Jim Thompson once wrote that “a weed is a plant out of place.”
Lobster was once considered to vile that it was served only to prisoners in jail – and used to make pet food. Today it is considered a delicacy,
In Greek mythology, with few exceptions, gods and goddesses are neither ‘good’ nor ‘evil.’ They reflect the duality that is found in most people.
Does our predisposition to value-label things prevent us from seeing the possibilities?
Excess carbon in the atmosphere is considered ‘bad’ because it contributes to climate change. But that same carbon, when kept (or returned) to the soil is beneficial for plant growth. If its deep enough and put under enough pressure and heat – it forms a diamond. So, in one case its very valuable, in the other case, it is undesirable.
Likewise, methane that escapes from landfills is another ‘greenhouse gas’ but capture it and use it for heating or cooking and it not only avoids that negative impact, it also provides for essential needs, but at a lower environmental impact than using electricity for those purposes.
So it’s really a matter of seeing things as valuable depending on where they are located and what form they are in. And recognizing that something we may not value can have tremendous utility and be desirable by someone else.
When something is valuable people tend to not waste it; instead they pay good money for it. So, perhaps the way to really address climate change (and a host of other problems) is to increase the perception that these are valuable things?
Then it would only be a matter of time until people developed a business model. That’s the question that really needs to be answered for ideas like carbon sequestration to go to scale. The carbon removed from the atmosphere, where it is harmful, can have tremendous value in places where the carbon in the soil is lacking or depleted. And if someone were to figure out a way to turn it into diamonds then I venture to say that we would no longer have to worry about it being wasted ...