Climate change
Maybe you think climate change doesn’t really exist or will not have any serious impact on humanity for centuries to come. Maybe you think it’s too late and we’re doomed anyway. Last week’s hacking scandal – email exchanges between leading climate scientists were leaked to the press and revealed discordances about climate change theories – did not help to unite sceptics and eco warriors in the fight against global warming.
But, as governments gather in Copenhagen during the next two weeks to haggle over what, if anything, has to be done to save the planet and who should go first, this is not a time for public apathy. So let’s debunk some myths and get down to the hard facts.
Is climate change happening?
There are those who say it’s not getting warmer ergo there’s no climate change; it’s all a conspiracy for governments to control us even further. But take a look at the weather and seasonal changes in the past decade: floods, hurricanes, snowfalls at crazy times of the year; spring flowers blooming at Christmas time. Climate change is not about holidaying in the Arctic in your bikini; it’s a well-founded scientific theory (even if there’s still a minority of scientists who disagree). In the words of European Green Party leader Caroline Lucas, would you get on a plane if the pilot told you there was a strong chance it would crash?
But the Earth’s climate changes all the time...
No one denies there was an Ice Age. The point is our climate is changing now with disastrous consequences: melting ice sheets will cause rising sea levels, wiping out coastal communities; Africa will become (even more) blighted by drought; the chance of Katrina-style hurricanes will increase. And don’t listen to the loons who go on about how Greenland was once green. Its ice pack is thousands of years old. Its name might be due to a bad translation from Norse or false marketing by the Viking who found it.
Is it man-made?
We spend decades burning fossil fuels, watching it all ‘disappear’ into the atmosphere but when the world’s leading scientists tell us that this is causing climate change we say oh no, it’s not because of us, let’s chuck some more stuff up there. Forgive me if I don’t see the sense in that. Sun spots and cycles are all rational theories but the scientific panel of the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) attributes the temperature rise to a greater volume of greenhouse gases – carbon and methane – which are trapping more infrared radiation.
Aren’t we too late?
Never say die. The EU has set a target to keep the global temperature rise to a maximum of two degrees Celsius. It’s a long shot, especially with politicians umming and aahing for as long as possible about taking measures and climate change sceptics stirring up trouble. Nevertheless this is considered by experts to be a dangerous ‘tipping point’ for the climate, beyond which devastation would ensue. I say let’s go down fighting.
So what happens in Copenhagen?
Representatives from around the world will meet under the auspices of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. The aim is to reach a global deal where all nations agree to cut emissions of greenhouse gases and rich countries (who industrialised years ago and got us into this mess) are expected to cough up money to help poor countries fight climate change (or ‘climate financing’). This should come in the form of hard cash and technological investment to make production processes cleaner.
Will it be successful?
That depends on how you define success. Originally, nations would have negotiated a treaty which would take effect as of 2013 but the Americans (huge polluters) have yet to agree domestic legislation (thank you, George W, for such a legacy) and China’s targets leave a lot to be desired. The EU talked in vague terms about climate financing. In short, the best we can hope for is a ‘political agreement’ which would be translated into legally binding measures sometime next year.
Why is it so hard?
What a good question (even if I had to write it myself). Politicians have relatively short terms of office when you think about the climate problem. It’s a hard sell to the masses that you’ll impose expensive measures for a problem whose effects will be felt more severely by future generations. Here’s a sobering thought though: one tenth of Belgium could be under water by the end of the millennium, according to Belgian climate change scientist Jean-Pascal van Ypersele, also of the IPCC.
How can I make a difference?
It might feel like it’s all in the hands of politicians and heavy industry and our actions are a spit in the ocean, but remember, we vote and we consume. We live in a democracy so let’s not be passive. Let’s tell them what we want. It’s also not all about coal-fired power stations. Emissions from cars account for 12 percent of the EU total; housing in Brussels is the largest contributor to carbon dioxide emissions; meat farming (to satisfy our increasingly large appetites) causes close to one fifth of global CO2 emissions while cows (who fart a lot) send tonnes of methane skywards.
Why should I care?
It all comes down to whether climate change is scary enough for our survival instinct to kick in. For sure, the threat is an immediate one for many people around the world, but if you’re sitting pretty in Brussels, you just might not be getting that ‘fight or flight syndrome’ yet. Let me give you a helping hand. Since 1961, sea levels have risen an average 1.8 millimetres per year. That has risen to an average 3.1 millimetres since 1993, according to the IPCC. An increase of 1 metre in the sea level would put 63,000 hectares of Belgium at a negative altitude. And if you don’t want to do it for yourselves, then do it for your kids and their kids.
Source: The Bulletin
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NWO
Check out this interesting video that says explains another side of the treaty: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ddQvhdCyhe4 It talks about some darker aspects explained by Lord Christopher Monckton.