Wake up Call!

So I was listening to my music this morning while I was getting ready for work; a band called 'Rebelution', and the lyrics of this song struck me. They say it like it is! Check it out: 

It's a shame when somebody shows,

Diamonds and pearls to those you don't,

This goes out to the wealthy homes,

That under the moonlight there's a road,

To a place for the struggling,

Where people treat you like a human being,

Free of racism and other things,

Free from money and the imagery,

Why oh why has it come to be?

People look up to celebrities,

They do nothing for you and me,

They should be giving it up to the community,

And this ain't just domestic man,

This is a world wide problem and,

Still people kill for the oil ya,

Why you ask? Well cause there's demand,

But stay on top says the businessman,

And let the world be left to strand,

Hey next month I'll make twice the grand,

Things they are going just as planned,

And he'll spend most of it on what he sees,

Maybe buy something he may never need,

See now this is the mentality,

Wake up call this is reality

You see now this is the mentality,

Wake up call this is reality

Yesterday I saw a man explain,

Why he bought his seventh car to date,

How does it feel to live the life you like,

With millions of us left without a ride?

And yet we look up to the stars and dream,

What's it's like to live among elite,

I see the future in a rut,

With the poorest of the people in the mud

Well here's a message Mr. Business man,

The more you make the more the gap expands,

The more you give the more the love you land,

The more you take the more we suffer man,

But he'll spend most of it on what he sees,

Maybe buy something he may never need,

See now this is the mentality,

Wake up call this is reality

You see now this is the mentality,

Wake up call this is reality

A few thoughts on the mis-use of the new and sexy word "sustainability"

I received an email from one of my "sustainability" mailing lists the other day. It read:

                                      Coal – Energy for Sustainable Development

No kidding. I suppose there is not something that shockingly controversial in the title. Its not like it says "Coal: A sustainable energy supply". But never-the-less....this was an email notification a report released on coal and its role in clean energy. Mmmm. Interesting. Yar, you can look it up yourself...http://www.worldcoal.org/coal-energy-access/.

Anyway. Coming back from a three-week holiday visiting my sister in Australia, and I come back with a few new experiences and thoughts with this kind of thing in mind. How big corporations, and, for that matter, anyone who has profit in mind, have suddenly jumped on the bandwagon of using the words "sustainable" and "sustainable development" in such a way that I am not sure they actually know what it means.

Two of my friends in the Balaton group, a network of sustainability actors I am part of, recently wrote an extremely good paper entitled "Peak metals, minerals, energy, wealth, food and people towards the end of the golden age; considerations for a sustainable society". Here, they give beautiful definitions of what "sustainability" and "sustainable development" is supposed to mean. They say that "sustainability" is about making an activity take such shape that it can go on virtually forever, without ruining its own conditions. They say that this is fundamentally different from "sustainable development", which in itself needs careful thought on what exactly is meant by "development", or "sustainable growth", which in itself, they say, does not actually exist as a reasonable concept. They go on to say

"Hard thermodynamic limits are set by mass balances for use resources in finite supply (energy, metals, structural materials, fibre, and food through phosphorus and nitrogen). Only resources that have inbuilt regeneration function may be made to last for ever. Limits are also set by social systems in terms of personal integrity and security, interpersonal trust, transparency and degree of democracy. These are different from sustainable development which sometimes include perpetual economic or mass volume growth, which is not possible on a limited Earth and therefore greatly unsustainable."

Anyway, back to my trip to Australia. So there I sat on the "cheapest possible flight" my travel agent friend was able to procure for me. This meant me flying from Windhoek, Namibia, via Johannesburg, RSA to Abu Dhabi, UAE, to Sydney, AUS and then finally to Brisbane, AUS - my final destination. Interesting. In the in-flight magazines, there were mutliple articles on how the airlines are trying to mitigate their emissions, reduce their environmental impacts, and so on. Yet....it is cheaper to fly halfway around the world in several airplanes...than to actually fly a straight, minimum-mile usage, flight path...which would greatly reduce emissions. Now can you imagine how many cheapo people there are out there who are accumulating ridiculous amounts of unnesseray carbon emissions because they are flying via Dubai, when all they need to do is fly from London to Johannesburg, or whatever.

And then...mining. I absolutely LOVE how mining is trying to get in on their "sustainability" slogans. Not that I want to bash them totally...but it seems like such a contradiction to say that "we will mine sustainably". Because within the lines of the definition of sustainability I happen to agree with, mining is not sustainable. It has a short lifespan, contributes much money (often to a tiny amount of people at the cost of many) and then suddenly comes to a halt, leaving behind low qualty, often dangerous and environmentally degraded areas. But wait! There is another deposit....that will buy us another 20 years.

It all just seems so ridiculous. How we can be so intelligent, and so stupid at the same time. We have the ability to live sustainably, and we actually need to do it this way. And yet, for decades, we are brainwashed by the five percent who are forcing the system into what it is, making themselves immensely rich (on value-less items), with the rest of us blindly lapping up the idea that this is what we all want to be: immensely rich. In the meantime the world is slowly becoming a sad and poor place (by poor I mean in terms of things that have value); while at the same time we go around pretending to care about sustainability and superficially doing our part by "using a spoon twice for our coffees". 

Thoughts that are neither here nor there. But something to think about.  

Passion for the well-being of our people vs corrosion of democracy

I have been following with interest a dear friend of mine's plight in Malawi recently. It seems that his beautiful country, with its beautiful people, are facing some serious challenges. The challenge: the painful process of corrosion of democracy. Sound familiar?

So many of our nations here in Africa have made amazing progress with democracy and good governance. However, all to often we hear of stories of incredible corruption and absolute abuse of power and country funds. And even more often, these stories stem from the highest stage...the presidency. Presidents come into power with the most beautiful and inspiring passion for their people. And somewhere along the way, this passion is replaced with greed, and, dare I say it, insanity. Ring a bell yet? I am sure we all know of one very prominent leader in power right now in a country very close to home who fits this bill. But I won't elaborate on his story; I am sure we have all heard it many times before.

In honour of my dear friend and his country, I will use President Mutharika of Malawi as an example to illustrate my point. What a wonderful man he was. He had to flee Malawi in the 1960s for fear of being persecuted because he spoke against the autocratic rule of then President Banda. When he returned, he, and his pals, formed the United Democratc Front (UDF) and promptly ran for election. Mutharika stood for democratic reform and the protection of human rights. He promised to fight the hard fight of corruption (yip, you read right!). He came into power in 2004, with an exemplary record....working experience with the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa, and the World Bank. He was re-elected in 2009. And then things started to go pear-shaped.

He has become intolerant of criticism, he has randomly and arbitrarily dismissed government officials and has been implicated in the harassment of civil society activists who oppose his policies. And...surprise...more and more members of his government are being implicated in major corruption scandals! Something more shocking: in 2011 President Mutharika dissolved cabinet! Then, later, appointed a new one, which included his brother and wife...And there is more: despite Malawi's heavy dependence on external support, he has managed to get onto a warpath with development partners, denying the country all sorts of resources.

I ask myself: How does this happen? How does someone come into power with so much heart, and then, while in power, the heart slowly turns into a cold dollar bill. How can you sleep restfully at night knowing that the 1000-count cotton sheets keeping you warm means that there are five children out there who will die of a malnutrition-related disease? I will have to leave it at that and let you ponder...maybe you can come up with a solution to this problem we have faced in too many countries.

The biggest mistake: undervaluation of biodiversity

Sitting in Nairobi airport with four hours to kill after Ethiopian Airlines greedily overbooked the flight I was supposed to be on from Addis Ababa to Johannesburg and subsequently had to divert me via Nairobi, followed by a painful overnighter in Johannesburg before I can finally make my way back home tomorrow morning to Windhoek. Bleh. But anyway – it gives me time for this.

My last five days were spent in Addis Ababa at a workshop organised by the Secretariat of the United Nations Convention on Biodiversity on updating the National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plans for the countries of Africa. Can I hear you snoring already? Let me see if I can lose the terrible acronym-filled UN language....basically this was a gathering of African countries and “international experts”  focusing on how to mainstream the importance of biodiversity, and indeed the natural system into our countries’ development. I was sent as “resource person” (whatever that means) on effective communication – which, as we are slowly realising, is integrally important to get messages across to various facets of society, whether it be to policy-makers or the little guy on the street. As I write this I see on CNN a story on turtles in Gabon...mmmm...maybe things aren’t as bleak as I seem to think. 

But yar. It seems that, even though we (unknowingly) depend on biodiversity and environmental services for our daily function, we still, in this day and age, manage to completely undervalue it in our decision-making. Perhaps because we get it for free....and take it for granted...so much so that we don’t seem to care if we degrade it. It reminds me of the Millenium Assessment’s results from 2005 (a global survey on the state of our natural system) – a very stark reminder of what we are doing to our Earth...and to ourselves. One of the most humbling statements “Any progress achieved in addressing the goals of poverty and hunger eradication, improved health, and environmental protections is unlikely to be sustained if most of the ecosystem services on which humanity relies continues to be degraded”.  So now we sit at this unnecessarily formal conference venue discussing, in oh-so-typical UN delegate fashion, how to go about mainstreaming biodiversity into our national development plans. Very interesting and passionate people. But we are environmental people. And yet we are trying to find ways to communicate the value of ecosystem services across sectors. 

How much would you be willing to pay for clean air? For a view that takes your breath away? For a mangrove swamp that will save your life when a massive hurricane comes along? How much are you willing to pay to protect a dune system that has evolved over millions of years, in which a complex network of wind and sand dynamics shifts integral nutrients to your agricultural production system?

For centuries we have not put any value on these things. What we have valued however, are things which have no value (gold!?). We undervalue the basic underlying roots for life on Earth. And we are paying for it. Unfortunately not enough of us know about this. And those of us who do struggle to communicate this to the people in power. Well, so there I sat at this conference and pondered my fellow Africans. Somehow, we in Africa, with “our problems”, have managed to maintain most of the valued ecosystem services and biodiversity (although a lot of it lies on the edge). Do we need to keep copying pasting systems deemed as “successful” (and what are these systems looking like now) from the west? Systems that are showing major failures and are destructive...Or shall we look at what has worked well in Africa and how to showcase our amazing stories? We are so much closer still to nature (although this is changing as we aspire to this so-called “American dream” – people moving from their rural areas to urban slums in the vain naive hope that it will bring them this “aspiration”), and if so, can’t we still find our own ways to become successful and wealthy (defined in different ways) than our western counterparts who are now facing the consequences of their destructive actions? I think we can. But we need to start valuing our own systems of success, stop being spoon-fed, and taking charge for our own continent. This starts with our own confidence. And the hope for a new system of success...where the well-being of our people is more important than the monetary wealth of the few people on the top.

Playing for change - a beautiful initiative

Okay I admit - I am being very lazy with this week's post - too many things to do. However, this initiative called "Playing for change" is such a wonderful one that it deserves some awareness. Its musicians all over the world coming together to play songs...for change. Wonderful stuff and I am sure it will inspire you...if not your money back guaranteed! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qtgofrafon0&list=FLsInUu06LcFm9BYeRdpTqSg&index=4&feature=plpp_video

In honour of the change maker Bob Marley

Bob Marley the legend. You know it was his birthday on Monday, the 6th February? I actually went to a gig honouring his birthday here in Windhoek, Namibia over the weekend. I wonder how many other places in the world had a similar party in his honour. So with this thought in mind I decided to write a piece marking my appreciation of this remarkable person. The person who made music that, on some level, reaches every person in the world.I do not think I have ever met a person who does not like Bob Marley's music. His music transcends gender, race, age.

I read on his wiki page a statement that I have lazily copied and pasted:

"Bob Marley ranks among both the most popular and the most misunderstood figures in modern culture ... That the machine has utterly emasculated Marley is beyond doubt. Gone from the public record is the ghetto kid who dreamed of Che Guevara and the Black Panthers, and pinned their posters up in the Wailers Soul Shack record store; who believed in freedom; and the fighting which it necessitated, and dressed the part on an early album sleeve; whose heroes were James Brown and Muhammad Ali; whose God was Ras Tafari and whose sacrament was marijuana. Instead, the Bob Marley who surveys his kingdom today is smiling benevolence, a shining sun, a waving palm tree, and a string of hits which tumble out of polite radio like candy from a gumball machine. Of course it has assured his immortality. But it has also demeaned him beyond recognition. Bob Marley was worth far more."

And yes, its true. Yes, his music does tumble out of radio like candy with people listening often not actually listening to the words echoed. But. So what!?

Bob Marley's music has touched people's hearts. His character induced change in mindsets and behaviour all over the world. His music is the closest we have ever gotten to feel truly connected to the world and nature and simple happiness. One love. One world. One heart. This message induces more change in the world than a war ever will. Lets give a personal, from the heart perspective: Even in the lowest moments in my life, Bob Marley manages to say to me, "Justine, get some perspective and stop your bullshit, life is amazing, look around, and spread the message". And even if his words in his songs say otherwise he seems to have this out-of-our-realms-of-understanding effect on us.

He has been part of so much liberation in the world. He sang at the Independence of Zimbabwe celebrations. I wish he would have been around during our Independence in Namibia, but Ziggy Marley did an equally good job. He has instilled so much hope in communities which have in the past been left hopeless. He voiced loudly the religion of Ras Tafari, honoured Haille Salassie and lifted the people of Jamaica, and in doing so breathed pride into Africa. The Aboriginal people of Australia continue to burn a sacred flame to honor his memory in Sidney's Victoria Park, members of the Native American Hopi and Havasupai tribe also honour him. There are also many tributes to Bob Marley throughout India, throughout many countries in Africa and South America, and indeed, the world. Nevermind those who worship him.

So it doesn't matter if the machine has poured hot pink plastic over the memory of him to the plastic world. We all will have our own memory of what he was and is to us. And we all love him. And with this I leave him to finish off with his magic words

Why's this fussing and a-fighting?
I wanna know, Lord, I wanna know
Why's this bumping and a-boring?
I wanna know, Lord, I wanna know now

We should really love each other (love each other)
In peace and harmony (peace and harmony), ooh
Instead, we're fussing and fighting (fussing and fighting)
And them workin' iniquity (... iniquity)

Why's this fussing and a-fighting?
I wanna know, Lord, I wanna know (... know), I wanna know now
Why's this cheating and backbiting?
(I wanna know ...) I wanna know, oh, Lord, I wanna know now

We should really love each other (love each other)
In peace and harmony (peace and harmony)
Instead, instead, we're fussing and fighting (fussing and fighting)
Like we ain't supposed to be (... supposed to be), tell me why.

Wanna stop being brainwashed? Step 1: Take the blindfold off when you read the news.

I think I mentioned this in passing in a previous post. But a story I have been exposed to today made me think about it again and I promptly decided that this story needs its own limelight. So. Lets start.

The Niger Delta. Home to 31 million people. Also home to one of the top 10 most important wetlands and coastal marine ecosystems in the world.

Also home to one of the largest oil deposits in the world. It is estimated that mining oil here has pushed 600 BILLION USD since the 1960s (but lets be honest - most of this money has gone where!?).

A UN Environmental Assessment Report released in August 2011 said Shell's operations were responsible for heavy contamination of farmlands and rivers in Ogoni area. This isn't the first time I have heard of such wrong-doing by Shell in this part of the world. During my environmental law studies I came accross a human rights case in which Shell was at the centre: people were killed, forcably moved from their homes by "mercenaries", working, in one way or another, for Shell. I remember this clearly because when I read this I was shocked that this was the first time I heard of this behaviour by such a massive corporation (ignorant much?).

Yet this blatant evil has never made the news headlines. Interesting...mmm? Anyway, I digress. Back to the UN Environmental Report released last year. This report estimated that it would cost 1 BILLION to clean the mess up. And even if the oil companies pay up, it will take 25 to 30 YEARS (thats a third of a life!) to restore the environment. And...surprise surprise.....the majority of the 31 million people live here in poverty. Obviously none of the 600 billion little green notes made it towards the betterment of their livelihood. Surprised? Hardly!

Now, this isn't even the news. The actual news is: (queue major headline)

 "2.4 million gallons of crude oil spilt off the coast of Nigeria" 

We don't even know when exactly this happened. On 22 December 2011, fishermen were apparently  put on alert after Shell admitted to spilling oil (but they did not admit to nearly as much as they had actually spilt). And now more than a month later, noone knows exaclty what happened.

Shell began drilling the Bonga field (off the Nigerian coastline near the Niger Delta) in 2002.  Since then they have had devastating oil spills (heard of any of them on international headline news?).

The amount of destruction that has been caused,
the human lives destroyed,
the beauty and serenity of the Niger Delta that can never be regained.

600 Billion pieces of paper.
A handful of people now have a bunch of things they don't need.

And yet all we hear on the news is that the Niger Delta is dangerous because of evil scary kidnappers who will kill expats. What about what a corporation like Shell has done in the Niger Delta in the past decades?

Apologies to you, innocent people who were unfortunate enough to be born in the Niger Delta, many of whom have either died or who lived in the gutter of hell.

And apologies to you from the rest of us in the world who are ignorant and brainwashed, filling our tanks with your blood at a Shell service station, and were thus unable to help you.

Let this be a lesson. When you watch your CNN or Sky news, think about the stories that are not being told. And start making yourself more aware. You wanna know how? Simple. Take the blindfold off.

Can humanity change in time to prevent global catastrophe?

Sunday. Sitting in the office working on presenting to my colleagues tomorrow the indicators of the UNCCD 10 year-strategic plan. I stare down at the document....Strategic objective 1: To improve the living conditions of affected populations. As I stare at this I keep getting flashbacks of a heated discussion I had with two very good friends at a restaurant last night. It was one of those discussions which gets heads on other tables peaking over to see what the commotion is about. Arms flailing, face blushing and talking passionately in circles without actually listening to eachother. The discussion was very much around the concept that is linked to my work every day. Lets put it simply: humanity is heading on a fast and deadly path towards global catastrophe. We have been populating exponentially, the system we have created is destructive to the planet we depend on for our survival.

Now our argument isn't about this fact. For it is now true for too many people to ignore. I mean, forty years ago a controversial study (published in a book called 'limits of growth') warned that we had to curb growth or risk global meltdown. Back then it was criticised and bashed down heavily. Now slowly people are starting to realise that there is absolute truth in this (or are they?). So, as I said, our argument was not about this. We all agreed that the system we have created is doomed for failure. What we argued about, ultimately, was about whether the global community would realise this in time to make enough changes that would prevent a global catastrophe.

Their argument: No! It will take a global catastrophe, or tipping point, for humans to change (i.e. even as far as a huge cataclysmic event that would destroy more than half the human population, leaving only those left who realise that they need to make a change.). Humanity is too far in the system of greed and capitalism, mass media brainwashing and the like for us to change; there is too little time, and there are too little people who know or care enough to change.

My argument: endlessly hopeful (bordering on naive, as my friend would like to put it).

And so the heated debate went on. I used arguments like "if we have the ability to change the world in just two hundred years for the worse, we have the ability to turn things around just as fast", and "what if Martin Luther King had such a defeatist opinion of humanity". And they used arguments like "global population is the biggest problem" and "small changes will not be enough, what is needed is one massive change in mindset which is not the reality in a world in which mass media is controlled by corporations and the like". And how are change agents of sustainability reaching the masses and the "world controllers" (which are, ultimately, massive corporations only out to get global profit - who cares about the future generations, humanity is selfish, and so on).

In the end no one was able to convince anyone of changing their opinion on this topic, and everyone left it at deadlock. But no one went away without having learnt something. I learnt of my own weaknesses in communication and properly listening (instead of just trying to be heard). And I was left with a slightly bad taste in my mouth.

I am of course still hopeful in ability for humanity to change. Yes, we have reached carrying capacity. Yes, we are destroying Earth at an alarming rate. Yes, humans are greedy. Humans have done some immeasurably bad things for a quick buck. And we are all conditioned in certain ways that hinder us from making a positive change. My friend made a valid point. If the people who know and care are too "scared" or "conditioned by their own convenience" to do anything then what hope do we have ("like you, Justine, could only preach if you were to cycle to work, grow your own, live without electricity....but you drive to work, you buy at big supermarkets, you work on your laptop everyday"). And its true. I myself am the first to admit that I am part of this system.

But. But. But. And I actually need the words of someone much wiser than I am to try and push some inspiration into a seemingly doomed future. I am reading this book currently by Alan Atkisson called "The ISIS Agreement". I am intending to write a short and personal summary of it once I am done. But I feel it imperative to add some of his thoughts into my argument here. In a chapter he calls "The Hope Graph", he jots down a job description for those trying to "save the world". One of them strikes me because it came up in our argument last night:

Meanwhile, the momentum of change in the wrong direction will be immeasurably huge, and will continue to accelerate, in ways that seem unstoppable.

There is hope behind the Tom Atlee quote he uses "Things are getting better and better, and worse and worse, faster and faster". And Alan goes on to say something that I must just quote:

But oddly, there is also hope in this picture (of despair). For if the world can be transformed in troubling or dangerous ways, at speeds that beggar belief, it can also change in positive ways, and at similarly incredible speeds. Do you remember the Berlin Wall? Apartheid? The British Empire's Rule in India? Hardly anyone, living at the time when these artifacts of history were a reality, would have been able to predict with confidence how quickly they would be overturned and replaced by new and highly democratic systems. This is the reality of transformation.



The Hope Graph (taken from Atkisson, A. 2008. The Isis Agreement. Earthscan, UK)



I actually remember reading the last section of this chapter in this great book that struck a personal chord. He mentions somewhere in the chapter that when one becomes aware that the world is genuinely headed for big trouble, and that changing couurse requires tremendous efforts, it is impossible to pretend that one does not have this rather important piece of information. For most people, once they begin to grasp the gravity of the situation, not caring is not an option. For those for whom the struggle to maintain hope is a real one, and whom the feeling of being called to a duty greater than one's capacities feels like a burden, Alan makes the following recommendations: read the Earth Charter, as a common, global reference point, a statement that has touched and united people of all faiths and backgrounds. Then write your own manifesto, your own statement or what you believe to be the case in these times, what you stand for, what you are working for in life. He guarantees that you will find the exercise enormously gratifying - and very likely enormously inspiring too.

I am sure that the debate can go on and on and on. And in the end it boils down to two main things. Hope. And faith in humanity.

Lets watch this space to see what the outcome will be.

Mozambique: A case study on how travelling enriches the soul

We all need to decrease consumption and individual emissions and I am aware of this on a daily basis. I have, however, one guilty pleasure. Travelling. I just spent my new year's holiday road tripping with two good friends from Windhoek (Namibia) to Inhambane (Mozambique), a journey that took us a surprising 3200kms, three full days of driving and two nights overnighting (scrolling desperately at 22h00 on an ipad in the car in the dark looking for accommodation on route) to get there. Rumours and paranoia gave us a few hiccups on the way ("what? you forgot your passport photos? but we need them for our visas!!!"....cue two hours in random town looking for a photo place and then discovering at the border of Moz we needed nothing we were told we needed....only our perfectly good and functioning Namibian passports). We made it up as we went along and happily found ourselves bumping around in our seats looking at elephants and chameleons and tortoises in the Kruger National Park as we entered the leisurely northern border of RSA/Mozambique. Anyway, despite the annoyances, the drive was spectacular. We did a country a day, from Namibia, Botswana, South Africa and into Mozambique. Travelling from the west coast of Africa to the east coast.

We arrived in Inhambane at 22h00 at night, tired, annoyed and totally lost. Once we found our camp site at Barra, we set up and passed out. The next morning (heat and sun at five in the morning) we awoke to palm trees and mangrove swamps. And (almost) immediately we packed up some stuff (my surfboard, snorkelling equipment, a cooler with beers and snacks) and off we went on our missions. First mission: find surf. Which we did. Well, which I did. The boys spent their time snorkelling, chilling, and playing their games on the beach and I would surf endlessly. And so it went on. Every day we would get up, have breakfast, get our stuff together and go mission. Every day was different, yet every day was the same. We would be active, but activities would always include surfing, snorkelling, swimming and chilling (is that an activity?). We would then, for dinner, either grab a beer and some food at some bar on the beach, or we would braai some prawns or meat at our camping spot and have a sundowner. We just could not leave that place. We had initially booked camping accommodation at another town further down south for the second part of our 10 day holiday....yet we just stayed in Inhambane as if we would never leave.

Everywhere we went we marvelled at the beauty of the place. I felt a deep connection with the country. And it made me think about love in a different way. I have travelled to quite a few places in my relatively short life. From South Africa to Nigeria, Hungary to Canary Islands, Brazil to Chile, every place has had something special and beautiful. But like with some people, some places you have chemistry with. And the notion makes sense. If you think about it, a country is a system, a living entity if you will. It is made up of its people, its landscapes, its biological diversity and its climate. And with some systems you find absolute love. I had a love affair with Mozambique. Granted it is not the perfect system. Most wildlife is gone, it has been war struck and, like many African countries, has come accross some difficult times. And it can strike harshly at you when it feels like it (I had my absolute naive trust ripped off me: the ocean reefs ate my body and my surfboard, i had all my electronic posessions stolen - and these I will not be able to afford to replace in many years, and because of this we had none of the beautful pictures of our trip). Yet when you find yourself on the beach on a balmy evening after a three hour right point surf session, with the slight breeze on your sunkissed face, drinking your R&R, you will see what I mean when I say "I love you Mozambique".

I was sad to leave. I think we all were. This particular trip, despite also having been on brief trips to beautiful Zambia, Hungary and South Africa last year, made me all the more itchy to spread my wings and fly. The people you meet and the places you see when you are out of your comfort zone, the experiences you have, is worth more than any physical possession you could ever buy yourself. For experiencing the world enriches your soul and breathes endless depth into your life.

The Climate Change: Greed and Convenience versus a Better Society

I break this essay into two parts out of neccessity. First, the political situation regarding climate change. And secondly, public perception and its need to change drastically if we want any spec of global human dignity to prevail through generations. So, first comes first.

1. What have the world leaders committed to?
With my return from the COP-17 going on in Durban right now, I feel obligated to throw in my snippet of thought. I am reminded of this eye-opening documentary I got sent last year from the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) which, in a nutshell, displays the lack of solidarity, transparency and commitment global leaders showed towards climate change at the UNFCCC's COP-15 in Copenhagen in December 2009. This is SEVENTEEN years after the UNFCCC was first drafted in 1992, along with many other neccessary conventions trying to mitigate and/or prevent the negligent way humanity has treated the world environment. Now we are almost 20 years on and while we have made progress, we still are sitting with the same deadlock arguments. The UNFCCC was signed in 1992 by 155 states and the EC and comprises a package which contains elements for almost all negotiating states but left none entirely satisfied. Oil producing countries, led by Saudi Arabia, strongly opposed any substantive obligations in the Convention. Countries like Germany and Japan viewed the Convention as an instrument for gaining a longer term competitive edge through innovative technologies. Large industrialized developing natons like China and India were concerned to ensure that their economic development, including use of coal reserves, should not in any way be limited. Developing countries with extensive forests, like Malaysia and Brazil, were concerned to ensure that primary emphasis of the Convention should be on limiting developed country emissions and not on protecting or enhancing countries' sinks (like rainforests). And developing nations particularly vulnerable to the effects of climate change sought a Convention with strong and enforceable commitments and an emphasis on the adverse effects of climate change. So already then it seems there was a lack of ownership of responsibilities but instead countries trying to protect their own selfish interests at the cost of the global community. Almost twenty years, a failed Protocol which one third of global producing GHGs giant USA never signed (well...lets see what happens in Durban now), a ridiculous "take note" accord later, and the global political community have made but baby steps. Lack of consensus has resulted in no real binding commitments for governments. This was especially reflected at Copenhagen in 2009 where states failed to come to a consensus about the real problems and solutions, and even in Cancun in 2010 there were loose ends which had to be trailed into Durban this year. Now it looks like negotiations are going on with intensity, and perhaps another phase of Kyoto will shed some positive light. But we can all agree that negotiations have complicated themselves immensely. I myself think that it is very simple, and if every country does their bit, then there should really be no complaints.

The bottom line is that developed countries are rich because they have raped and pillaged the lands and polluted the atmosphere; developing countries feel animosity towards being restricted before they have the chance to acquire the same wealth. But quite honestly if developing nations go the same way as the developed nations the world may as well be a rubbish dump, and we will all crash and burn. So, countries that are still developing need to realise that previous acquisitions of wealth were incorrect and should rather move into alternative routes for this acquisition. Now, climate change can only be effectively tackled by governments, if the following first steps are made:  

1. Developed nations should take full responsibility for the anthropogenic causes of climate change. 
2. Industrialized developing nations should realize that they are re-living the same mistakes made by developed nations which have gotten us in this mess in the first place.
3. Developing nations, especially those with such wonderful resources, should realize the potential of their natural heritage and not follow in the same drastic footsteps as developed nations.

So. In a nutshell, developed nations should pay for their mistakes, and all the rest should find new innovative routes to become financially sound, or at least find other measures of success....GNH comes to mind!!! But thats a whole other blog. The payment from the developed nations should go towards these initiatives in developing countries. Developed nations should take responsibility for the detrimental causes of climate change in developing countries, and help them to adapt.  

2. We ALL need to make a change!
So. We have come to a place now where some of us are comfortably comsuming, working our five to six days a week, and so goes the daily grind - most of the rest of the world seems to aspire to this. Lets have more and more, and spend more and more! Lets all live the bling lifestyle that the USA seems to advertise is the "dream". But what they don't tell you is that if we all consume at the rate of the United States, we would need four planets. The Earth is a closed system. We have and are further isolating ourselves from the ecosystem...but yet we cannot live without it, even if we seem to think so. We cannot all consume finite resources (yes, they will run out...and then what?), push waste and expect that it won't end up on our doorstep. And whats this all for? Why have we moved to a place where we work our asses off, spend most of our time indoors watching televison (in essence, watching other people live their lives instead of living our own), and spending money on things that we don't need and falsely think make us happy. I saw this sticker on a friend's fridge the other day. It read: A bad day fishing is better than a good day at work. Then really, what are we doing? I am not saying that lets all bunk today, go live on a farm somewhere like hippies and grow veggies (although...doesn't that sound pretty nice?). I am merely saying that we don't need all the crap that we think we do...and the simpler we live, the happier we are. We can support our local producers, farmers, etc. We CAN eat less meat, or not at all! Did you know that a vegan diet reduces 80% of carbon emissions? We CAN make an effort to recycle, and re-use (laziness stops us until its too late). We CAN walk two blocks instead of drive. I walked everywhere now in Durban during the COP - and you get to see places you were never exposed to before. We CAN advocate and create awareness wherever possible. One small example: why don't we get dispensers at shopping markets? We all can bring tupperwares and fill what ever it is we want in them...instead of endless unusable buckets and containers we buy and throw away. Every little bit counts. We have based our "measure of success" on financial growth...everyone wants money money money...and what for in the end? So we can buy stuff we don't need or even really want in the end. Money and endless "haves" doesn't buy you happiness...you know what does? Your mindset and perspective does.

So, lets all stand together and make that difficult change for the better. Because what we are doing at the moment is as selfish as can be, and detrimental to all other living beings sharing this Earth with us, ourselves, and most importantly, the future of human society.