The future of Greens

SUNNY skies, blue seas, verdant forests, abundant wildlife. We all want our children, and their children's children and beyond, to experience the majesty of our planet.

It was for this core reason that the environmental movement gained such ground in the previous century. But, as with any political and intellectual movement, there has to be growth for it to remain relevant and viable.

There is growing consensus that the green movement is losing this battle. A recent essay written by two committed greens - The Death of Environmentalism - claims that the environmental movement's foundational concepts and its institutions are outmoded. The crux of the essay, according to The Economist magazine, is that environmental groups are out of touch.

One would not have thought so, given that the United Nation's Kyoto Protocol has so recently come into force, signed by more than 140 countries that have committed to cutting the industrialised world's greenhouse gas emissions by 5,2% by 2012. And just this weekend, the 25-member European Union launched the world's first international carbon dioxide emissions trading scheme. The scheme is the implementation tool for monitoring how energy-intensive businesses are reducing carbon emissions.

While the Kyoto Protocol is often lauded as a victory for the environmental movement, it is worth considering two issues. There was a strong lobby against the emissions trading scheme by some environmentalists, particularly in Europe, who feared some companies and countries would be let off lightly.

The second issue is that even if the Kyoto Protocol is fully implemented as envisaged, it is estimated that it will shave a mere six years off the current global warming trajectory. Opinion remains divided about whether global warming is the result of mankind's activities, such as burning fossil fuels and deforestation, or a natural phenomenon.

Whatever the case, we cannot turn back the clock on global warming. We can merely slow down the inevitable. So perhaps environmentalists should consider a modified approach. The world needs to be prepared for global warming. People need to know that sea levels will rise, that crops will be affected, that clean water could become scarce.

Lobbying for funds to educate the world on the effects of global warming, while developing more pragmatic policies, may ultimately be more useful to the world than the current save the planet approach.