P is for perspective

It would take an insane, clueless or intellectually challenged person to argue that the current financial turbulence is not having an effect globally. Gone are the days of the economic six degrees of separation from redundancy, financial loss or indebtedness.

On this point I will not break the consensus.

However that is where my commitment to the consensus ends. The current problems are indeed serious but they are not terminal. Once the economic storm has blown itself out will the earth continue to spin? Certainly. Will the sun continue to set and the moon rise? Absolutely.

Will season follow season? Yes. But what shape these seasons take is in our hands. If climate change is allowed to continue unchecked and sidelined then we may not live to see the new day. In this scenario there will no blame game on offer. There will be no analysis of what activity or inactivity was right or wrong.

That is why perspective in our social and political systems is so important.

It is no longer good enough to talk about pruning the habit tree when the roots are sick.

It is for this reason that I applaud the 10-year framework to tackle climate change announced today by the President of the Maldives, Mohamed Nasheed. I applaud the announcement because it is precisely the aggressive and assertive action we ALL need to be taking now.

But where is the rest of the global village?