Contributed by Jill Caldwell at Windshift Communications

I had written a fairly dour December piece– all about how if it wasn’t one thing it would be another in 2009 -  the deepening global recession on the one hand and on the other, the pressing need to get some of that carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere.  

But it was too gloomy. I couldn’t do it to you. I procrastinated. Now it’s too late and most of you will read this in 2009. So I thought I might look on the bright side instead and indulge in the audacity of hope. Looking for the silver lining.

Of course having spent 2008 profiting from the downturn with our ground-breaking Time of the Hunter research, I was pleased there was still a reasonable amount of gloom and doom about.

And it was good to hear about ice storms in the US and record snow in Vegas because I'm going to be doing quite a bit of eco work next year and I'd like it if demand is high. Yeah I know - all about me.

But set alongside the northern summer’s images of polar bears on tiny ice floes, we are all getting the picture that the climate is increasingly unstable and that we need to save ourselves from our carbon emitting ways.

So here’s my top 10 silver linings to the clouds of 2008.

I’ll begin at the deep end shall I?

1. Well, don't worry about saving the planet. Whatever happens to the climate, the planet will survive – which is good because I like Earth.  And once it sorts out this pesky infestation of humanity it’ll be as good as new. The tuataras and cockroaches are ready and waiting. They know how to survive.

2. The question is - do we? And you know I think maybe we do. I think back to the chances we’ve already had to destroy ourselves and so far we’ve done pretty well  at avoiding them. There hasn’t been nuclear annihilation – even though the button has been there to be pushed for over 50 years and one of the most dangerous men in the world has been in charge of it for the last eight.

3. And we haven’t died out as a result of plagues or disease. We've found cures and palliatives. Though man flu is still a terrible worry.

4. We can clean up our environmental messes. Cities that used to be black with soot and smog got cleaned up.  We reduced use of CFC’s pretty quickly once we realised we’d made holes in the ozone layer – though it's by no means at zero. Did you know that? But DDT use was totally banned once we realised it was so freaking toxic. [Sorry food chain.]

5.And just because our global financial system has become so complex and abstract that really none of us understand it anymore doesn't mean we can restore a sense of the value of things. Scarce things always have potentially great value. Right now that would be things like security, for instance. And trust.

6. When we realise we need to upgrade our infrastructure we can. For example, sanitation and public health has been recognised as one of the key differences between the mortality rates of the 19th century and the 20th. Think about the effort and investment involved in getting sewers laid everywhere and a loo in every home. And they didn't even have social marketing.

7. It’s exciting to think about the products, services and even industries that will get a boost or move in new directions as a result of our current dilemmas – clean energy, low emission vehicles, global communications, food production, water conservation, building and construction. Lots of opportunities.

8. Our diminished consumption and its flow on effects to jobs means Obama and leaders like him have a much better chance to create green jobs than he would at any other time.  People will want to gravitate to more solid employment opportunities. Climate change and peak oil should be good for a century or so.

9. So yes it’s time for a makeover. In evolutionary terms this is one of those bottleneck moments – one in which the smart and the lucky will survive and prosper. As one who loves the Living Channel and its frequent transformation of sows ears into silk purses, I can’t wait to see how it all turns out.

10. And really, we’re ready for something new. Like the sixties, this has been a decade of abundance and fear. Shopping for the newest best thing has saved us from thinking about the gathering storm. Global sport has been the new opiate of the people. But the distractions have stopped working. There have been just too many newest best things. And too many mediocre sporting moments.

The new world may be one of eco-frugality but it won’t be dull and worthy. It’ll be fun and exciting. Instead of being trapped in the immediacy of NOW we get to look up and look around and feel alive and connected and fresh.

It’ll be like the other part of the sixties - the going to the moon bit. Which happened even as the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament was marching to ban the bomb, Vietnam was taking its toll and the hippies were having their summer of love.

Is that enough hope for you to be getting on with?

Related Reading:
What Makes Life Good for the (a) Planet and (b) Ourselves
2008 Word of the Year: Change

Image Credits:
Papalars
James Jordan