by Sheila Doucet, AAWE Paris
It was Day 10 of the 12-day conference. Days filled with morning caucus meetings focusing on the latest developments on critical flashpoints, information, panels, press conferences, discussions, extraordinary rencontres. We had a couple of minutes before heading to the People’s Plenary. The on-site location we happened upon was attractive and decorated with sleek posters of serious yet friendly employees peppered with quotes attesting to their devotion to their work and how it positively supports the environment. There were polite exchanges during which it quickly became obvious we were not potential customers, friendly banter about the number of young women employed by the company, about the future of our planet, our collective need to act and the imperative to trust “salvation” through technological solutions.
We don't want to return to the Stone Age, do we?
A short phrase. A sincere belief – or a rationale invented to “seal the deal?” At the very least, it was one of several pre-rehearsed talking points lifted from a pre-organized, upbeat slide deck presented during a pre-COP28 meeting for the company’s commercial team. At the stand, I tried the proffered 3D virtual reality headset, which reproduced the sensations of being on the top level of an offshore wind turbine. There was no Stone Age from “up there,” as you “witnessed” mankind’s technological prowess of “mastery” over Nature – albeit by means of technical trickery tickling your senses.
Caution: Because they are badge-bearing individuals attending COP, your audience members are “climate sensitive.” They are familiar with the stakes. They have facts. They may be dubitative of ours. However, they are human. They have families. They enjoy a certain lifestyle. Grab them by their emotions.
But what was the intended, underlying message? A blind trust in the same technology that seduced us into our current situation? What was the emotional pull? Were we being asked to conjure visions of slipping backwards 6,000 years into a Stone Age, complete with beastly attire and uncooked critters roasting on an open spit fire? We conceivably would not slip all the way back, would we? If so, what might Stone Age 2.0 feel like? Would I have to wash my dinner dishes by hand, or are they suggesting that the modern version of the Stone Age would be closer to having to eat meals off banana leaves? Is it the choice between driving one’s private electric car composed of minerals – which, more often than not, cause irreparable damage to both the environment and other humans as they are extracted – or taking a train to conveniently connect desired locations? Would our children have to resort to walking to school or rather forego education altogether?
My gut feeling is that the Stone Age phrase is meant to scare us into believing there is only one way forward. That humans are on an inevitable, pre-determined, “business as usual” treadmill, where stepping off and daring to change current behavior and cultural aspirations are inconceivable and thereby excluded from the conversation. Incidentally, this status quo path leads us sailing past 1.5°C to many degrees of global warming over pre-industrial levels. Taken to its comical extreme, the underlying assumption sounds as if “everyone” wants to live an idealized life at the shopping mall amongst glitzy lights located near a sanitized suburb. The COVID-19-induced pause and consequent reflection surrounding personal values and aspirations would suggest otherwise.
Where is the middle ground? Where is the world where institutions – governments, civil societies, the media, business, and other societal entities – work together, cooperatively, for the common good of all beings inhabiting this blue planet to explain that our economically and materially developed societies have over-consumed (and have done so for a couple of centuries) our fair share of resources based on an over-reliance on cheap energy? This is unsustainable behavior. We know this because we are increasingly experiencing the wrath of Nature. We know our climate has already changed. Equally important, the developing world is also intimately familiar with our “modern,” “developed” world lifestyles and demands that we must now begin to more equitably share the riches that Nature so abundantly provides us in a different way. Justly.
Let’s not be scared into paralysis or apathy, nor by overzealous scare tactics. We can do better. As seen on a poster at COP 28…. 
For additional perspectives on the use of Stone Age imagery used during COP28, please read this article which appeared in The Guardian.
Photos by the author taken at COP28 in Dubai, 2023.
