The Four “Ps” Needed to Stop Global Warming

Humanity has built an advanced technological civilization by exploiting the Earth’s finite resources. We appear to have an infinite capacity for invention but seldom consider the consequences of our innovations.

Our modern world is built on expectations of growth: in population, the exploitation of resources, and wealth. A 1972 Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) research project produced a study entitled, The Limits to Growth which the Club of Rome published. It pointed to a mid-21st century crisis for industrial civilization. It neither anticipated pandemics nor climate change.

Today we are living with both and in a world of unsustainable growth that is responsible for rising greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. It would seem, therefore, that the growth paradigm of our modern civilization and climate change are incompatible. We have to give up the former while we address the latter to provide a future for those who will follow in our footsteps.

Speaking of footsteps, as a business consultant and in sales, I was taught to walk a mile in my client’s shoes. Only then could I develop a proper perspective that would help solve their business problem and provide the right answers and solutions. That’s harder to do when the client is 7.8 billion people and the ecosphere of the planet with all its species and physical environments to consider. But I’m trying to do the walk and have entitled this posting, the four “Ps” to stop global warming. So without further ado, I present you with the shoes and a walk we can all take.

1. P stands for population and people

Although the carrying capacity of the planet to house and feed humanity going forward has yet to be exceeded (see a previous article I published on this site back in 2012 that calculated the optimal carrying capacity) it is getting precariously uncomfortable for many in what is now called the Global South to continue along their current path.

Climate change is altering the agricultural capacity of nations where rising temperatures, changes in precipitation patterns, and pest inundations are creating food insecurity. Nations in the Global North whose bumper crops have made up the food deficits these countries face are facing disruptions of their own. The best example at present is the Russian invasion of Ukraine which is disrupting food production that could make up for the food deficits of the Global South.

Changing cultural practices that produce large families in many nations in the Global South would be a good first step in addressing growing food let alone other essential resource insecurities like freshwater. China attempted a one-child policy to inhibit national population growth. But because of other cultural practices that favoured boys over girls, China produced a gender imbalance. On top of that, the family-size restrictions have led to the greying of the nation and the attendant costs associated with an aging demographic.

2. P stands for policy development

A population policy that works focuses on the education of girls and women. No single policy has contributed more to alter the demography of nations facing food and freshwater challenges.

Governments are all about policy development. Having worked with the federal Liberal Party here in Canada as a policy person I can attest that a tremendous amount of time and effort is spent on designing workable policies that require strong business cases leading to being costed and funded. Good policy development yields the last two Ps in this posting.

3. P stands for programs that lead to change

During the pandemic governments resorted to injecting vast amounts of money into national economies to help the public deal with lockdowns, and job losses. If the Russians had chosen not to invade Ukraine, most of the planet would have continued to experience an economic rebound with the restoration of jobs and commerce. The pandemic aftershocks and war in Europe, however, continue, taking us away from our focus on programs to address climate change. What kind of programs are viable beyond putting a price on carbon pollution, our fourth P?

Energy conservation programs can dramatically reduce the burning of fossil fuels. That means creating programs, freeing up public money and encouraging private investment that focuses on retrofitting infrastructure whether the places we live in or the places where we work. It means making our cities where most of humanity resides today, more climate-resilient. It means putting public and private money into programs to resettle current and future climate change refugees. It means programs built not around growth but rather sustainability.

4. P stands for pricing pollution

Scientific evidence overwhelmingly indicates that carbon pollution in the atmosphere from human activity is the unbalancing act leading to rising temperatures and rising seas. When the Ozone Layer in the upper atmosphere was being eroded by refrigerant and aerosol gasses we humans produced, the Montreal Protocol created a market mechanism to tamp down hydrofluorocarbon usage by capping production and introducing a trading exchange that immediately saw positive results. The offending gasses began a rapid phase-out and the Ozone Layer has experienced a degree of recovery since.

Putting a price on carbon is seen as similarly effective. Carbon markets that trade offsets have become widespread in Europe. China has an internal carbon trading market. California and several other U.S. states participate in a carbon market. And Canada has implemented a federal carbon price that annually is increasing to move business and industry away from fossil fuel dependency. At the same time, Canada is taking the money it receives from pricing carbon and returning the bulk of it to Canadian citizens, a program that rewards families who pollute less when they pay less for the carbon they use than the money they get back from the government.

A Final Word

So there are the four “Ps” that if practiced should help us to mitigate global warming and where needed adapt to the changes that a 1.5 Celsius warmer world will create.