Climate change remedies must address individual incentives

Any reasonable person would little doubt the degree of effect that human activity is having on the climate. Indeed, one would be surprised if it was not having such an effect. But articulating the problems of our existence on this planet is not the issue.

The problem is that we are only just becoming aware of the issues relating to climate change, and furthermore, in figuring out ways in which to alter behaviour that we - both as a global population, and more specifically as nations and developed societies - might not want to change.

Technological advances and the harnessing of natural resources has exacerbated our hedonistic excesses and our desire to simplfiy our lives and pursue our happiness. Suddenly being told that to continue this behaviour puts the future of the planet at stake is something not everyone finds easy to believe, and a vast number of others simply refuse to believe. These are the people that lie at the heart of the battle over climate change.

The scientific argument cannot be much more apparent. One can only lay out the evidence for an argument, not force people to believe it. Instead these people must be given other incentives to reduce their carbon footprint and make more efforts to restrict their contribution to climate change.