What Prof. Schnellnhuber, director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, writes about, in his article Three Ways of Going MAD, how the politicians and the countries have to trust each other in order to turn around the negotiations and get to act in a way that can actually save our planet, can just as well be applied to our social lives.

‘Why should I skip a flight, when my neighbor flies all the time?’ ‘Why should I pay extra for sustainable energy, when only a tiny minority does it?’ ‘Why should I recycle and clean up after my self, why should I take the bike, buy organic or chose the vegetarian dish, when the others don’t?’ However childish they sounds, when we put is like this, these are considerations we hear all the time in the discussion about what we as individuals can do against climate change.   

“In a novel spirit of trust, each country [could be exchanged with ‘individual’] needs to commit to the most ambitious targets and measures that are technologically and economically feasible, on the firm assumption that all other countries will do the same.” (Schnellnhuber).

As Schnellnhuber writes about the global perspective, we won’t get anywhere if we all continue to think like this. We have to trust that our neighbors and every other person, family and society does whatever is in their power, as well economically as physically and timewise, to reduce their  co2 emission. We can only fullfil the necessary changes, if “the logic of MAD [mutually assured destruction] is turned upside down, transforming it into “mutually assured decarbonisation” (Schnellnhuber). If we all did our best, we would also create competition between people in search of being the best and most innovative in creating carbon-low lifestyle.
   
How can we actually get to trust each other more, so we all dare to do our very best to save the climate and not just let us self being driven by the short-sighted fear of economic losses and of declining competitive abilities?

Read also: POLITICIANS, TRUST EACH OTHER AND GO MAD