What do you tell a climate change skeptic? Especially if they are intelligent people?! The CSIRO and Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) both support with statistics that climate change is indeed happening. The BOM has statistics that date back at least 100 years. What more proof do these people want? My real concern is that they might acknowledge that the earth's temperature is changing, but may also think that we have no part to play in this change, that it is a naturally occurring phenomenon. This is a trickier one to argue but there is plenty of evidence to show that our CO2 emissions have contributed to this process speeding it up considerably. People who don't acknowledge this don't want to take responsibility. I understand that we have children and would rather they did not have to undergo this experience, but at the same time we don't know what that experience will be. As the Buddhists say 'Maybe good, maybe bad.' (You never can tell).
Reading up on Ian Plimer in Wikipedia (the lazy person's way I know) he is not as far as I can tell denying that the climate is changing, but is disputing the causes - he says it is due to earthquakes, volcanoes and other reasons. As I said, this gives humans the chance to do nothing about it, and as Ian Plimer is a director of three Australian mining companies, that must suit him just fine. But the fact remains, to dispute with people effectively, you have to read all the literature, both the for and against. I have only read a few 'fors'. Australians may well be renowned for having lazy intellects - no-one pictures Australian dinner parties, cafes or bars as full of animated discussion about politics, science, religion and spirituality (to name just a few topics). It is time to smarten up and speak up. This is a message to myself. Get up! and other like organisations are helping this happen, helping us to care more. It's slow though. Global warming may well be faster.
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2 comments:
Kia ora Andrea,
The will to not believe is amazingly prevelant. That even the most hardened human centric person could not fathom that since the introduction of the industrial age and fossil fuel, that with all the pollution and exhaust we have poured into the land, sea and sky it would not have some sort of effect upon our earth. Then again, so many believed the earth was flat until proved wrong. It is so much easier for our systems to carry on than to change. By the time the shit really hits the fan we will all be dead, and it will be the future generations whom will bear the true burden. How sad is that? Kia kaha.
Aroha,
Robb
I have just attended a 2-day transition town training workshop. There are transition towns in NZ - you may already have heard of this global movement. We talked about peak oil, resilient communities and building sustainable communities and lifestyles. It was cheering and has left me with lots of material to read. The approach of this movement is to be positive, a learning experience for me!
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