It’s surprising how frequently the carefully prepared plans of human ingenuity are obliterated or fade into obscurity. The amusement park above; bridges washed away by flooding; houses in the path of lava; communities destroyed by wildfires; homes torn apart by tornados.
Human creativity wiped out in a flash.
Even more surprising is human resilience. We bounce back, adapt and move on.
On 26 December 2004, a major tsunami took the lives of a quarter of a million people in South East Asia. ‘Coincidentally,’ I departed Natai Beach, Thailand a mere 96 hours before the disaster. Over the 2 months I’d been there I got to know many of the locals well. I remained in contact with them after the disaster, and I was blown away by their willingness to knuckle down and rebuild. Within months many of the resorts were again functioning.
Drama happens. Life moves on, despite the setbacks. Humanity is resilient.
What’s in this Post?
COP27 is Anti-Resilient
The next wave of blah-blah-blah is underway in Sharm El-Sheikh.
The objective of COP27 (and all previous COPs) is to “develop tools to address the causes and consequences of climate change and its negative impacts on our planet.” In other words, “mitigation.” What a load of hogwash. Birds and bees don’t “develop tools.” They don’t view changing climate as a “negative impact.” They intelligently observe what is happening and they adapt. They are resilient.
I’m not for a minute suggesting that humans shouldn’t take seriously the impact we have on our environment. We pollute and we use up energy sources. Those two actions cause death. Just ask any bacteria in a petri dish.
Instead of focussing on what we consume and what we excrete, COP27 asks us to focus all our attention on controlling temperature. And the global thermostat has a hefty price tag: massive investment in tech-utopian solutions.
Case in point: South Africa’s recently announced Just Energy Transition.1 There is nothing “just” about this plan. And it will not resolve South Africa's energy challenges. What it will achieve is burdening the nation with yet more debt, leaving future generations to pay for a purely profit-motivated decision.
My Own Change of Plans
When I started this substack, I intended releasing chapters of my upcoming book throughout the duration of COP27. Sadly a major disruption to personal circumstances means I won’t be able to do so during this week. The chapters will still be released here, but at a later stage.
In the meantime, please enjoy this newly-created infographic of ESG standards. You can read about the methodology behind the diagram here: https://authsus.org/esg/
Here’s the infographic:
What I’ve Been Reading
Open Letter to Global Leaders assembled at COP27 in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt, from the Climate Intelligence Group (Clintel): https://clintel.org/open-letter-to-global-leaders-assembled-at-cop27-in-sharm-el-sheikh-egypt/
I’m not a fan of Greta Thunberg, but she has a book out. I won’t be reading it, so I’m grateful for this review: https://rlw777.medium.com/the-climate-book-is-exactly-what-we-need-right-now-thanks-greta-ffb9b4ea53b. Why am I not a fan? She has been used as a very effective mouthpiece for the climate propaganda. If you want to delve into the publicity campaign behind her antics, this lengthy read is worth your time: https://www.wrongkindofgreen.org/2019/01/17/the-manufacturing-of-greta-thunberg-for-consent-the-political-economy-of-the-non-profit-industrial-complex/