Ant Analogies

We are social beings – well, most of us anyway. We are intelligent – well, by our own measures. So perhaps there are lessons for us to be derived from sociobiology on social organization in the face of resource depletion? I admit to a fascination with ants, and we are finding out amazing things about what drives their organization and behaviour... check out the work of Nigel Franks and others from Bristol University - http://www.bio.bris.ac.uk/people/staff.cfm?key=687

In full despondency about the small size of the gains made at the Bali Climate Change conference, we might speculate as to whether the major difference between ants and people is that they make the right decisions for their species survival? What do you think President Bush? “T h i n k” I said.

Chinese Walls...

.....“ barriers to information flow” – implemented by business people to protect insider insights, or between friends to protect against gossips. (Yes – experience shows that they are usually as thin as a paper tiger, rather than reflecting the substantial aspiration of the Great Wall of China).

For the good of the globe, please break them down on anything to do with the environment. Check out the reasoned and knowledgeable responses from John MacKinnon on this NYT blog:

http://china.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/12/06/answers-from-john-mackinnon/

Environmental insights that range in scope from….China v. Rest-of-the-World in the trade arena, to whether two turtles can save a species. Little and large – all fascinating and pertinent. Too late for the Baiji freshwater dolphin perhaps, but the different shades of green around energy solutions paint a palette as complex as a tropical rainforest.

Bountiful Baobabs

"Baobab trees are living monuments, the oldest natural things in Africa, outlasting every plant and animal around them”.....

.....words that lead you in to a beautifully crafted exploration of this iconic tree. The author’s persistently inquisitive mind unearths a wealth of detail – cultural, ecological, geographic, historical – as he follows his nose around mainland Africa and Madagascar visiting individual trees and meeting the people who use and respect them.

The smile of a young Mozambican honey gatherer, dripping with honeycombs retrieved from the baobab whose height and trunk protected this bounty from all but the bravest tree climbers (human or otherwise)... has never left me. The images – photographic or literary – in this gem will similarly linger and luxuriate in your mind.

Morally wrong to waste energy?

In 2002, I listened as Sir David Attenborough was asked “what is the one thing you would do to make a difference for wildlife conservation?” He replied “there are two”.

One concerned the spread of disease. As people, their livestock and wildlife are forced into greater proximity, the potential for pandemics increases (Ebola and bird flu were examples in the public eye). Right. The second surprised me – he argued that as women were the resource managers in much of the developing world, enhancing their access to knowledge and skills to make long-term choices on sustainability would have a huge impact. Right again.

Five years on, in 2007, Sir David was asked the same question and did not hesitate....."the one thing we must all do is use less energy. With what we know now, choosing to waste energy must be morally wrong". Yes, the stakes are higher and the answer lies with the choices we make – each and every one of us.

Sir David is a consummate observer...and we watch him introducing us to the diversity of life on earth. If we listened to him as well we might be able ensure a future for that earth that includes life (almost) as we know it.

“It’s not easy being green”

Kermit was right – and “being green” is becoming increasingly complex in this globalised world.

In 2003 EU Politicians thought they were brushing up their green credentials nicely by creating the EU Directive on Biofuels. This set a target that all fuel in the EU would be 5.75% from biofuel sources by 2010. Great – less burning of limited fossil fuels, more of stuff we could grow ourselves.

What happened? Massive conversion of land to biofuel production of course (couldn’t they see this coming?)... Increasing the rate of deforestation in places like Indonesia and Malaysia, leading to phenomenal amounts of CO2 being emitted into the atmosphere.

Consider this.....a four-million hectare peatland forest in a province in northern Sumatra stores 14.6 gigatons of carbon dioxide. Indonesia is now the third-largest emitter of carbon dioxide, after the USA and China.

We’ll come back to biofuels on this blog, but I’ll leave you with the words of a UN report just released in the run-up to the UN Conference on Climate Change in Bali next week.

“Deforestation to make way for large-scale mono-cropping of energy crops obliterates the ‘green credentials’ of the biofuel.’’

Back to the drawing board – sharpening up the green pencil.....!

Types and talents

“Myers Briggs Type Indicator” doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue does it? But oh what fun it is to delve into, and what formidable mental barriers it unblocks.

Have a look... http://www.myersbriggs.org/ and, if you get the chance, take the test, together with all those in your orbit. Sceptics will be shown in their true colours (it’s their type). At work, it will help you realise why one colleague is so desperately shy of deadlines but is tolerated for those creative brainwaves; another genuinely needs to have the different colour pens lined up neatly for document correction. And, crucially, it will help you work out how to get the best out of your working relationship. Sneakily, see if your life partner, or that obstreperous teenager will take it too... the relationship is more likely to weather the storms of misunderstanding. If I had my way, I’d include it in the welcome pack for all representatives at the Bali conference on Climate change http://unfccc.int/meetings/cop_13/items/4049.php. The world needs a good resolution.

Me? ENFP.

"Darwin award" for humanity?

The “Darwin awards” http://www.darwinawards.com/ honour those whose stupidity causes them to accidentally remove themselves from the gene pool, thereby improving the caliber of our genetic soup. Well I’d like to nominate humanity for accidentally kicking the soup bowl over and allowing our essence to desiccate in the increasing heat of a dying planet. How much evidence do we need about the speed of change and the scale of the problem? Tell you what, let’s have another conference. It only took a decade for “Kyoto” to find its way into George Bush’s vocabulary, how irrelevant will “Bali” become by 2017?

The United Nations Climate Change Conference will take place in Bali, Indonesia from 3-14 December: http://unfccc.int/meetings/cop_13/items/4049.php. It is a tremendous opportunity to agree the international framework that will reward countries retaining the natural habitats that will allow our planet to breathe. Come on humanity...grasp the lifeline and reject that “Darwin award”.