Year 3000

"I've been to the year three thousand

Not much has changed but they lived underwater..."

Remember that song? It's Year 3000 by Busted, now a disbanded pop rock band from England. It was a catchy song, with a funny imagination about the future world where everybody lives underwater.

Then I thought, their imagination is not impossible to happen in the future. Well, I don't know about our ability to live underwater, I'm talking about the world being submerged underwater.

I was reading a chapter in "The United Nations: A Beginner's Guide" about UN's role in achieving sustainable environment. Many know our current environmental problems; holes in ozone layer and the greenhouse effect. While the first problem might have been mitigated successfully by replacing the usage of harmful CFC with a more friendly HFC and the ozone layer seems to have been healing itself, the second problem is harder to be solved.

The greenhouse effect is due to the accumulation of greenhouse gases trapped in the Earth's atmosphere. The concentration increases over the years and it threatens to increase the global temperature by 1.4-5.8 degree centigrade by year 2100. Giant icecaps in the Arctic and Antarctica has started to melt, causing a rapid rise on the sea level and the number of natural disasters all around the world. Africa will get hotter and its crops yield, which currently is already not enough to feed everyone there, will be halved by then. Island countries will sink.*

That last bit triggered my memory to  Busted's Year 3000 song. It's not impossible after all, considering all these facts.

Despite all these, global northern industrialist countries which produce more greenhouse gases than the developing global South countries were reluctant to take significant steps to achieve sustainable future for the next generation, and a better future for other developing countries.

Well, it's human nature to be selfish and think about their well being first. Why should one suffer all the profit they can gain just to enable someone on the other side of the world to feed his men?

But is it true that only northern industrialist countries are the most greenhouse gases contributors? Surprisingly, no! India is among the countries having a lot of greenhouse gas emission. But are they producing it for the same purpose as those developed countries in the north? See the quoted interview with India's envoy on climate change to UN below.

"In India I need to give electricity for light bulbs to half a billion. In the west you want to drive your Mercedes as fast as you want. We have "survival" emissions, you have lifestyle emissions. You cannot put them on the same basis. I am trying to give a minimal commercial energy service, whereas you are not prepared to give up any part of your affluent lifestyle to give up consumption patterns."

- Shyam Saran, Indian special envoy on climate change to the UN - interview with the Guardian, 2008.

So, should India also reduce their greenhouse gas emission and live in the dark?

These disparities between developed north and developing south make the questions on who should take part and how to achieve future sustainable environment become difficult to answer.

It is no simple matter. But as the fatalities and facts become more real each day, countries all around the world has started to agree to take actions towards sustainable future. US, who refused to be a part in 1997 Kyoto Protocol initially, has agreed to cap their greenhouse gases emissions, though currently it still shows no intention to ratify the treaty. It is quite a pity since US has a big influence in the world. However, US commitment to cap the emissions in several states as stated in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) is one step forward towards sustainable future.

Kyoto Protocol participation map**
(commitment period: 2013-2020)

     Parties; Annex I & II countries with binding targets     Parties; Developing countries without binding targets*     States not Party to the Protocol     Signatory country with no intention to ratify the treaty, with no binding targets^[1]     Countries that have renounced the Protocol, with no binding targets*^[2]

     Parties with no binding targets in the second period, which previously had targets*^[3]
*Note: As part of the 2010 Cancún agreements, 76 developed and developing countries have made voluntary pledges to control their emissions of greenhouse gases.^[4][5]

So, what? In the end, it all depends on the big people to decide the future of sustainable environment, doesn't it? We are only small people, what effects can we bring to the world with our tiny little actions?

A lot. In fact, all government's plans will just be empty talks if we don't take part in it. We can start by doing something simple. Reduce the use of papers. This will save a lot of trees and forests around the world. Forests are one of the natural carbon sinks; protecting them means increasing the amount of carbon absorbed thus reducing the greenhouse gases concentration. Don't waste. According to estimates, the decay of the organic portion of the waste is contributing around 5% of global greenhouse gas emissions (GHG). Of course, the best way to reduce waste is to produce less of it, so from now on take just enough to fulfil your needs.***

There are other ways to contribute, you can see it here. Imagine how much reduction we can see if every person in China, India, US, Indonesia, being the world's #1-4 in population rank, takes part in the simple actions above. Don't belittle yourself.

References:
* MacQueen, N, "Environment: sustainability and the future of the planet," in The United Nations: A Beginner's Guide. London, England: Oneworld Publications, 2010, ch.7.
** "Kyoto Protocol". Wikipedia. 2013-08-12. Retrieved 2013-08-15.
*** "Climate Change Mitigation". United Nations Environment Programme. Retrieved 2013-08-15.