MATRIX REVOLUTION A shared land, a common destiny
3 PARTS • A common land: everyone is important • If we do not protect the environment… • If we do protect the environment
Anticipating conclusions… • If we do NOT protect our planet
CONFLICTS, GENERAL DISRUPTION OF SOCIAL COESION AND SOCIAL WELFARE
If we DO protect the environment… Even if we do not aim at it…
Increased PEACE, SECURITY and GLOBAL JUSTICE
Or… THE MATRIX…
THE BUTTERFLY EFFECT
• Alan Turing,
STILL… THE SAME BUTTERFLY
EARTH, a GLOBAL CLOSED SYSTEM The struggle between CHAOS and BALANCE
BALANCE… WHO CARES?
NO BOUNDARIES… GEOGRAPHIC GLOBALITY
GAIA’S MATRIX: no isolated sector SYSTEMIC GLOBALITY Environment
Peace
LAND
Development
H. Rights
PART 2 – CATASTROPHY THRESHOLD
GAIA’S MATRIX PREDICTIONS, In case we do not change our course
Lessons learnt from a century of horrors
And the true nature of peace‌
Let’s just take an example…
CLIMATE CHANGE
Not only climate‌
Small and alien‌ yet still important
Even smaller‌ but essential
Ocean acidification and the Permo-Triassic mass extinction M. O. Clarkson et al. A rapid injection of massive amounts of carbon into the atmosphere acidified the oceans, causing mass extinction
Some figures‌ The daily over-intake of energy of planet Earth due to man-made green house effect equals‌
400.000 HIROSHIMA BOMS PER DAY… 356 days a year
Calculated by J. HANSEN in 2012 = 0,60 watt per square metre
3 numbers about global warming… Ongoing warming 0,78°C / 0,85°C = 400 ppm
Conventional Security Threshold 2° C = +/- 550 ppm
Worst Case Scenario 5,8° C
In other words‌
Positive feed-back cycles and tipping points • Permafrost • Gulfstream • Ice sheets • Albedo… • Lightening And much more!
It’s now, and it’s real…
Non linear impacts
WARMING
CONSEQUENCES
THE HIMALAYA SCENARIO Millions on the move…
The Doomsday Clock • Regulated 23 times since 1948 • 2 minutes closer to midnight in 2007
January 23, 2015: 3 minutes to midnight!
Once more: it’s now and it’s real… Arab «springs»?
Researchers Link Syrian Conflict to a Drought Made Worse by Climate Change By HENRY FOUNTAINMARCH 2, 2015
“A new report suggests extreme drought in Syria was most likely a factor in the violent uprising that began there in 2011…”
A threat in a distant future? 2030: THE PERFECT STORM… -
Hitting the poor first Refugees… Arctic Water Agricoltural lands
And much more…
PART 3 The planet of wonders What if we protect the environment?
What’s good for you is good for your planet
Healthy diet
Env. impact
A planetary game of balances… LAND AND SOIL RECOVERY
DO WE HAVE SOLUTIONS?
• GEO – ENGINEERING?
• NEW TECHNOLOGIES?
A reasonable cost (Sir. Stern), a solution at hand.. Socolow’s and Pacala’s STABILIZATION WEDGES
Why don’t we make the right choice? • Illusion of sustainability sector by sector/ global unsustainability • Common threat, noone’s challenge • Structure of market economy
Marrying economy and politics… • Politics (pigouvian taxes, technology transfers, cap and trade, etc.) perceived as an interference over the market • The market dominates politics so… LET US MAKE ENVIRONMENT A VISIBLE GAIN FOR THE MARKET!
GREEN ECONOMY AND A NEW WAY TO MEASURE WEALTH WELL BEYOND GROSS NATIONAL PRODUCT • UNDP’s HUMAN DEVELOPMENT INDEX • Amartya SEN • NEW NATIONAL WEALTH MEASUREMENTS (WORLD BANK)
MANKIND AT THE CROSSROADS A question of scale: Initiatives consistent with the dimensions of the climate change problem imply humanizing economy and a significative redistribution of wealth
A MORE SOCIALLY JUST PLANET
CONCLUSION ENVIRONMENT: OUR BEST GUARANTEE OF PEACE, DIGNITY AND JUSTICE