How See Through Carbon explains its innovative carbon reporting ecosystem to a 6-year-old

1 Our March

We started in tiny groups, dots on a vast plain. 

Ten thousand years ago, we joined small groups, then big groups. 

Two hundred years ago, we formed one huge group.

We marched in the same direction. We all had to join in. We’re still marching.

2 Oops

About 50 years ago, smart folk warned of a huge chasm ahead. 

We could not see the cliff edge, only more vast plain beyond.

But the smart folk knew it was there, told us we’d all fall in and die. 

If we kept marching.

3 False Dawn

Other folk came up with a fix. 

Banged a stake in the ground, tied ropes to it.

‘Buy this rope’, they said, ‘Tie it to your waist, you won’t fall in’.

We bought lots of rope, and marched on.

4 Oops Again

Big snag. 

They sold us bungee cord. 

The cliff edge nears. Bungee may not tug us back in time.

What to do?

5 Simple

Here’s non-stretch rope, tied to the stake. It’s free.

What to do?

Keep marching with bungee?  

Or swap ropes?

**

If you think parables are better left unexplained, stop reading.

The following is for anyone intrigued by A Bit Of A Stretch, but who can’t quite put their finger on the parable’s specific ‘lesson’.

This is likely to be obvious only to experts, but as global heating affects us all, what’s currently obscure debate needs to become common knowledge, fast.

Any sustainable future requires both hard data to support it, and soft storytelling to deliver it. The past three decades have proved that science and facts alone can’t shift public opinion rapidly, and that vested interested of Big Oil have paid the world’s best storytellers to cast shade, distract, deny and dodge.

The See Through Network links storytelling experts – who can explain emissions reporting methodologies to small children – with climate scientists, activists, business people and technocrats who know how to evade Big Oils traps, and reverse-engineer their tricks to ju-jitsu them back.

First, here’s what lies behind the 182, almost entirely monosyllabic, words of A Bit of A Stretch.

Exegesis/Glossary

1 Our March

We: Homo sapiens

Started: hunter-gatherers, i.e. the first 97% of Homo sapiens history

Ten thousand years ago: agriculture, cities and ‘civilization’, recorded history

Two hundred years ago: the Industrial Revolution, powered by fossil fuels

marched in the same direction: industrialisation

we had to join in: globalisation

2 Oops

smart folk warned: James Lovelock to Shell 1967, James Black to Exxon 1977

huge chasm ahead: global heating

3 False Dawn

Other folk: emissions credits based on ‘offsetting’

‘Buy this rope’: Inaccurate, Costly, Opaque & Proprietary (ICOP) commercial emissions reporting standards

we bought lots of rope: a trillion dollars worth, so far

4 Oops Again

bungee cord: ICOP standards’ fatal flaw

cliff edge nears: latest IPCC report

5 Simple

non-stretch rope: Accurate, Free, Open & Transparent (AFOT) carbon reporting ecosystem

swap ropes: AFOT instead of ICOP

Further Reading

If you want to know more, and favour hard science over metaphorical allusion, here are some articles expanding on these issues in more detail. They’re not written for children, but neither are they addressed at experts. They contain plenty of verifiable references, but are written in clear, lively language targeted at interested, intelligent novices.

Technical/Methodological

• Carbon Auditing Basics
• Why Current Carbon Auditing Fails
• The 70% of business emissions we don’t currently measure
• To Reduce Carbon Emissions, First Agree On How to Measure Them
• Carbon Consulting for SMEs – Good Enough and Better Than Nothing

Storytelling/Presentation

• How To Banish Greenwash Stains Forever
• Big Business’s Carbon Reporting ‘But’
• Why Carbon Accounting 1.0 is the opioid cure for our carbon addiction
• Carbon Auditing – We Need To Talk About SMEs
• Confessions of a Transport Surveyor – Don’t Mention The C-Word

Legal/Compliance

• EU Carbon Reporting – From ‘Want To’ to ‘Have To’
• When Greenwash Becomes Compliance – Carbon Reporting Has One Trajectory
• A Sceptical Investor’s Guide to the Decarbonisation Business

See Through Carbon’s Ecosystem Solution

• See Through Carbon’s AFOT ecosystem solution
• Carbon Auditing 2.0: Accurate, Free, Open-Source and Transparent
• STC’s Wiltshire/SME Pilot
• STC’s UK/Live Music Pilot

Joining

See Through Carbon‘s innovative carbon reporting ecosystem is accurate, free, open and transparent. And non-stretch.

Like sibling programmes See Through News, See Through Together and See Through Games, STC is 100% driven by a global network of experts contributing their skills and time pro bono, with the shared Goal of Speeding Up Carbon Drawdown by Helping the Inactive Become Active

• If you’re interested in helping illustrate, animate or compose music for this parable, or any other of our storytelling programmes from YouTube Shorts to music concerts, articles, or online Games, join See Through’s creative team
• If you’re interested in helping support the network, join our Admin/Management team
• If you’re interested in helping develop, maintain and support the website, databases and integrations behind these programmes, join our IT/Tech team