IMAGINE a Scotland so battered by storms that St Andrews' famous Old Course has been destroyed by floods. Foreign holidays are a distant memory, and the nation is populated by near vegetarians who can only delight in the occasional Sunday roast. But despite these apparent hardships, brought on by the trials and tribulations of climate change, Scots are nevertheless happier.
It might sound unlikely, but this is the vision of leading thinkers asked to depict a Scotland in 2050 that had met its targets of cutting greenhouse gas emissions by 80 per cent.
Opinion leaders, from academics to politicians, were invited to wri
te essays, which are being unveiled today at a seminar called "Reducing Carbon Emissions – the View from 2050".
Professor Jan Bebbington, vice-chair (Scotland) of the Sustainable Development Commission, described a country battered by storms, flooding and coastal erosion to such an extent that people could no longer look forward to ever witnessing an Open Championship on the links at St Andrews.
However, she also depicted a country where people were happier because society's values had moved away from consumerism towards relationships with family and friends.
"While everyone still consumes in order to meet their needs, consumption is seen much more as a means to an end rather than an end in itself," she said.
In the Scotland she described, politicians had succeeded in involving more people in decision making, strengthening democracy.
The Fife Diet, which currently involves about 100 people eating local produce, had become internationally famous and Rangers and Celtic football teams had inspired the nation by eating a healthy, low-carbon diet known as the "Glasgow Diet". Most people had become vegetarian, eating meat sparingly but "with great relish".
Car clubs and renewable energy flourished and a new tax system was based on use of greenhouse gases.
Prof Bebbington told The Scotsman it was too early to judge whether Scotland will indeed be successful in meeting its targets. "If we are going to, we really have to be very serious very fast," she said.
Simon Pepper, Rector at the University of St Andrews, also envisaged that a 2050 Scotland that had met its climate-change targets would have developed new values. He described how: "Diets simplified, 'trivial travel' was decimated, businesses took advantage of improved telecommunications, and holidays abroad dropped well below the ludicrous early 21st century projections of the airport operators."
He added: "Airport expansion began to seem like science fiction". However, instead of "doom and despair" at the sacrifices he said people were happier.
"People started to discover more value in health, peace of mind and fellowship than income and status, and took pleasure in simpler things, enjoying the odd Sunday roast or holiday abroad more as a treat than a routine expectation," he wrote.
He imagined how car sharing led to eased congestion, the streets were calmer and there was a renewed sense of community.
Patrick Harvie, a Green MSP who imagined he was giving his farewell speech to parliament in 2050, also painted a picture of a society that was happier and fairer.
He depicted a situation where people at first found it challenging to move away from giant retail chains and "jump on to the allotment bandwagon", and to realise their place on the property ladder would fall "from under them".
However, he said eventually it led to a more equal society. "Freed from the relentless pressure to acquire and flaunt material wealth, and to judge one another by their acquisitions, our society has managed that inequality rather better, and reduced it more quickly, than was the case with the poverty of the post-industrial society we left behind," he wrote.
He finished his imaginary parliamentary address by moving a motion that: "The conspicuous greed, which characterised society over much of the last century and which is inextricably linked to ecological harm of all kinds, must never return to demean and diminish human society."
BACKGROUNDSIXTEEN opinion leaders have written essays based on their vision of Scotland in 2050, assuming it meets its emissions targets. They were set the task by the David Hume Institute.
The essays were written by business leaders, academics and politicians, religious leaders and the Scottish Youth Parliament. They will be unveiled at a seminar at Our Dynamic Earth in Edinburgh today, called Reducing Carbon Emissions – the View from 2050. The idea was the brainchild of Richard Wakeford, the director-general of environment at the Scottish Government.
The full article contains 754 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
