Emma Howard Boyd “Thank you very much for inviting me to open the first day of an inspiring programme of discussion. The name of this conference – “coastal futures” – is a fantastic provocation. It invites us to look to the horizon and see what the future holds for us – and our coasts. The Governor of the Bank of England, Mark Carney, has talked about the “tragedy of the horizon” – saying that “the catastrophic impacts of climate change will be felt beyond the traditional horizons of most banks, investors and financial policymakers”. This conference gives us an opportunity to answer his call for “a new horizon”, to break the tragedy. The future can be very frightening. Hollywood tells us it will be a grim place – the natural world entirely paved under super-conurbations, or a desert wasteland where humanity fights for survival. Maybe that doesn’t seem like such a leap of the imagination anymore, given the scale of wildfires and other events we are seeing around the world now.
Sure, if we believe Hollywood then we might all have flying cars one day. But that’s not much compensation for total environmental degradation. Does the future have to be frightening?
Last year, Australian film-maker Damon Gameau released a documentary called 2040. He imagines the best possible world we could be living in, 20 years from now. It’s not science fiction. It’s based on technologies and initiatives which are already helping to mitigate and adapt to climate change.
To achieve the best possible future, governments, businesses, communities and individuals all need to make the right choices. About how they invest, and innovate, and build, and live.
We all need to start making those right choices, right now.
I want us to:
- search for new horizons
- imagine our best possible coastal future, and
- commit to doing what it takes to achieve it.
But first, let’s acknowledge the severity of the position we are in – the climate emergency.
The theme for today is “coasts on the front line”. That pretty much sums it up.