- by Patrick Dixon
Most of the world’s greatest challenges can be solved with human creativity, energy, commitment and innovation. The choice is ours. The basic tools we need are already here or can be created.
History shows that the future will be shaped by emotion rather than science. Public mood often changes more rapidly than facts.
For example, we may debate what the global climate will look like by the year 2100, but most people in the world believe that warming is already an urgent threat – and their passion alone will drive the greatest cluster of innovations that our world has ever seen.
Consumer pressure will change aspects of every product and service sold. Most large companies will run much faster than government regulators, in a rush to save the planet profitably. And energy giants will try to reinvent themselves as saviours of humankind.
We may need another 30 years of climate data to be sure what is happening, but the global community will not wait, because of the risk of an unstoppable catastrophe being set in motion by then, if the worst predictions turn out to be correct.
Many climate change sceptics will also argue for action, as a global insurance policy against what they see as an unlikely but important risk.
About the author: Patrick Dixon is Chairman, Global Change Ltd, author of 12 books including Futurewise and has been ranked as one of the 20 most influential business thinkers alive today (Thinkers 50 2005). His website has had 12 million unique visitors with 1.6 million video views – covering many sustainability issues. He advises many of the world’s largest multinationals on global trends.
