Have you noticed that as a society we seem to have lost momentum on dealing with environmental issues? There is no shortage of talk about our current and impending challenges of climate change, high energy costs, water shortages and loss or disruption of our biodiversity, but there doesn’t seem to be much actually happening to address these problems.

Probably the best example of such lack of progress is the international stalemate on climate change, but I see this pattern of inaction reverberating through a range of topics in this report. Why can’t we get on with things? We don’t see ourselves as having a culture of inaction and procrastination. Yet that is how a remote impartial observer might quite reasonably characterize us. Perhaps something is not working in our policy system. I know the word policy evokes glazed eyes and bored yawns from many people but it should not be that way. Policy is about finding a way forward through unknown and challenging territory. Good policy, like a good path through a dark wood, allows you to progress with confidence toward a destination or objective.

Developing and applying policy for an environmental issue is, in its essence, a simple process. First you recognize that there is an issue or problem and define its nature. Then you analyze all aspects of the problem in order to get a level of understanding that will allow you to evaluate possible approaches or actions and perhaps figure out some metrics to measure progress. And in a third stage you take action. You try to do things to solve the problem based on what is known. If you follow through on those three steps – recognize, analyze and engage – the process leads logically to a solution.

It seems we often get stuck at the second step or sometimes the first. Take climate change for example. Over decades of research and international scientific consensus we have certainly recognized and defined the problem. All aspects of the methods of reducing our greenhouse gas emissions have been analyzed and an array of actions proposed. But then it stops; at the international level we engage no solutions. Instead we respond to voices that say that they don’t believe in climate change by going back to the recognition stage to debate and explain it all again. And, if it looks like progress is being made toward taking action other voices say that the proposed solutions won’t work or are too costly and the discussion reverts back to start the analysis again.

Some people really are very good at casting doubt or confusion in the public’s mind on the nature of environmental problems and their possible solutions. After all, they are often complicated issues. And, some of these people may be legitimately sceptical. But there are others who are public relations professionals and are deliberately confusing the issues to serve the agenda of one or another vested interest. These people understand the policy process and are adept at resetting the discussion back to the recognition and analysis stage. Their job is to stop society from engaging solutions. And, regrettably and increasingly, we let them.

I don’t know why this short circuiting of our policy regime exists. Perhaps it stems from a lack of champions to lead the charge on some of these important environmental initiatives. Perhaps there is some failing in our media system such that the public remains uninformed on the truth of these matters. Perhaps the public is just too overwhelmed by the complexity of today’s society and can’t deal with these concerns in a thoughtful way. Perhaps it is all of the above. But we must get over this malaise because the environmental challenges of our times are not going away.

We have to find a way to get to a point of action on these issues. Only when you engage solutions by trying something does the full potential of human ingenuity and creativity kick in. Certainly there will be errors, but innovation feeds on errors by spawning new ideas and new approaches. We learn by doing, and doing involves failing but it also involves opening our eyes to new solutions. And some of those solutions may be engaging indeed.