Life Plus 2M

Life Plus 2M

The annual meeting of the United Nations Environmental Committee was taking place in Paris. The event was supposed to take place in New York, but had been changed at the last minute because New York had been hit by floods once again.

England's Environment Minister, Colin Potts, had arrived by private jet last night and stayed overnight at one of Paris's finest boutique hotels. He was awoken this morning by the sound of the doorbell.

"Come in!" he called out.

The door opened and one of the hotel's drones flew into the room, buzzing quietly. It landed on the table, there was a soft "click" as a shutter flipped open and a tray was carefully deposited on the table top. The shutter snapped back into place, the drone launched and flew back out of the room, the door closing automatically behind it. Colin could still hear a soft humming sound as the drone disappeared down the corridor.

He pulled himself out of bed and sat down at the table to enjoy his breakfast, while reading the news on his computer. He was browsing the headlines and sipping hot coffee, when a message appeared on the computer screen.

"Reminder – meeting at Paris Marriott Rive Gauche Hotel at 10am CET. Time to destination currently stands at 23 minutes."

Another popped up immediately afterwards. "Dear esteemed guest, please be informed that your car will meet you at the main entrance to the hotel at 9.30am CET."

Having showered, dressed and finished his breakfast, he was waiting when his bodyguards arrived at 9.25am to escort him. As promised, the car was waiting for him and the hotel staff had already programmed it to take them to the Marriott. The car set off on the short journey, automatically adjusting its speed so that it was always 5 kilometres below the limit. An automated voice informed them at three minute intervals how far they were from their destination.

They arrived at the Marriott and Colin was ushered inside and guided to the conference suite which had been set up for the meeting. He mingled for a few moments with other delegates, and then took his seat at a large, oval table. Each delegate was provided with a small ear piece, which would provide them with a simultaneous translation into their mother tongue of whatever was being said by the other delegates.

As the meeting was being held in France, the French minister, Pierre Rozat, would chair the meeting. Once everyone was seated, he stood up to welcome everyone.

"Ladies and gentlemen! Welcome to the 2097 meeting of the United Nations Environmental Committee. It is a pleasure and an honour to welcome you here to our beautiful city of Paris. Now," he said, settling into his seat and assembling his features into a suitably serious expression. "We have very important matters to discuss here. Climate change is a big problem for all the world and we must try to find a solution."

He smiled hopefully at his fellow delegates. "We are getting close to the end of the century now and scientists are telling us that sea levels have risen, uh, hang on..." He tapped on the computer in front of him a few times. "Uh, two metres, sea levels have risen two metres in the last one hundred years. It is our job to find a way to stop them rising any further."

Colin glanced around the room and noticed that half of the delegates were looking at their computers and the other half were staring dreamily into the distance. One or two had their eyes closed.

"I thought we could start by reviewing what the committee has achieved since our last meeting," Pierre continued. "There is a report in the file on your computers."

There was some half-hearted tapping as the delegates located the relevant file on their computers and began to skim- read the report.

As Colin read, a sense of unease began circling the pit of his stomach. The projects they had discussed last year, and at every meeting he had attended since becoming Environment Minister, were set out in great detail. Grand and elaborate plans to pump cool water on to the glaciers in Antarctica, to invest further in solar, wind and wave power, to introduce and increase taxes on fossil fuels. But any details of the action which had been taken were vague and non-committal. The language darted skittishly around the subject matter, shyly avoiding g any concrete facts or figures. The report was littered with empty phrases such as "the committee remains dedicated...." or "all possible action will be taken....."

In short, nothing had been done.

Colin felt a knot of guilt tighten in his chest. He knew he and his government were as much to blame as the others.

Pierre had finished reading the report and was looking around helplessly at his fellow committee members. "Uh, so it seems that maybe not as much has been done as we might have hoped......."

The minister from Spain spoke up. "The problem is, we've had a recession to deal with for the last five years. Many of us are struggling to keep our countries going. We have high unemployment, rising prices, insolvent companies. We just don't have the time or money to deal with this."

Many of the other delegates chimed in to express their agreement. The Spanish minister had given them an excuse, a way to expel the guilt that was tip-toeing into the room, and they were going to grasp hold of it.

"He's right," the Chinese minister said. "Many of our countries are massively in debt. We don't have the money to put into these projects. Other issues take priority."

His words resonated with Colin. In government meetings, the primary concerns were always the same – unemployment, healthcare and education. The issues affected vast swathes of the public in an immediate and pressing way, and these people were always hungry for instant results. When a disaster struck, such as the floods which were becoming more and more prevalent along the coast, the people affected wanted to help to fix their houses, clear their drains and erect flood barriers. The pressure on the government was always to provide immediate solutions to current problems. Lobbying to invest in long-term projects which may improve life for future generations came from small groups and factions, but this pressure was weak compared to the might of the general public's demands.

Colin wanted to agree with the other delegates, and blame the bullying population for his government's inaction, but his conscience propelled through the excuses and forced him to speak.

"But we have to do something," he said. "If we keep going as we are, more and more people will lose their homes, which will be even more of a drain on governments. More people needing new houses, new jobs, more government support."

His words were met with silence. The delegates stared at their computers, afraid of seeing accusation in anyone else's eyes.

"He's right," the German minster said, eventually. "Plus, the environmental change is not good for people's morale. Remember the uproar a few years ago when the polar bear went extinct."

Colin remembered it well. Thousands of species had died out over the last century, but the outrage at the extinction of the iconic polar bear had spread across the world like a Mexican wave. The story had been headline news for weeks, leading to petitions, protests and demonstrations. But, as with all scandals, it burnt fiercely and then eventually died out, quickly crumbling from people's memories. Now when anyone mentioned the polar bear, people looked mildly sad, muttered something like "what a shame," and then immediately started talking about something else.

"So what do we do then?" the Chinese minster asked.

The delegates looked around helplessly at each other, and Colin was reminded of a group of school children who had been told to work together on a class project. Nobody knew what to do and everybody wished they were somewhere else.

"I suppose we need to persuade our governments to find the money for climate change initiatives?" the German minster said.

The other ministers mumbled their agreement, but their doubtful expressions belied their words.

"Well then," Pierre said, stretching a smile across his face. "I suppose that's it for today then. See you next year!"