Mark’s Blog

This post was originally published on TalkClimateChange.

A mostly sentimental post, with possible lessons for climate changers.

I’ve just spent the morning making arrangements for my wedding later this year. As I do this, I realise that there are some lessons in the experience for the climate change debate, which can perhaps be forged in to some kind of discussion framework to find a final climate change solution??

The wedding itself, I realise, will be a catastrophe from an environmental standpoint - considering the emissions of people travelling from afar, the contribution of large amounts of food to world hunger, noxious fumes required to produce volumes of junk in the form of gifts, and population expansion through possible subsequent procreation - and I am partly expecting a crowd of green protestors to form outside.

But more important are a couple of factors which have made the whole thing possible in the first place.

We both come from different backgrounds and cultures, have different mother-tongues, and a different perspective on what is normal. I grew up in rural England, whilst my fiancée grew up in the mountains of Switzerland. She tidies up more, I drink more, she thinks that bread is the only ingredient required for breakfast, I think ‘hello’ is an appropriate way to answer the telephone, she thinks that tea can cure all illnesses and I think that dancing is something a man should only do when very drunk.

Yet despite these and a thousand other differences there is something which enables us to quickly agree on almost any subject, and this is one of the principle reasons that she said ‘Yes’.

On reflection there are some reasons for this success which could well be applied to the climate debate for a more harmonious and productive world future.

Firstly, the ability to compromise

Accepting that there is rarely a perfect solution is important because the world is not perfect. Being prepared to accept that a country is a nice place to live even though they don’t serve bacon and eggs for breakfast has been a critical success factor.

Similarly, the climate change world needs to accept that some changes may be required, yet not everything should stop.

Secondly, the ability to view a problem from somebody else’s perspective

Accepting that something might look entirely different when surrounded by a different set of circumstances is important because two parties in a discussion rarely have identical circumstances and objectives. Understanding that behaviours normal in one culture are viewed differently in other cultures is an often overlooked fact that has been another breakthrough for us.

Likewise, the climate change world needs to accept that different groups have more or less to loose and more or less to gain in different scenarios, and our choices need to be sensitive to these inequalities.

Finally, don’t let each other down

Once trust is lost, discussion becomes difficult. I learnt long ago that if somebody trusts you they will be happy to go along with your view in situations where there is some uncertainty. But to maintain trust you must stand by your commitments. Trust is badly lacking in the climate change debate since each side expects to be lied to, to be mislead and manipulated.

Perhaps if scientists, politicians, the media and other commentators could apply these principles to the climate debate then the Reds and the Greens will be less likely to divorce each other and we can avoid a tragedy for the children of the world?