Save the planet
“We are on the edge of the greatest die-off humanity has ever seen,” said Lovelock. “We will be lucky if 20% of us survive what is coming. We should be scared stiff.”
Lovelock has delivered such warnings before, but this weekend they have a special resonance. Last week in Bangkok, Thailand, the world’s governments finalised this year’s third and final report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) setting out how humanity might save itself from the worst effects of climate change.
In it was a message of hope, albeit a faint one. The report set out a complex mix of political, economic and technological solutions. If they all worked, said the report, they could achieve huge cuts in the 25 billion tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) released by humanity into the air each year, thus keeping global temperature rises below 3C. (Source)
Lovelock has delivered such warnings before, but this weekend they have a special resonance. Last week in Bangkok, Thailand, the world’s governments finalised this year’s third and final report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) setting out how humanity might save itself from the worst effects of climate change.
In it was a message of hope, albeit a faint one. The report set out a complex mix of political, economic and technological solutions. If they all worked, said the report, they could achieve huge cuts in the 25 billion tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) released by humanity into the air each year, thus keeping global temperature rises below 3C. (Source)
Will the Earth resemble Mars in fifty years time? Will Earth be arid, empty, and lifeless? Is this fear mongering or the far sighted view of a realist?
Whatever arguments are put up in the denial camps, it is clear that our climate is changing dramatically. I notice it in Cambodia even from one year to another. Here everybody dreads April and May. Many people get out of the country for those months because it is so hot and sticky. You sweat wearing a minimum of clothing while surrounded by fans. Even a dip in the pool brings no relief because it is too hot and muggy.
However, this year April and May have so far been tolerable. It is uncomfortable at 34 degrees and 100 humidity but it is tolerable - a far cry from last years experience. It has been raining a couple of times a week. It didn't rain last year.
These changes are profound, sudden and worrying. What does this mean for the rainy season? Will we get a monsoon or a drought? The fortune tellers in Cambodia are predicting a bad harvest and whether one believes in that or not, change is coming. I have already mentioned the climate changes in Ireland last winter. And the changes in these two countries are just highlighted because of my observations.
Climate change is bringing disease, flooding and drought. Tropical diseases are finding their way into temperate zones. Will Europe have to deal with Malaria again? How about Dengue or Japanese Encephalitides?
Additional anticipated effects include sea level rise of 110 to 770 mm (0.36 to 2.5 feet) between 1990 and 2100,[40] repercussions to agriculture, possible slowing of the thermohaline circulation, reductions in the ozone layer, increased intensity and frequency of hurricanes and extreme weather events, lowering of ocean pH, and the spread of diseases such as malaria[41] and dengue fever.[42] One study predicts 18% to 35% of a sample of 1,103 animal and plant species would be extinct by 2050, based on future climate projections. (Source)
It is time to do something. Everybody can save the planet in their own way but governmental cooperation is necessary to really turn the tide. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report
report set out a complex mix of political, economic and technological solutions. If they all worked, said the report, they could achieve huge cuts in the 25 billion tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) released by humanity into the air each year, thus keeping global temperature rises below 3C.
It would involve much international cooperation when the current mentality seems to be "a total pig-headed unwillingness to look facts in the face" (Blackadder). Governments, be pragmatic. More climate change is coming and lifestyles and habits are going to have to change. US senator Obama acknowledges this:
The need to drastically change our energy policy is no longer a debatable proposition. It is not a question of whether, but how; not a question of if, but when. For the sake of our security, our economy, our jobs and our planet, the age of oil must end in our time. (Source)
Let's not kill the planet until space travel is more developed and we can escape our own mess. Governments, be responsible enough and adult enough to acknowledge your responsibility in the resolution of this crisis.
Anyone else feel like screaming into a void on this issue?
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5 comments:
Hi Saorla,
This is something I have been thinking a lot about since I returned to Cambodia. Donors focus much expenditure towards improving agricultural yields but between 1995 - 2000, more than 70% of rice production loss was due to flooding whilst drought was responsible for 20% of losses (MoE, 2001). Some years these losses have equalled 300 000 tons! Better practices by farmers can not compete with a changing climate! Climate hazards are already one of the main contributors to poverty.....
Maggie
And it is the developing world that suffers the most. Not only do these citizens have to deal with poverty, disease, armed conflict, very corrupt governments, HIV/AIDS, a lack of gender equality and a host of other problems but with the changing climate comes drought, floods, more disease and the destruction of crops.
Thanks for the info and comment Maggie
pfff you Al Gore lovers are clearly buying to popular science. The earth is fine. Stop asking.
Whether it is man-made or not there is no doubt that the climate is changing. If climate change is man-made then we can do something about it to mitigate the consequences. Modifying our contribution to greenhouse gases etc can slow down our heating world. That would be the best scenario and we could avoid or reduce large scale deaths and widespread migration of peoples. What will they do in India when Bangladesh goes underwater - shoot the refugees trying to get into India? Will that also be the time when large areas of India go under water? And what about the cities in the great deltas of the world? If the habitats of millions of human beings go under water what will happen? We must remember that most though not all of the most fertile and productive land of the world is close enough to sea level.
And if it is not man-made then we are up against forces that will be much more difficult to control. Umbrellas in the sky to keep out the greatest effects of an active sun? Or????? Bryn there is more to this than Al Gore's film and lectures. Check out a few books and meteorological sites. This has happened before and there were huge migrations of peoples before but the world was much less populated and there was a tiny fraction of today's population looking for food. They were also satisfied with less.
Margaret's comments are interesting and show the difficulties to be faced. The populations in the great river valley countries of Asia have huge population growth and it is still growing exponentially. The world will help for now but I see change in the future. Many will simply say that they do not owe people in Asia a living and if mankind is under pressure everywhere people will try to look after those who are nearest and dearest to them.
And this will happen in America too. Much will be desert. So too will Australia. The ice-covered lands of the Artic which will be without ice and probably the best place to sustain life on this earth will only hold so many.
So let us hope that climate change is man-made; that the tipping point has not been reached; that our measures to mitigate it will be effective;and that it is not too late. If it is too late then we must hope that a variety of human beings from every continent and race survives ( a Noah's ark of humanity); that craftspeople, artists, philosophers, builders, scientists, poets, doctors, agronomists,men women and children survive; that the most ruthless and violent are not permitted to conquer the remaining habitable places on earth; and that we ourselves, our children friends etc are lucky enough to find a spot to support life.
Who would you want to survive? Think on a global basis.
Oh Bryn, get with the programme. I know you've noticed climate changes in Cambodia - you're sweating less!
Noah I agree with some of your points. Yes the world has to get off its collective ass and reduce greenhouses gases etc. However the developing world has drawn the short straw again. It needs to industrialise to develop but that provokes more climate change (drought, flooding etc) - circle of dependence.
Al Gore says we're near the point of no return. Let's try and return. The developed countries have no excuses. The dependence on oil must end and the addiction to gas guzzlers will be a thing of the past now that the price of oil is starting to rise again.
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