A Gift Horse story explaining the difference between Global North and South responses to See Through Carbon’s reporting ecosystem , as if to a smart child.

Two Bosses Get A Visitor

One fine day, on two sides of the world, two bosses get a visitor.

Ade lives in the Global North. Adé lives in the Global South.

Ade and Adé don’t know each other, but have much in common apart from how they spell their names. 

Both run their businesses well. Both are known to their friends as successful bosses.

• When the wind changes, they’re the first to feel it.
• When a new idea appears, they’re the first to spot it.
• When a new tool arrives, they’re the first to use it.

Ade the Smart

Ade is a rich boss in a rich country, with rich friends and a rich family.

The business has done so well, Ade has a fast car, a powerful motorbike and a jet ski.

Boss friends marvel at how Ade can feel the wind change, spot a new idea, use a new tool.

They call Ade ‘Ade the Smart’.  

Adé the Wise

Adé is doing OK in a poor country, with friends and family who are doing OK or poor. 

The business has done so well, Adé has a moped and a bicycle.

Boss friends marvel at how Adé can feel the wind change, spot a new idea, and use a new tool.

They call Adé ‘Adé the Wise’.

The Gift Horse Distributors

That fine day, two Gift Horse Distributors each take a horse from a large herd.

On two sides of the world, they push open front gates, walk up front paths, and give a sharp rap on the front doors of Ade the Smart, in the Global North, and Adé the Wise, in the Global South.

• Ade the Smart’s Global North door is thick and heavy. The knock makes a deep, loud ‘doof’.
• Adé the Wise’s Global South door is thin and light. The knock makes a high, quiet ‘dink’.

When Ade the Smart and Adé the Wise open their doors, each finds a Gift Horse Distributor standing there, beside a Gift Horse.

‘Good morning’, the visitors greet them.

‘Here is a Gift Horse. You are smart and wise, so I don’t need to tell you it’s strong and fast. As the name suggests, the horse is yours for free. Would you like it?’.

What Ade the Smart Did

First, Ade the Smart first looks the horse up and down. Then, Ade looks the Distributor up and down.

‘What’s the catch?’, asks Ade the Smart.

‘No catch’, replies the Distributor. ‘The horse is yours if you want it’.

‘What’s wrong with it?’, queries Ade the Smart.

‘Nothing. See for yourself. Assess its fetlocks, appraise its haunches, adjudge its teeth. Take it for a ride, if you like.’

‘Why would I want a horse?’, asks Ade the Smart, wary.

‘Up to you.’ The Distributor shrugs. ‘You might need a horse one day.’

‘But I have a fast car, a powerful motorbike and a jet ski’, says Ade the Smart. ‘What use is a horse if I have these things?’.

‘Why ask me?’. The Distributor shrugs again.

‘Maybe one day you’ll have no fuel for your fast car, powerful motorbike and jet ski’.

Maybe you’d enjoy the feeling of riding a horse.

Maybe your children will thank you for having one. Why, is there a problem?’. 

‘It’s not as simple as you think’, explains Ade the Smart. ‘Your horse may be free, but I’ll have to feed it, water it, find space for it, and look after it’.

The Gift Horse Distributor takes a long look around. 

‘You have plenty of grass, water and space. The horse looks after itself’. Then, foot tapping, the Distributor says ‘Look, I must get going, I have plenty more horses to give away. Do you want this one or not?’.

Ade the Smart promises to think about it.

‘Up to you’, says the Distributor, and turns away with the horse.

As they approach the gate, the Distributor turns back to say ‘By the way, if you don’t want a gift horse, why not tell your friends in case they‘d like one?’. 

Ade the Smart says nothing, and closes the thick, heavy door with a deep, loud ‘clonk’. 

The Gift Horse Distributor leads the Gift Horse away, in search of the next thick, heavy front door to knock on.

Later, at the club house, surrounded by fellow bosses, Ade the Smart recounts this conversation.

‘You truly are smart’, the other bosses praise Ade.

‘You asked smart questions. You know how to feel the wind, spot new ideas, and use new tools. With your fast car, powerful motorbike and jet ski’, what need do you have for a horse, even a free one?’.

They all laugh, except Ade. 

Ade the Smart says nothing, but looks away with a small frown.

What Adé the Wise Did

When the Gift Horse Distributor knocks on the thin, light door, Adé the Wise first looks the horse up and down. Then Adé looks the Distributor up and down.

‘What a fine horse!’, says Adé the Wise.

‘Thank you’, replies the Distributor. ‘It’s a Gift Horse. It’s yours if you want it’.

‘Please tell me about this Gift Horse’, says Adé the Wise.

‘Strong fetlocks, strong haunches, strong teeth. Take it for a ride, if you like.’

‘Really?, exclaims Adé the Wise.

‘Of course’, says the Distributor, giving Adé the Wise a leg-up. ‘You look like you could use a horse.’

‘Oh yes’, says Adé the Wise. ‘A horse would be a great help to me and my business’.

‘Splendid’. The Distributor watches Adé take the Gift Horse for a test ride, then helps Adé the Wise dismount.

‘It’s so simple’, exclaims Adé the Wise‘. ‘I have enough grass, water and space to feed and look after this fine Gift Horse’.

‘The horse looks after itself’, replies the Distributor. ‘Do you want it?’.

‘Yes please!’’, cries Adé the Wise. Adé embraces the Distributor, then the Gift Horse, then the Distributor again. 

‘Thank you, but it’s my job’, says the Gift Horse Distributor. Approaching the gate, the Distributor turns back to say ‘By the way, if you don’t want a gift horse, why not tell your friends in case they‘d like one?’. 

‘I surely will!’. Adé the Wise fetches a bucket of water for the grazing horse, watches it drink, and closes the thin, light door with a high, quiet ‘plink’. 

The Distributor walks away, fetches another Gift Horse from the herd, and leads it away in search of another thin, lights door to knock on.

Later, at the club hut, surrounded by fellow bosses, Adé the Wise shows off his new horse and recounts this conversation.

‘You truly are wise’, they praise Adé.

‘You said wise things. You know how to feel the wind, spot new ideas, and use new tools. Thanks for telling us about the Gift Horse Distributor. Imagine what we can all do with free horses!’.

They all laugh, including Adé. 

Adé the Wise laughs with them, as they all imagine a better future together.

Who’s The Fool?

The next day, the Gift Horse Distributors tell their friends and family about what happened when they knocked on the doors of Ade the Smart and Adé the Wise. 

‘What a fool!’, they say.

‘Who’s the Fool?’ ask the Distributors.

‘Is Ade the Smart foolish, for ignoring a golden opportunity?’.

‘Is Adé the Wise foolish, for accepting this Gift Horse?’.

‘Or am I foolish, for giving away these Gift Horses for free?’

So, who’s the Fool?

You all know the right answer. It’s in your head, right now.

**

Book Club Discussion Points

If the answer about who’s the Fool has not formed in your head, right now, here are some thoughts about the possible candidates that may help, together with some suggested further reading.

Distributor as Fool

If you reckon the Distributor is the Fool, thank you for reading the story and we hope you enjoyed it.

You are not alone in the peloton of fellow-believers.

Adé as Fool

If you think Ade the Smart hits all the right notes, and Adé the Wise needs his head examined, thank you for reading the story and we hope you enjoyed it.

By all means share it widely, but it might be wise to do so with a small frown.

Ade as Fool

If you have a nagging feeling that Adé the Wise is really quite wise, Ade the Smart is not so smart, do share this story widely.

You might also consider subscribing to the See Through News Newsletter (also free), where this article originally appeared. Every weekly edition features an article, a video and a podcast.

All the videos and podcasts can be found on the See Through Together YouTube channel, its diverse Playlists replete with more examples of creative storytelling, all of which, in some form or other, are designed to entertain people while slyly nudging them towards speeding up carbon drawdown.

Some, but not all, are also suitable for smart children to use to move dumb grownups from climate inaction to climate action.

Reacher as Fool

Imagine Ade and Adé side by side in your mind’s eye. Describe their appearances. Jot down some notes, based on all the clues in the text of How To Distribute Gift Horses to Rich and Poor.

Now answer the following questions:

• What skin pigmentation do Ade and Adé have?
• What gender are Ade and Adé?

Search the text for any clues to skin colour and gender. As there are none (Ade and Adé are both gender-neutral names, and the story contains no singular pronouns), why did you conclude whatever you concluded?

Author as Fool (1)

If you feel How To Distribute Gift Horses to Rich and Poor is too short, vague or imprecise to identify the Fool, you might want more information about the exact nature of the Gift Horse.

If so, www.seethroughcarbon.org has a pretty comprehensive description and breakdown of every fetlock, haunch and tooth. The website has a stableful of steeds for anyone looking for a carbon reporting gift horse yourself – simply apply for one of the seven Pilots, covering SMEs, live music, industrial multinationals, health, the public sector, farming and textiles.

Author as Fool (2)

You might feel railroaded into simple choices on complex issues.

You may have spotted the storytelling manipulation of ‘framing’ the narrative in a way that creates false binaries. This a common trick, used by parents (‘Do you want to brush your teeth before you tidy your room, or after?’), priests (‘There is only one true God’) and populists (‘If you’re not with me, you’re against me’).

There’s a fine line between ‘simplifying’ and ‘simplistic’. If you feel How To Distribute Gift Horses to Rich and Poor veered to far towards the latter, apologies for wasting your time. There are plenty of articles on the See Through News website that discuss the same topics directly, and in great detail.

No Fools

Why the obsession with Fool-identification, anyway?

Problems are complex. People are different. Stereotypes are not always helpful. Plenty of Global North businesses have embraced See Through Carbon’s carbon reporting ecosystem. Many Global South businesses ask ‘What’s the catch?’ and ‘What’s wrong with it?’, or use air-quotes around See Through Carbon’s ‘free’ service.

After decades of Silicon Valley surveillance capitalism, we all have good reason to be sceptical about the motivations of anyone offering ‘free’ services’.

We’re now so used to the notion of ‘if the service is free, you’re the product’ that we find it hard to believe carbon reporting could be genuinely done by a global network of unpaid volunteers collaborating to create an ecosystem for the public good, even though there are many such examples in our personal and professional lives, from local church fundraisers and PTAs to Linux, Wikipedia and UN Sustainable Development Goals.

Zero-sum thinking has become so normalised, we find authentic collaboration for the greater good hard to believe. When our data is being bought and sold by trillion-dollar corporations, focusing on the ‘Gift’, like Ade the Smart, is quite understandable. Many who focus on the ‘Horse’, like Adé the Wise, do indeed end up getting ripped off, fleeced or fooled.

Maybe embracing a zero-budget ecosystem like See Through Carbon is less to do with Global North vs Global South, or clever vs gullible, and more do with with an individual’s outlook, learned behaviour, and appetite for the unconventional.

The Hope/Action Bit

If you’re the type of person who’d rather celebrate the passionate than mock the fool, you might be interested in becoming a Gift Horse Distributor yourself.

See Through Network’s team of global activists provide and dispense complimentary equines. See Through Stables are home to a wide variety of different people with different expertises, experiences and degrees of commitment.

Whether you’re a breeder, farrier, saddle-maker, trainer, jockey, hay supplier, bloodstock accountant, form guide analyst, vet, equine journalist, horse-trader or groomer, the See Through Network has a role for you. Assuming you think we’re not all fools.

Just email volunteer@seethroughnews.org for details.