Last night as a ‘birthday treat’ (boy we have a dark sense of humour here sometimes at Futerra), Ms Townsend took me to see ‘Dr Faustus’ at the Globe Theatre. Now everyone’s familiar with the literal story of poor old Faust, who tired of conventional scholarship and wisdom makes a pact with the Devil – exchanging his soul for power, unlimited knowledge and…well, let’s just say some rather more ‘earthy’ delights. It’s a powerful morality tale, in which for his ‘score and four’ (24) years of indulgence Faust pays the incalculable price of eternal damnation with Satan and all his little helpers (and their probably rather sharp pitchforks in pointed conjunction with his tender nether regions).

However, whether it’s because of our work on sustainability and the fact that we might just be a teensy weensy bit obsessed, it also felt like a compelling metaphor for our own relationship with climate change (I’ve made similar blog comments before, about Cormac McCarthy’s ‘The Road’ for example). Faust is fully aware and conscious of the gravity of his situation and the price he is committing to pay for his short-term indulgences. He understands the risks but in a notable case of self-rationalisation he convinces himself that suffering in Hell for all eternity will somehow be ‘not that bad’, that he might even like it, and that he alone has out-witted the world.

It’s not hard to see how the way we talk and act about climate change resonates with this. The scientific writing and evidence is on the wall and clear for all to see, yet we continue along a path of denial or self-justification, that the benefits of the cheap energy we enjoy far outweigh the negative climatic impacts, that our pursuit of ‘progress’ no matter how unsustainable must triumph. (I’ve also alluded to this idea of the ‘Progress Trap’, whereby our desire for progress creates impacts, such as climate change, that actually fundamentally impede future progress in my TEDx talk).

So, like Faust we persuade ourselves that it will ‘all work out OK’, that the heavy long-term price we are likely to pay for our short-term gains, will somehow be worth it. In Goethe’s version of the play, Faust is saved by the intervention of the ‘Eternal feminine’ repents and thus avoids a grisly fate at the hands of Lucifer and Beelzebub. We saw the Marlowe ending though, in which Faust, despite being given every opportunity to repent and achieve salvation is so corrupted that he resigns himself to be damned.

This I think is the sobering part of the lesson. Unlike Faust we, in tackling the challenge of climate change, don’t get a last minute chance to repent and save ourselves from climate Hell. There is no ‘magic wand’. Our salvation will come from the hard graft of transformation, not a moment of humble regret. The good news is, as the angel implores to Faust in the play (“O Faustus, if thou hadst given ear to me, Innumerable joys had follow’d thee!”), that long-term climate heaven might actually be more appealing than the ‘earthy’, material and dirty energy pleasures of today.

Let’s not guiltily repent on climate change, let’s actively, passionately and provocatively embrace the change required. The alternative Faustian pact potentially damns us all…