Whatever ’They’ decide on Global Warming - Here’s what we can do
As we go to press the world’s ecological Good, the Bad and the Farcical are all gathered for the UN’s Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen for fifteen days starting 7th December. One hundred heads of state are due to show up in the final days of the Conference, which is strange since it is commonly accepted that no agreement to cut green house gas (GHG) emissions will be forthcoming and any binding agreements will be put off for another year at least.
Meantime we are being told variously that we’ve already missed the boat and the planet is in for a very bad time indeed, may in fact be doomed; we are not quite doomed yet, but will be - if we don’t take effective action right now; if we can reach a consensus to cut emissions and invest in new technology we can probably muddle through OK with a bit of luck; that we shouldn’t panic as we have another 75 years at least before the effects of global warming kick in; and lastly - that it is all bunk and bum science, we can all go home and carry on as normal.
If you are more confused than ever about climate change and global warming, join the club. In fact just as the world’s governments, including former recalcitrants like the US, China and other the big emitters, seem to be coming around to accepting both the science and the need to actually do something meaningful about it, albeit only if politically acceptable, we the public appear to be increasingly doubtful about it all.
In fact a newly published survey from Nielsen/Oxford University conducted in over 50 countries tells us that only 37% of us are seriously concerned about global warming, down from 41% in a similar survey conducted two years ago before the last UNFCCC meet in Bali. You could say, “world concern for global warming is cooling off”, quipped a Nielsen spokesman. Just as a new US administration decides to tackle the issue, after 8 years of Bushite denial, the US public is jumping ship with only 25% of Americans owning to serious concern, some 10% down on the earlier survey.
This is an unfortunate, if understandable development, for while the world’s leaders and most scientists have reached the consensus that not only are we causing the planet to warm but that we are doing so faster than ever, and the consequences of exceeding an increase of 2?C. or 450 ppm of atmospheric Co2 by 2050 will be extremely unpleasant, if not catastrophic - and we are already nearly there. The discussion now is, what to do about it and who is to pay for it?
Given the nasty feeling a lot of us have that all this talk about carbon reduction means that everything we do and consume is going us to cost a lot more and that we the general public are the ones who are going to have to foot the bill, while giant corporations wax fat, bureaucrats continue to thrive and a whole new generation of financial wide boys and spivs make new fortunes; given the fact that nothing too drastic has actually happened to us yet; and given the fact that there is still a body of scientific opinion that denies global warming is happening at all, that we are panicking unnecessarily and there is no agreement what to do about it anyway, is it any wonder more and more of us tune out?
And yet, even if you reject global warming the facts remain: food is scarce and prices escalating dramatically, the glaciers and tundra are melting, the Arctic will soon be ice free in Summer, desertification is rampant, our water tables are polluted, the rainforest is disappearing fast along with countless animal species, our oceans are becoming over-acidic and all fished out, and world population is growing exponentially to unsustainable levels. And that’s all on top of the normal man-made horrors we face, financial meltdowns, war, terrorism and so on. Makes one yearn for simpler days of 1950’s H-Bomb angst was as bad as it got. Putting one’s head in the sand and hoping it will all go away because it’s all much too difficult, and there’s not much we can do about it anyway, may not be admirable, but it is a very understandable human reaction.
Science is not about certainty, it’s about probability. With the best will in the world most of us are never going to understand anything near the full facts of our planetary situation. All most of us can do is to pick the opinion that makes most sense to us or, failing that, fits in with our hopes and/or prejudices and get on with our lives as best we can. If you disagree with this, and as a firm believer in global warming get into an argument with a nay sayer with distant memories of “O” Level science, just see how far it gets you. All you will be doing is exchanging borrowed opinion and neither of you will convince the other.
Wishing it all away may be understandable, but it’s not smart. The scientific consensus tells us by the end of the century the planet will warm anything between 1.1 to 6.4?C. At the lower end of this we’ve got no worries. At the higher, we’re in for a grisly finale right out of Margaret Atwood. If we knew for sure we were in for 2 to 3ºC. rise, we could probably live with that and muddling through might be an option. But we just don’t know, nobody does. What we do know is that the benefits of averting the 6.4ºC. scenario are compelling and that the cost of doing so are affordable and do-able, estimated by economists at 1% of global output, provided of course it’s done right. Quite a big “if”. Screw it up and the costs could be astronomic. Potentially that’s actually a very good deal when you consider that we just spent 5% last year bailing out Wall Street. All it takes is for us to work out how to share the costs. And that’s what they’re trying to do in Copenhagen right now.
Quite what you and I can do to influence this process is a good question. Far as I can see, not a lot. We can’t all be activists or organizers. What we can do however, is take responsibility for ourselves, how we impinge on the planet as individuals, in our households and our businesses. If we all take a look at how we can tread more lightly in this world, to whatever degree we are on for, then put it all together and it’s something. We are contributing to the solution, not the problem.
Go online (www.thegreenasiagroup.com), measure your carbon footprint, offset or minimize your airline travel as much as possible, support hoteliers who genuinely make an effort to minimize their carbon footprint and patronise suppliers who do the same. Make a point of rewarding the good guys with your custom in preference to greenwashers and those who don’t give a damn. We don’t have to hide our heads in the sand, we don’t have to pretend to know all the answers. Whatever the truth of it, do this and you are doing something worthwhile for the planet and your children.
