Innovation as a global warming solution
Have you ever read old science fiction books? The ones claiming that in 2023, we’ll be traveling by flying cars and commuting to other galaxies? If you have, you have likely been fascinated by the difference between what we predicted the future would be and what it actually is. In a way, studying previous and current predictions for the future together can help to see the trend and make predictions more accurate. When it comes to global warming solution predictions, the trend seems to be innovation.
For example, in the 2000s, when scientists discussed the future of meat, they often talked about insects. They seemed like the perfect sustainable replacement for beef. Insects are an animal-based protein. They cost cheap per portion and have undeniable health benefits and a low carbon footprint. Insect farms also take much less space than pastures so we could replace pastures with fields and feed more people.
In 2023, we don’t see insects sold in supermarkets and restaurants in the West. This smart solution to global warming was abolished because, well, it required people to change their behavior. It required costly marketing campaigns, educational programs, and government subsidies over dozens of years. Yikes!
Instead, the beef problem is being solved with innovation or artificial meat. It looks like beef, smells like beef, and tastes like beef, but it’s been grown in a lab. It is so far really costly, but it allows people to eat their burgers in peace.
Another example is single-use plastic. At some point, government officials thought that asking people to use wooden baskets, tote bags, or glass containers to do grocery shopping could solve the problem of plastic contamination. However, it would require people to plan their shopping. “I want to buy a loaf of bread and a liter of milk, so I'm taking two containers and one tote bag.” When the customer comes to the shop, though, they start remembering everything else they wanted to buy: wet wipes, frozen peas, or two loaves of bread for the price of one. They buy new containers and new tote bags and abolish them the next week. This creates even more carbon footprint as multiple-use bags and containers are not easy to produce.
Innovation is helping us solve this problem, too. To protect the environment while not changing anything for the people, we came up with single-use non-plastic bags from paper, cornstarch, and even seaweed.
Why are some global warming solutions abolished and some implemented? We could blame people’s behavior, but it’s pretty predictable and changeable if we put the effort in. The real issue is systemic and hardly changeable. See, true sustainability cannot coexist with capitalism by definition. Sustainability means today equals yesterday equals tomorrow. In capitalism, the pie has to get bigger, and the economy has to grow. If something stays the same, it stagnates.
You can argue that some developed countries are both becoming wealthier and greener, but it’s not entirely true. If Norway, for example, reduces its oil consumption, non-recyclable waste, and greenhouse gas emissions, it means that somewhere in Pakistan, oil consumption, waste, and carbon emissions are increasing. So far, we do not have the affordable technology to neutralize the impact of throwing away Shein clothes every few months, buying a new phone every year, and commuting by personal car.
If we are to slow down the global warming, we better acquire that technology soon.