I have complete faith in humanity

One of the great privileges I have had is to work in both the richest and poorest parts of this planet.

Humanity is, as far as I can tell, about 95% the same in overall attitudes regardless of who, where or how much. Consequently, I have complete faith in humanity. Here are some examples.

• Parents want their children’s lives to be better.
• Any system can be lived with as long as the rules don’t change in an arbitrary manner.
• Concern for family is most important, followed by friends, community and then nation.
• Striving for improvement in living standards is normal.
• Everyone wants a safe and clean working environment, it’s just that putting food on the table will take priority.

Let’s put this in context of dealing with global warming.

• Governments will take care of their own people first.
• Individuals, while concerned about the bigger picture, will put the welfare of their own children in front of the complete stranger’s children.
• The developing world will put progress in living standards, health, education and economic progress in front of helping global outcomes.
• Politicians can buy the votes of people by talking about what happens to their own wallet or purse.
• Businesses will take care of their own shareholders. Companies that don’t worry about this are called not-for-profits for a reason.
• Businesses taking care of their own needs will follow the rules and game the system where they can. They are not responsible for setting up or managing the system.
• Individuals going down the path of personal responsibility are role models, unfortunately, probably won’t reach the critical mass of 5% required to make larger change. The rest of us are just too wedded to our lifestyles.

Humanity is in many ways gloriously predictable – let’s try and work with it.

Note: I work as a project and energy economist with companies and governments on geosequestration,wind, geothermal, hydro, wave, transmission networks, coal seam gas, coal,and more. The views expressed in this blog are solely my own and do not represent the views of any organisation that I do work for.