Economic growth

A small gathering of people in Dudley on a Wednesday night was not where I expected to debate the big issue of how climate change relates to the global economy and capitalism. But that's what happened.

A Dudley minister (I assume he was a minister - he was wearing a dog collar) asked if it was possible to tackle climate change within a capitalist system, as capitalism needs constant economic growth. Big question.

Globally our emissions are rising because we are consuming more, whether ipods, flights or meat. Most of our consumption uses energy from fossil fuels.

I suggested there are three things the world needs to do to break this chain of increasing emissions. The first is to waste less, which would save money. Secondly is to get more energy from non-fossil fuel sources. The third is a greater challenge to our greedy world; we (the rich) need to consume less.

The minister wondered whether anyone will ever accept "lower standards of living" in order to tackle climate change? I think that's the wrong question. We can consume less whilst having higher standards of living - more money does not equal a better quality of life.

Another minister present said: "What I call sin, you call greed and he calls capitalism."

It's interesting that we see 'greed' as bad and 'economic growth' as good. The closer you look, the more they seem to resemble each other.