How to be a Humankind Superhero

Climate Change is an issue that is unparalleled in the history of humanity and to avert it will require collaboration on a scale never before attempted. Whether we choose to do so strikes right to the very heart of what it is to be human.

The science of climate change is neither new nor disputed. It is now clear that human activity is one of the major causes of global warming and resultant climate change. This site provides a manifesto and inspiration for those who wish to engage in a different human activity; to reclaim a safe climate.

The Greenhouse Effect was first described in 1824. It is a physical phenomenon where certain gases affect the atmosphere to retain heat. It can be demonstrated by laboratory experiments and affects other planets' atmospheres as well as Earth’s. These gases, of which carbon dioxide is the most common are referred to as Greenhouse Gases (GHGs) and are rising concentrations of them in the atmosphere gives rise to global warming.

Burning fossil fuels and clearing forest for pasture are the primary human activities that are impacting on the concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.

The relationship between the concentration of carbon dioxide and temperature was calculated as long ago as 1908. Svante Arrhenius, who developed the equation, also predicted that human activities could cause the planet to warm. It wasn’t until the 1950’s, though, that talk of it actually happening began.

By 1979, the US Academy of Science was warning of the danger of increased carbon dioxide concentrations. In 1992 the Rio Earth Summit saw 189 countries agree to take action and by 1997 the Kyoto Protocol had been agreed. Although that was intended to begin the process of limiting emissions, by 2007 they were 29% higher than 1997. The concentrations of the Greenhouse Gases in the atmosphere is now higher than at any time since humans evolved. There is real doubt about our ability to cope with much higher temeperatures: we need to recliam a safe climate by rapidly reducing our Greenhouse Gas emissions.

In March 2010, James Lovelock, an eminent environmental scientist, gave a newspaper interview where he said;

"I don't think we're yet evolved to the point where we're clever enough to handle a complex a situation as climate change. The inertia of humans is so huge that you can't really do anything meaningful."

It is our belief that the ‘inertia’ is down to three things: our innate desire to make life easier for ourselves, our understanding of risk and how we account for money.

The first two of these can be changed only through personal decision.  The third, how we account for money, is part of the 'rules' we agree to live by. And rules can be changed.

There are solutions to the causes of climate change but they require radical shifts in the way we think and do things: a shift in our shared imagination. They require us to change the 'rules' of accounting for money that we have built on for 500 years so that they take account of the cost of using the planet. It is not an easy task but it is an achievable one. The main areas of focus are transport, electricity generation, heating our homes and buildings,food production and replanting trees. We need to change our shared imagination of how we do things related to energy. Ultimately, though, the solution is not to be found in the privation of the few but a fundamental change in how we account for our activities and that needs a political solution.

‘How to be a Humankind Superhero’ uses the myth of Hercules to guide you to achieving that and is intended as a manifesto and inspriration for us to reclaim a safe climate.