent businesses increasingly have a sense of responsibility too.
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