We are at a point of no return.....

We are at a point of no return and CopOut26 underlined the failure of governments to set aside political and economic vested interests to prevent global ecocide. Is it any wonder that young people don’t trust politicians, governments, institutions, corporates and banks?

Today’s Clubhouse explored so many facets of the problem which brought us to the final climate countdown. Our participants, mostly under the age of 30, reminded us that the first climate change reports were presented to US Congress at the end of 1950s, it wasn’t till the 1970s when the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) was founded – and the first Earth Day was established – that climate change was brought into the public arena globally inducing people to start pressing their governments to stand up and take note.

In the meantime, vested interests and the pursuit of profits versus people and the planet had plenty of time and money to throw at discounting and ‘rubbishing’ any independent academic climate science research.

And this still goes on as belief in anything spewing out of social media is considered valid. This also adds to the problem as there is no control into the veracity of what is being disseminated and scientific facts are often dismissed in a wave of “anti-science”.

Also, the lack of transparency is something that concerns not just young people but many others who have been bamboozled by the “dirty tricks” of greenwashing. We all intend to do the right thing, buy products which are sustainably produced or invest in companies/stocks which are environmentally and/or ethically sound.

But it has become increasingly difficult, if not impossible, to ascertain the integrity of the entire supply chain which goes into making a product environmentally friendly and ethically viable. Perhaps advances in technology, where the entire history of a production chain can be mapped out, could guide us make the right choices?

Indeed according to a recent Financial Times report, international financial watchdogs are ratcheting up their scrutiny to provide more transparency in ESG criteria to ensure the integrity of financial markets and protect investors, since they realise “greenwashing could damage the credibility of the green finance movement to limit the rise in global temperatures to 1.5C”.

However, is this too little, too late? Will young people ever gain trust in a system that has let them down so badly and do they have any better ideas on how to balance the need to make money, have a good lifestyle and not destroy the environment and kill the planet in the process?