Anthropocentric Vanity.

Last week, we talked about environmental accounting as a solution to environmental problems of today. As a matter of fact, holistic accounting methodology could be our best chance at achieving sustainable development today. There are a few ways we can achieve sustainable development and one of the ways is decoupling. Biofuels allow mankind to grow our own fuels instead of having to source for more coal or fossil fuels for energy production. Even though carbon dioxide is still released when biofuels are burned, biofuel crops take in carbon dioxide as they grow hence there is zero net carbon released into the atmosphere. Since production of energy using biofuels reduces our reliance on finite energy sources and has zero net carbon emissions, it brought us a step closer to decouple from nature by reducing reliability and mitigating global warming to a certain extent. Is that really the case? Other than the carbon cycle, mankind has tipped the nutrient (nitrogen and phosphorous) cycle as well. Land that are intensified and constantly produces crops will run out of nutrients eventually, especially if agricultural practices were unsustainable. Usage of chemical fertilisers would be increased hence pollution worsens in nearby water bodies. Are such costs included when considering the use of biofuels? 

Lets take a look at the carbon cycle:

Legend:
Triangle – Zero net carbon change in the case of biofuels
Red oval – Processes accelerated due to human activities
Yellow box – Processes that should be accelerated

Since some processes in the carbon cycle are accelerated cause of humans, other processes in the cycle should be occurring at a higher speed as well so that ‘carbon equilibrium’ can be maintained. Evidently, the best solution to ensure carbon equilibrium is to restore carbon back into the form of coal or fossil fuels or any equivalent, a process also known as carbon sequestration. However, little attention or resources has been allocated to research in this area as there are no economic benefits from doing so. Furthermore, finding a solution of that sort would mean an end to the climate change crisis. If we think about it, the climate change issue has been beneficial to various industries such as the air-conditioning, irrigation, renewable energy industries etc., albeit to different extents. Hence, attention and resources are diverted to sustainable development which focuses on creating new technology to ensure continuity of human survival such as Genetically Modified Food and biofuels. New technology bring about a new set of problems which are usually resolved by creating another type of technology that creates more problems. It is a positive feedback that does not stop. We ‘develop’ as we innovate, create new problems, then innovate again to solve new problems. So are we working towards absolute decoupling or deviating away from it? Why are we not finding the missing link in the carbon cycle (sequestration) to solve this problem once and for all? It is not wrong to say that anthropogenic development happens because of vanity. We create problems to solve and feel clever and great about ourselves after solving it.