14 March 2020 | New Scientist | 47If there was a single thing that you would like
people to do, what would it be?
TRC: To realise the privilege of living at this
moment. Future generations will look back
and think, “My God, they lived at the fulcrum
of this massive change.” And they will either
say “they were unable to deliver their
responsibilities” or “they dug in and did
something remarkable”. I think bringing that
consciousness to mind can turn this problem
into something that we really feel engaged with.CF: Related to that, I think an increasing
number of people are waking up to the
fun of this, to the reality that we can create
something completely different, and that
this could be the most exciting experiment in
the history of humankind. My parents didn’t
have this choice, and my children won’t have
it either. It is those of us who are adults right
now that have this choice to make in the next
10 years. That’s it. How exciting is that? To
wake up to our agency, to our power, to our
creativity, to our innovation. So, what I would
really love is for people to experience the joy
of co-creating a better world. ❚Rowan Hooper is
New Scientist’s podcast
editor and co-presenter
of New Scientist WeeklyMATTHEW ABBOTT/PANOS PICTUREScompetitiveness of US industry, because it’s
very evident that China, India and other
countries are clearly investing in the new
technologies that will dominate the future
market in solar, wind, electric vehicles and
batteries for charging those vehicles and
supporting the electric grid. The US will not
be able to keep up in that race.President Trump has said he supports the Trillion
Trees Initiative, which aims to protect and grow
a trillion trees by 2050. Is that a good thing?
CF: We were all surprised that he came out
with this statement. However, I am holding
on to the possibility that a trillion trees will“ An increasing
number of people
are waking up to
the reality that we
can create something
completely different”
Left: Climate change is likely to lead to
more wildfires, such as those that
spread across Australia late last year
Below: Saving the planet is a
responsibility that all of us carrybe planted by millions of people around the
world. We must reduce emissions, but we
must also increase the planet’s capacity to
absorb carbon from the air and to put carbon
back into the soil where it belongs, improving
its fertility and regreening Earth. Planting trees
is a technology that has existed for thousands
of years. It is quite cheap and very effective, so
we should all get to it.Tom, you spent some time in a forest in
South-East Asia, living as a Buddhist monk.
How does that feed into the philosophy that
the two of you have put together?
TRC: One of the things I took away from that
experience is this saying: “A bright mind is
both the first step on the path and the final
goal.” The Buddha was very clear that to make
progress on your spiritual path, you must
approach your own internal state with a degree
of curiosity, intrigue and gritty determination –
and that you have to do it looking forward so
that you can shine a light on where you go.
I think that kind of brightness of mind, that
sense of possibility and exploration is critical
to what has been achieved so far. We saw that in
Paris. Once the attitude of everybody shifted
from “this is impossible, we’re never going to
do it” to “actually we can do something really
remarkable here”, it became the most fun party
in town and everyone climbed on board – and
then we really made progress.SACHELLE BABBAR/ZUMA PRESS/PA IMAGES