Low-carbon economy will pay its way, predicts Martin

James Hayes, editor, IT section -- Exclusive --

The transition to a low-carbon economy would bring big financial gains to the societies that undertake it, according to author and social entrepreneur James Martin. Interviewed exclusively on IET.tv’s IT Channel, Martin believes that ‘carb-ageddon’ can be averted if developed nations “re-build” their principle industries to minimise their impact on the environment.

“Every industry has got to be rebuilt,” Martin says (at http://tv.theiet.org/technology/infopro/index.cfm). “We’ve got to completely change the car industry, the energy industries, obviously. But we’ve also got to completely change our food industries, agriculture, and the telecommunications and computer industries. And we need to change the entertainment industry totally.”

Rather than prove prohibitively costly, the move toward low-carbon reindustrialisation will actually become a prime economic driver. “As we rebuild all of those industries, some people are going to make huge profits,” Martin says. “Making the corrections is not necessarily negative for the economy. If we do the right things, I think it’s going to be strongly positive for our global economies.”

Last February, Martin gave the 2008 Turing Lecture, which included the premiere of 'The Meaning of the 21st Century', a feature-length documentary based on his 2006 book of the same name, and narrated by Hollywood actor Michael Douglas.

Martin’s message places great emphasis on the importance of winning young hearts and minds to the cause of ecological engagement: “So we need to get young people to understand what their life is going to be like, and how much better they will be if they play the right role in changing things,” he tells IET.tv. “It’s absolutely amazing that every child is taught history, but no child is taught about the future. It’s much more important to understand the future than it is to understand history.”

Martin called on the IET and other professional bodies to do more to "understand what they can about the future and its dangers, and do as much to steer us away from the bad things as they do to steer us toward the good things”.

Further information:
www.jamesmartin.com
www.21school.ox.ac.uk