By Raquel Thompson
5 June 2009 [MEDIAGLOBAL]: During an evening discussion at Columbia University, Dr. Rajendara Pachauri spoke candidly about the attitudes hindering sustainable development in the Global South, the philosophical change all individuals need to embrace, and what role the Nobel Prize-winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) can play in addressing these issues.
Pachauri, under whose Chairmanship the IPCC was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007, said, “I really think we need a philosophical change… The time is gone when the human species can believe that we can plunder, we can kill, we can use everything around us because we are supreme and we’re above what nature has provided around us.”
“I also believe,” Pachauri furthered, “we need changes in lifestyles based on this philosophy… The one thing that I always say is please eat less meat. The meat cycle is very intensive in terms of greenhouse gas emissions.”
Pachauri noted that although the vast majority of environmentally unsustainable lifestyle habits are found in the industrialized countries, he is nervous about their growing popularity in the developing world. “I get very concerned when I see this preponderance of personalized motor vehicles as the means of transport growing in every part of the developing world. We’re not spending enough on public transport and I think that’s a mistake.”
“I find it totally unthinkable that we have shopping malls that are energy guzzlers like those in the United States. We have to get away from all that. But I’m afraid this seems to be the fashion. Everybody, even in a slum, sets his eyes on and dreams of the good life, which involves buying a car, using a car, and getting an air conditioner in the home… We have to find a totally different path,” he added.
Pachauri outlined a more sustainable route to development. “We can construct buildings that are radically different in terms of energy consumption than what you have in the developed countries. Having said so, this really means creating new expertise, new institutions, which don’t exist, and perhaps completely revamping the knowledge of architecture and the attitude of architects.”
The series of buildings that constitute Pachauri’s Tata Energy Research Institute in New Delhi produces no power from the grid.
Pachauri also noted the need to strengthen the public transportation system in cities of the developing world, ensure efficient energy use in industry, and shift to greater use of renewable sources of energy.
The obstacle embedded in choosing an alternate path, however, was not lost on the IPCC Chairman. “The thing is we don’t have any paradigms, we don’t have any models that we can emulate. We have to start from scratch. And that’s always very difficult because there’s been a monoculture in development all over the world. There’s just one pattern of development⎯that which evolved in North America. We need to change that.”
Despite being outspoken during the discussion, Pachauri expressed his hesitation with using his role as Chairman of the IPCC to officially advocate for the adoption of any specific measure. “My fear is if [the IPCC] gets into that role we would lose a lot of our credibility. One reason why we have some level of credibility is because we carry out an assessment of all options…and then it’s for the negotiators, the governments, [and] civil society to decide what suits them and what they would like to adopt. If we start advocating then I’m afraid the sanitary appeal of the IPCC will probably be diminished substantially.”
The IPCC was established in 1988 as an intergovernmental body to assess the reality of climate change. To date, the organization has produced four assessment reports.
Pachauri shared with MediaGlobal his desire for the upcoming fifth assessment report (AR5), “It is our intention to pay much greater attention to the social science and humanitarian dimensions of climate change in the AR5. I hope we would be able to do that adequately. In particular, we would look at the socioeconomic impact of climate change in different parts of the world and evaluate measures for avoiding or minimizing risk.”