30 years and 2.5 billion humans ago ...
E72: Climate "Rio Earth Summit", key moments that changed the world
“Google, what was the Earth’s population at the time of the Rio summit?” 5.5 billion. Was my mind playing tricks with me? Surely it couldn’t have been that low a number? We crossed 8 billion in November 2022. “That changes everything,” I thought to myself.
TL;DR of today’s essay (for those who don’t like too many words):
30 years since the first Earth Summit in Rio
“The best time to plant that tree was 30 years ago” - We could focus on all the lost opportunities …
“The next best time is today” - or we could look at the gain vs the gap. Are we further ahead than we might have been?
What can the science of fashion forecasting teach us about society’s capacity to accept and adopt change? How do we apply that to climate education?
Includes references at the bottom to the Third Age Learning network, Rio
Bonus - For anyone in the Boston area, my son is DJ’ing at Red Lantern on Thursday, February 2, 2023. (When your mother applies for the role of marketing manager). Follow his original music, covers and music journey @teddewithane on TikTok and @ted.de on Instagram.
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Key Moments that Shaped the World
I’m enrolled in a workshop titled Key Moments that Shaped the World, inspired by Neil Oliver’s book The Story of the World in 100 Moments. 9/11, the launch of Facebook take their place alongside Darwin setting out on the Beagle and Guttenburg getting the loan for his printing press. A really mind-bending class, for someone interested in history.
I selected the Earth Summit as my key moment for my presentation to the class and titled it “The best time to plant that tree was 30 years ago”. Imagine how the world might have been different if we’d acted with speed on each of the resolutions passed at that time - 30 years and 2.5 billion people ago. Way before Greta or any of Generation Z showed up on Planet Earth.
The “Earth Summit” was held in Rio in 1992. It was held on the twentieth anniversary of the first United Nations Conference on the Human Environment, hosted in 1972, Stockholm, Sweden. One goal was to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by 2000.
The Rio Declaration was signed by 130 nations. It included protections for forests, oceans, and biodiversity. So what happened? Why are we - in 2023 - in the middle of a climate crisis with flooding and forest fires, bleached coral and melting glaciers, species extinction and respiratory issues?
I struggled to create a logical thread for my class - because I see greed, complacency, and nationalism at the heart of every iota of negotiation eked out at that and each of the following 27 COP summits.
I have to work hard to overcome my fury and frustration, to find hope in this conversation, without whitewashing the sins of all those trying to greenwash their balance sheets. [OK, Karena. Tell us how you really feel.]
A key moment that changed the world? Hmmph. NOT!
“But,” I hesitated, “where would we be if the Rio summit had not happened?” I decided to look to the gain over the gap.
Was there any good that came out of the Rio Summit?
World leaders from 172 countries showed up at this summit. Only two showed up at the Stockholm summit in 1972.
Each country present had worked on its position paper in the year before the summit. No matter the final decisions and pacts made, this was the first time so much concerted attention had been placed on this topic.
The preparations also received input from a large number of interest groups connected to the environment: development, business, industry, labour, religious organizations, universities, women, natives, and youth, as well as all levels of government.
Canada had teams across the country working for a year and half prior to develop their position paper for the summit. Assuming that many countries paid the same attention to their preparation, the volume on this discussion was amplified in the corridors of politics and power.
Learning from Fashion Forecasting
My Manhattan roommate was a fashion forecaster. She advised major ski gear companies, designing the “look” that would be on the slopes two years in the future - the print, the colours, the cut. She is the one who would decide that after the greys come the aquas; after the geometrics, the florals. The “latest” colours used by the ski crowd that year, would gradually seep through the various levels of society, she explained to me. But it is a journey of many years.
As the colour becomes more familiar, it finds its way into special events: restaurant napkins, hotel lobbies.
And then enters our homes. First as an accent pillow, our closets - as a tie, then a blouse, then as face towels or - more permanent - kitchen equipment.
Finally, 10-15 years later, that fuschia pink, neon blue or avocado green would be ubiquitous and comfortable enough that we are willing to have it in our bedrooms - and sleep on sheets incorporating those colours.
Moving the mind of the masses takes time. It is a process.
Maybe, the Rio Summit was the ski slope for the climate conversation. It engaged the elite in government, education, science, and strategy.
Davos has been our hotel, the many COP summits our homes. For GenZ - who have grown up in a world that has only known the dire prediction ahead and who will never experience the abundance of clean air and water as we did, Greta and #FridaysForFuture are towels - in their face, day in, day out. GenZ is coming of age, here to pay and play; voting - with their feet, their money, and their intellect; selecting careers focused on climate solutions. They are willing to make systemic change. This gives me hope.
“Life is the study of attention.
Where your attention goes, your heart goes also.”
Brian Tracy
Maybe we would not be where we are today (as far behind as we know we are) without the Rio Summit.
Seeds
Maybe the Earth Summit was a loose collection of seeds.
Some countries placed them in dry storage. Some paid attention. Some planted them. Some tilled them, then uprooted the shoots in favour of other world calamities facing their population - 9/11, 2008 crisis, various wars, Covid.
It’s up to us to continue to nurture and disperse the message through the world. To get more people used to the language, urgency, and possibility of change. And now to add some fertilizer and create critical mass.
The next best time to plant that tree? Today.
This is not my full view on the topic. But we are at the word limit for today.
On my mind?
How do we manage the climate conversation in parallel with the UN SDG goals that include the moral imperative of raising the world’s population out of poverty? As they make their way into the middle class they will buy the fridge, the car, the packaged food. All trappings of success that impose on the current climate equation. What right do I have to deprive them of celebrating their hard slog into security? How do we do this, 8+ billion people at a time, without adding more pressure to Mother Earth? Time to redefine some basic paradigms - for all of us.
How do we accelerate this discussion of AND? Climate AND Covid. Climate AND food security. Climate AND economics. At each recession and speed bump, we push climate further and further to the back burner. Until it becomes the fire.
Share your thoughts in our comment section, Tribe Tilt. All opinions are welcome.
Learn more about:
The 'Earth Summit' had many great achievements: the Rio Declaration and its 27 universal principles, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the Convention on Biological Diversity; and the Declaration on the principles of forest management. The 'Earth Summit' also led to the creation of the Commission on Sustainable Development, the holding of first world conference on the sustainable development of small island developing States in 1994, and negotiations for the establishment of the agreement on straddling stocks and highly migratory fish stocks.
The Decade We Almost Stopped Climate Change (NYT Magazine 2018)
Third Age Learning TAN - For those who never grow too old to be intellectually curious
ALLTO.ca (Academy for Lifelong Learning Toronto) - we host up to 40 different workshops each year on topics ranging from Travel to Music to History. Some of our 350 members are Canadian legends, a few are old enough to remember the Second World War. Humble enough to attend classes to learn new topics. One is Frank Frantisak, who worked on Canada’s position paper for the Rio Summit. It is a brain trust. History bottled and available to you, if you ask.
Other Climate Conversations:
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Stay healthy until we chat next week,
Karena
The best time to was 30 years ago and the next best time is today is so true for everything Karena
We should have invested
We should have studied
We should have bought property
All of it to say compounding effects affect every part of our life
“How do we manage the climate conversation in parallel with the UN SDG goals that include the moral imperative of raising the world’s population out of poverty?” - this is something I think about a lot. Asking those who are just beginning to enjoy some of the comforts we have always known to give them up to help fix a problem we have caused feels wrong in so many ways.