Solution: The Feedback Loop
Today, when you recycle your cans and newspapers, or take a cloth bag to the store, no one tells you how many pounds of CO 2 were not released into the atmosphere because of your actions. There is no feedback loop, no positive reinforcement for your good deeds.
But if you drive a Prius, you see your miles per gallon at every instant, in five minute increments, and for the current tank-load on a single, visually appealing, display. The feedback loop is continuous. Fellow Prius drivers tell you what you should be getting, so you know if you are doing well, or need to adjust your driving habits to get closer to the ideal. And when you go to the gas station you have the satisfaction of knowing that your fuel bill is half that of the car behind you, and you are creating far less air pollution for every mile you travel.
Feedback is a powerful motivator for change. What is the feedback loop for climate change? How will we know if our actions are making a difference? Do our actions in Silicon Valley make a difference if people in developing countries are building coal-fired plants to support their rising standard of living?
If the data is available, how will we communicate it? The media is doing a great job today with all their stories about polar bears, the Northwest Passage, hurricanes, and forecasts of rising sea levels. Will they still be publishing climate change stories in 2012? Will the media be congratulating us on using our dryers less, using public transportation more, and replacing air travel with video-conferencing?
We need durable instruments that measure climate change and we need to make the data easy to understand, compelling, attractive, and motivating. We need a collaboration of scientists, engineers and artists to devise feedback loops that attract, inform, and reward in order to bring about and sustain long term change in our behavior.