Rethinking thinking green

There is a new breed of environmentalist emerging, one that has traded in altruistic ideology for a form of pragmatic fatalism.

Mark Jaccard — the Simon Fraser University professor who shocked his environmental buddies when he did an about face in his 2005 book Sustainable Fossil Fuels advocating oil, gas and even coal as humanity’s best long-term source of sustainable energy — is one.

In his new book, Hot Air: Meeting Canada’s Climate Change Challenge, Jaccard predicts consumerism will quadruple the world’s energy consumption by 2100. Furthermore, he argues, because even the most difficult to extract resources, such as Saskatchewan’s oil sands, are and will remain more economical than renewable alternatives for the foreseeable future the only solution is to use fossil fuels more cleanly.

Steve Whipp — an ethical investing guru who does seminars on climate change and investments — is another. Although Whipp is an ardent environmentalist, he is not above investing in oil companies. His message: there is nothing wrong with making profits if it is done sanely. In Saskatchewan, this is really important because our economic prospects are currently, and for the foreseeable future, tied to natural resources, particularly oil and gas.

Whipp, like Jaccard, recognizes there is no stopping the runaway train of energy consumption so the best bet for sustaining an environment fit for human habitation is not to change what we’re doing but to change the way we are doing it.

The bottom line is: people are selfish. That is how we got ourselves in the environmental predicament we’re in and that is how we will get ourselves out.

We have to admit to our human nature. We want. We want SUVs and toaster ovens and beer fridges and trips to Europe. We also want pristine lakes, abundant wildlife and clean air.

For the most part, I’m sick and tired of “green” this, “green” that and “green” the other thing because so many people are just blindly jumping on the “green” bandwagon without any really understanding about how truly complex the situation is.

Recently though, I’ve started having a bit of a change of heart. Is it really that important what motivates people to do the right thing or just that they do the right thing?

The best thing environmentalists can do is to embrace practical thinkers such as Jaccard and Whipp. Even the lofty, esoteric morality of climate change and global warming high priests such as David Suzuki (his new commercials appeal to people’s economic concerns) is changing as they obviously realize most people care more about themselves than they do about “the planet.”

I’ve said it for years, combating climate change has nothing to do with “saving the planet,” but it has everything to do with saving us. Reducing consumption is not an option. Reducing the impact of that consumption is self-preservation. And self-preservation is something pretty much everybody can agree on.