Ewan O’Leary, the founder of the carbon offset company Little Carbon Feet, wrote the below (in italics) in response to my and Brandt Smith’s dialogue on Rethinking the Entitlement of Travel. I agree with Ewan that we’re in a lifeboat (emergency) situation with needing to reduce our carbon emissions — hence the title “Paddling the Carbon Lifeboat”.
Concerning ‘forced conservation’, my understanding of U.S. history is that during World War II, the rationing of gas, meat, etc. was not voluntary, but mandatory (forced). Tom Brokaw famously termed my parents’ generation “the Greatest Generation” due to their ability to work and sacrifice for a shared greater good. Where is our greatness now, in the time of global warming?
Ewan O’Leary writing: This touches on an important quality found in some human beings - that of radical acceptance, or the ability to accept a reality that is in complete opposition to what we have always believed and acted on.
It is radical to think about travel in this way . . . .
I am going to side with Einstein on this - we can’t solve our current problems with the same level of thinking that created them. Our fascination with technology is what got us into this position. We need to look at something else, such as our behavior, to get us out.
We may be at the pinnacle of human frenzy, rather than the pinnacle of human development.We need to change our behavior. Instead of looking at technological solutions, let’s look at behavioral solutions, which is where radical acceptance fits in. And in terms of forced conservation, B Smith is right [you can't force people to conserve]. But not in a lifeboat.
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