Graham Lawton reports in NewScientist (22 August 2020) on the newest environmentalist goal:
Jackson’s theme was restoring the atmosphere, by which he means returning it to its pre-industrial state. Jackson said he was no longer satisfied with goals to keep warming to 1.5°C or some other arbitrary value, but longed to return the atmosphere to how it was before we started dumping carbon dioxide, methane and other pollutants into it.
Taking inspiration from the growing field of ecological restoration – intervening to help degraded ecosystems recover – he argued that we should treat the atmosphere as we do wetlands, forests or endangered species. We don’t merely aim to halt their destruction, but to nurse them back to full, pristine health. The atmosphere deserves no less. Think of it as rewilding the sky.
Yes, he admitted, it seems a “preposterous idea”. We can’t even stabilise levels of greenhouse gases, let alone reverse them. But, he said, with so much bad news we need a new narrative of hope. Temperature thresholds are abstract; normal people don’t relate to them. “They don’t provide a narrative that has, or will, lead to action.”
There is a certain importance in having impossible goals, because sometimes they’re not impossible.
But I’m wondering about the definition in this case. It might be great to have the atmosphere returned to some pristine state – even defining such a state strikes me as being problematic, unless you have large error bars. Really big ones, maybe. I mean, pristine can mean an atmosphere nearly empty of O2, if you push back the time of your definition far enough.
But how about connecting the state of the atmosphere to the state of the environment? An endless chase after some indefinable pristinity may lose adherents, but chasing after removal of contaminants inimical to life is far more measurable – and good for both wildlife and humanity.
In the end, it’s hard to see this happening unless the size of humanity is shrunk, and in a peaceful manner, too. But I do look forward to seeing if this nascent movement thrives or deteriorates. I’ve been so wrong on my predictions on these sorts of things that I expect this one’ll take off.
