Who will we blame?

Imagine years from now future generations look back to our times and civilisation has gone through extreme disruption due to climate change; inadequate water, food shortages, a hostile climate and a continuing rise in species extinction.  Who will they blame?

Will we blame the invisible hand of the free market? Clearly not. The idea of the free market is that it has no aims. It assumes that each of us pursuing our own self interest will turn out in the end to be the best for us all but we were guided by no-one and no-one is thus to blame. If we had 500 planets then the ones that happened on the best path would lead the way.

Many will blame the hidden hand; the murky hand of those who deliberately chose the path that would benefit a few in the short term at the expense of the majority but in the end we all suffered. (A clear example of the fallacy of composition).

However most will blame a lack of governance at national and regional level and their lack of cooperation or unwillingness to do so. It is clear as is always the case when we look backwards and things go wrong we will blame those in position of planning. We will blame those who should have used foresight and the best of our knowledge to provide adequate control.

They will also blame an electorate who did not want this.

It should not be a case of free market versus planning and regulation. It should be the best synergetic combination of these political tools at our disposal.

See also Addressing Climate Action Denial.