One week: four climate change warnings
A dead body on a European mountain; a surfeit of fish off Iceland; and still more flooding in Pakistan and Niger.
The excitement over the body was restricted to the fact that it was that of a First World War soldier, still in his fatigues and boots, found on the highest peak in the Italian Dolomites. The fact that he’d been exposed by the retreating permafrost was a bit part player in the report.
It was in talking to the Icelandic fisheries minister on Thursday, that yet again the matter of climate change arose as a mere side-issue. Jon Bjarnason’s government is wrestling with the EU over fish quotas.
The steep rise in water temperatures off Iceland have a bigger part to play in delivering the unprecedented tonnage of mackerel than the careful husbanding and quotas established by the international community. Yet rather than wonder about the rising sea temperatures and the implications for mankind, the issue was restricted to the fish.
It is still raining in Pakistan, and the south is being inundated by what had already engulfed the north.
Understandably, the agony and suffering of the people has been paramount. But this is a wholly unusual event that goes far, far beyond heavy monsoon activity.
It is still raining in Niger – this dusty, sandy, Saharan state is awash from the capital city to the outback – after months and months of drought.
Four stories, four instances in just one week, in which climate change, global warming, and man’s involvement rear their head as central issues for debate.
Yet no one could emerge from this week thinking – this was a week when the world took note.
Sure they took note of the suffering, but of the threads beneath? Was it the disastrous Copenhagen Summit last year; the e-mail furore amongst climate change scientists, or the recession that dealt the blow?
Is the climate change debate dead? Or is it still to be had? It has certainly ceased to dominate the West’s current agenda. Why?
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- Australia's red dawn – a warning to all?
- Will Blair supersize the EU presidency?
There are 19 comments on this post
The voters know it, the lab coat consultants know it, YOU know it, the media knows it and the politicians know it. Climate change is at best a “mistake” and we all know it. We can’t sustain climate change much longer and the sooner we address REAL pollution and population control, the better for environment and environmentalism and our children.
Let’s do it for the future and our kids and rejoice that we don’t have to condemn them to DEATH BY CO2 anymore. Birth control, not climate control.
Time Jon is running out for us, but as you have mentioned before, it is those who we leave behind who will endure the extremes in weather patterns.
My daughter is trying to get pregnant with difficulty. One side of me, for her, hopes that she will be blessed with children soon, but another voice is saying I don’t want my grandchildren to suffer.
Is it all doom and gloom, are we over reacting, it certainly doesn’t seem so. The mackerels will be in abundance, but alas! will there be people around to feed from them? Is this the first movement of our exit symphony.
Perhaps a group of people who think they can survive should be thinking about travelling to the safest part on earth , for the sake of our species, this may be happening as it did when “the bomb” was a threat and the importants and skilled were given a place in our ‘nuclear free bunkers.’
If this is to be I don’t think we can stop it. Out of all mans achievements , I hope music survives.. send those manscripts , recordings , microchips up in a spaceship..we have no lasting pyramids and culture to preserve..we will be known as the wastrels.
Not dead, but over.
Not to mention competitors, but this week’s coverage of the Pakistan floods on Oldsday included a climate change debate. On one side was a climate scientist, and on the other an published blogger on climate change denial. Rather than the usual furiously barking dog discussion there was calm discussion and some loose agreement that the climate has changed somewhat and that we do not know how it will continue to change.
The science has been fairly solidly in favour of climate change since the early nineties, and economics has been warning about our heavy (now much increased) dependency upon oil since the seventies, but political leadership has been lacking in tackling either.
Of course, maybe the quiet may be due to the super secret international fusion experiment has succeeded and we now have as near infinite powers as makes no difference… pity the scientist leading the effort went made and moved into a volcano, but one the plucky British agent sorts that out we can look forward to personal robot Butlers for everyone on the planet within five years.
Is the argument dead??Climate change is a natural occuring phenomena.I live in the peak district and it was once a semi tropical shallow sea.Iron age man lived here in a different climate .Soon we may be able to grow vineyards.Is all that man made or natural.We may well affect the climate ,but i suspect much of the change is still natural and no one to my knowledge has proved otherwise
Climate change is not dominating the West’s agenda, because most ordinary people can see through the politics and the business interests and the media hype and realise that the idea of climate change is either complete rubbish or doesn’t deserve to be worried about to the extent that do…
There are more important problems, such as over-population….
Human beings are inherently selfish and only look at the short term. I suspect right now most people are more concerned with finding jobs, paying the mortgage and getting through the recession. Climate change is no longer paramount in their minds. That also explains the fact that the response to the floods in Pakistan has been so dismal.
The earth will adapt and survive, but mankind seems to be intent on self-destruction. I agree with Margaret here, plenty of mackerel, but what will happen to the people?
I think a big part of the problem is that TV news channels just want to report human suffering, rather than talk about the underlying reasons for the suffering (in the case of floods, for instance, that means climate change.) It is so much easier just to find a wailing woman, or child, and stick a microphone in their face as they get even more upset, than to talk coherently about the changes we are wreaking on the planet. Of course the human suffering is a tragedy, but it is not news. The news is the changing climate. Meanwhile, we will continue to have Orla Guerin, with her permanently long face, as she encourages us all to wollow in the misery of others. Enough! Let’s have less wringing of hands, and more discussion about what we, the human race, are doing to our one and only home – planet earth.
I really hate to say this, but in order to make politicians put climate change on the top of their agenda, we need another big flood. Here – in the West.
The summer of 2007 made us all react, stop and think. In the UK, we saw the greatest national rescue operation since WW2, 13 people died, thousands of people suffered – some still suffer as a consequence. We were close to loosing critical infrastructure and the total bill for UK plc came to £3 billion.
To be honest, I don’t ‘really’ wish the misery of flooding upon anyone. I’ve seen what it can do to people. But at least, the 2007 floods made politicians think – and even act a bit!
Some measures have been taken, we had the Pitt review, the new Flood & Water Act.. although I must say, I don’t see many infrastructure companies doing much to protect themselves. Short memory?
But – as you say: Why has Climate Change as such ceased to dominate the agenda?
I am not a scientist, but I can put two and two together and I refuse to believe that these recurring natural catastrophes are within the normal cycles.
We can do something but – we will have to act now. Something nasty is going on with this planet, we’re the cause of it and we
…CAN do something about it! …was what I intended to say. Sorry – didn’t notice I ran out of space.
There is no doubt that climate change is happening – but there is also no doubt that it has always happened, sometimes marginally, sometimes dramatically, but the one constant about climate is change.
The key debate is whether mankind is responsible for excessive and negative change. So far, the quality of this debate has been so compromised by the agendas of those involved that neutral observers are not being provided with the necessary objective facts for analysis.
The one fact we can probably all accept is that our planet has a finite capacity to support human demands, so perhaps that should be our logical starting point.
If we can slow down, then halt, then reverse the growth in global population, we may have a fighting chance of addressing any other negative effects – but without that, quite frankly, we’re p*ssing in the wind.
None of us corresponding here will be around to see if the current hysteria is indeed true or merely a self-interested fantasy, but at least we can promote the most logical defence to give future occupants of our sphere the best chance of enjoying its manifold delights too.
Several months ago, I raised this question on one of the blogs where the climate change “debate” is carried on:
“What evidence would persuade you that you are wrong, and your opponents are correct?”
I am still waiting for anyone (either climate change proponent or sceptic) to reply! And I still think that a reasonable response to that question should be required from anyone, before they expect the rest of us to treat their opinions on the science of climate change seriously.
What does every country want with their economy GROWTH. We want to produce more and consume more.
If our economy doesnt grow we are seen to be in trouble. Perhaps we need change our attitude and live with NO GROWTH.
We cannot take from earth forever. Things start running out, whether it be fish or food or minerals.
YS of course the optimum answer would be negative growth.Particularly in birth rates.If you look at such rates the explosion in Asian,and Arab rates takes no account of the worlds ability to feed those increasing millions.
It will become the planets deadliest danger ,for the survival of the planet and of a third world war.Perhaps the catastrophes that seem to occur more readily are a greater beings attempt to right those wrongs!!!!!
As a volunteer for Supreme Master television since 2006, I learned the root cause of climate change and its solution. Regardless no action taken by government, media or scientists, what you can do to protect yourself and your loved ones, is to follow the advises by Dr. Rajendra Pachauri, chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC): “Don’t eat meat, ride a bike and be a frugal shopper”.
Do not overlook what a piece of meat can do to us. UN report in 2006 and FoodWatch in 2008 (http://foodwatch.de/foodwatch/content/e6380/e24459/e24474/foodwatch_report_on_the_greenhouse_effect_of_farming_05_2009_ger.pdf) have pointed out that our diet has exhausted the Earth resources and deteriorated the Earth environment. The World Watch also reported in 2009 that livestock accounts for more than 51% of green house gas emission (http://www.worldwatch.org/files/pdf/Livestock%20and%20Climate%20Change.pdf), the major global warming accelerator.
It is a clear indication that our life style, the meat consumption, a man-made, self-destructive behavior, led us to this devastating situation.
However, the good news is that we have a solution – drop meat now before it is too late.
Yes – we have climate change – and as has been stated – always have had it – so its getting warmer – thats a lot better than getting colder – and for us – the North Atlantic drift shifting . The CO2 thing has become a ” religion ” – and it suits govts . Climate cahnge will be used as an economic weapon – and as an excuse to increase taxes etc . The Planet itself is in no danger – it is – obviosly us Humans – and would it be a great diaster if humnaity died out – not as far as planet Earth is concderned – a basically nasty species – one of whose main occupations is killing each other – it would be no disaster . This Professor speaks some sens – and there are many links – but at this stage it must be obvious that the CO2 thing is a con – just like the swine flu con – only way bigger – just like the bank con – etc etc http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hgaeyMa3jyU
I don’t think anyone cares about the debate anymore. It’s easy to wring your hands and worry about things beyond you’re control when everyone has cash in their pocket. The recession has made everyone focus on more immediate issues.
People generally worry about climate change but I think their just tired of worrying about something they can do nothing about personally.
Either the government is going to deal with it or it won’t. Let the government and the eco lobbiests get on with it. We’re all rather busy these days trying to keep our heads above water.
What has changed?
20 years ago the cement industry burnt coal as fuel, and the dusty emissions fell in the local area. Then it re-invented itself as a “waste re-cycler” and made huge profits from replacing coal with hazardous chemical waste. This benefitted the Government by helping it meet it’s Kyoto recycling targets, and the two are locked into legal contracts to burn, and allow to burn, more and more wastes in cement kilns in the UK.
Problems arose when it was discovered that the size of dust particles when burning waste, meant that they no longer fell around the works, but are swept up into the atmosphere. So what is the environmental consequence of the 640 tonnes a year that is now 90% less than PM 2.5 in size, against the size of over PM 10 with coal?
Turn the dustiest industry into a chemical waste burner, and hey presto, you have masses of minute particles swirling around in the atmosphere. Add to this the volatile metals which include silver, which coat the surface of the particles, and you have ..SEEDING of the rainclouds.
Millions of pounds of chemicals have been burnt in cement kilns around the world in the last 20 years. Stop that and see if the flash floods stop
Climate change is a new religion preached by millions who know little about the subject other than what has been preached to them by equally uninformed people.
Humans seem to need an ‘end of the world’ scenario. If we don’t beahce in a certain way, we are all doomed. Religion used to provide this, and now it doesn’t, CC has taken its place.
All this does is cloud the real arguament about cutting doen on waste and doing things in a more sensible way, but based on fact not dogma.
It was never true that if I worked on Sunday i was destined for eternal damnation, and I suspect it still not true that if I use the wrong fuel the world will be doomed.
Climate change is a true reality, but only people having high consciousness recognizes it. Regardless the silence of media or government, do not be confused by their coldness. Don’t even waste your time to debate with who don’t believe it. It is the time for the fit to live. Better spend your energy/time to find your way out.
When politicians, media, and people of the rich class refuse to discuss such a critical issue openly, who knows what they do in private. Such situation already indicates that we are not in their “to keep” list. We should really take action to protect ourselves. Do not expect help from the “big brothers”.