Not unreasonably, reporters have said that I need to get on board with the good news. That’s a problem. When you report on the industrial pollution by humanity of everything around us, which is driving the sixth mass extinction and locking in catastrophic climate change, it’s hard to see the light.by David Wallace-Wells as my bedtime book. During the day, this week, I’ve been looking at the data models going into the next mega United Nations climate report.
But, on Tuesday, I saw numbers crunched by reporters at Carbon Brief, saying that the United Kingdom’s carbon emissions have gone down 29% in the last decade, to their 1888 levels, while gross domestic product has grown 20%. A shift at that rate is staggering. We are definitely in a moment where things are changing, dramatically, after years of very little happening about global heating. The UK’s drop is less about being a good global citizen and more to do with efficiency meaning you save money.Markets decide where money goes. If it goes into fossil fuels, we guarantee carbon emissions.In the last two years, the markets, mega investors and pension funds have started to move money away from fossil fuels.
None of this is enough to avoid the 2°C of heating that will probably tear apart our current version of civilisation. But projections are starting to show that it could keep us to about 3°C.PW Botha wagged his finger and banned us in 1988 but we stood firm. We built a reputation for fearless journalism, then, and now. Through these last 35 years, the Mail & Guardian has always been on the right side of history.
These days, we are on the trail of the merry band of corporates and politicians robbing South Africa of its own potential.