An Inconvenient Truth

Category: Editorial

Richard Winfield - editor I have at last managed to view Al Gore's film "An Inconvenient Truth" about climate change.

Whether it was my preconditioning or not, my sense afterwards was that we are missing the point.

I had a similar experience when I saw "Supersize Me". This featured the gain in weight and deterioration in health of Morgan Spurlock, who ate only McDonalds food for 30 days. The implication was that this was the result of eating hamburgers and fries. In one scene a doctor says he had never realised before that eating meat could lead to diabetes. But Spurlock also drank Coca Cola and obtained a third of his calories from sugar - which is know to cause diabetes. The facts were in the film but not the conclusion.

The key facts are in the Gore film. The situation is that the quantity of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is increasing rapidly. However, the problem is not the amount of carbon being burned each year. It is the total amount of carbon that has been burned so far. When we burn coal, gas or oil, we release carbon that was trapped millions of years ago. To return that carbon into the ground will take further millions of years.

Ice cores were shown that revealed weather patterns from tens of thousands of years ago. For those ice cores to exist now, they must represent snow that has fallen over tens of thousands of years. Where ice has melted and ice caps retreated it will take tens of thousands of years of snow fall to replace them.

So, it seems to me that while policies to reduce the production of carbon dioxide may be relevant, they may be necessary, but they do not constitute a sufficient strategy.

When a boat is sinking it may be useful to pump out some water. But is also wise to man the lifeboats!

If we were to take a coaching approach (see Coaching Notes below) to the situation, we could use scenario planning, the GROW model and setting well formed outcomes. A major function of coaching is to raise awareness, confront reality and commit to goals. Never has the world needed us more!

You might not agree with my conclusions, but perhaps you can see the benefit of the process. I look forward to your comments as I jet over to Las Vegas tomorrow!

This week I include a second review of Dr John Martini's last London Breakthrough Experience. Jennifer Mcleod, who attended in September, reviews her experience.

Richard Winfield is founder of Brefi Group.

An international facilitator, he coaches and

facilitates directors and boards in transition:

helping them to make progress by

bringing structure and clarity

to their thinking.