The threat of global warming to life is a funny business
- 5 May 06, 01:15 PM
In researching for this series we talk to many people and there are many different bodies of thinkers. There are those who work directly on the nature of global warming : its causes and effects. These are massive stories. But there are many other people who are interested in landscape changes, species extinctions and loss of habitats who don't directly blame global warming. Far from it. For many, the unsustainble use of natural resources is a far greater threat to life on earth and humanity - and a threat which, in their view, will be felt quicker and harder (fisheries, forests, rivers, viable farmland etc etc). In PEuT we're trying to balance these two huge fields of interest. At the moment we're talking to the people who design conservation strategies that both embody sustainable use of resources and take into account the impacts of global warming. These are big stories - one from the Congo and another from Madagascar. I'll tell you about them next week. And to you, fellow bloggers! Tell us about any inspriational people you have met or know of. It would be very valuable to us - we might be able to pay them a visit.
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Julian,
Yet further resources for you and your colleagues (post to blog only if you like, but worthwhile in programme development):
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute:
Orion Magazine
And, from the prominent NASA scientist the Bush administration tried to gag:
Hansen, J. 2005. Is There Still Time to Avoid "Dangerous Anthropogenic
Interference" with Global Climate? A Tribute to Charles David Keeling
(5.5 MB PDF). Presentation given Dec. 6, 2005, at the American
Geophysical Union, San Francisco. 50 p
Vaya con Gaia
ed
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Perhaps fewer journos/politicians hopping on planes to see just how global warming is affecting people might alleviate the problem. And you can tell that David Attenborough to stay at home and take up knitting too.
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The point that nobody seems to want to address is that there are too many of us (humans and that every single one of us is an irresponsible consumer. As long as there is a prevailing trend among us to think of the earth as ours and to forget that we are sharing it with millions of other species; as long as we delude ourselves that by using unleaded petrol and recycling our newspapers we are being conscientious citizens; as long as we fail to realise that human rights are an artificial concept and that in reality we have no more rights than a bug has the right not to be squashed against the kitchen window; we are all responsible for the current environmental crisis.
The solution begins, as many do, with education. It isn't enough to be worried for one's grandchildren. We should be deeply concerned for every creature on the planet. Every being that dies because it's habitat has been ploughed up, every species that becomes extinct due to climate change because we just can't stop ourselves from buying and buying and buying, from eating more than we need because we can, and throwing away unwanted leftover food and from driving the kids to school 500 yards from home in our gas-guzzling cars.
We must learn to consider very carefully every unit of currency that we spend. Whatever we are purchasing we must ask "what is it?", "Where did it come from?", "How was it made?" and "do I really need it?". We should be questioning even the packaging in which it arrives. We should refuse to exchange our hard -earned money for any product that is even slightly suspect if it is something that we can live without.
Most people don't do this because they just don't realise how serious things are. Education is the only way to get the message across and everyone loves to stare at their tv for hours, so ...all power to the Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ.
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It is not what we humans do that causes global warming, but that there are too many of us doing it
We will never cure global warming until we stop having children. The world has about three times the population that it can sustain. Since people in the developed world cause the most pollution, they should be the first to stop breeding. The poorer people would not rape their enviroment if there were no people to buy their produce. The moslems and catholics have got it all wrong, they should practice contraception to avoid poverty and save the world.
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Ian & Alan,
You are both right about population, and right to note that it's us in the 'rich' world who do the most damage.
If the Earth has some three times as many as it can support, consider that anyone over the age of 75 has witnessed a tripling in their lifetime and that anyone less than 75 is part of that tripling.
Smile at your neighbour, and
Vaya con Gaia
ed
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Yesterday (1st June) I watched a holiday programme on Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ1 which, in common with other holiday programmes, extolled the virtue of using cheap flights to travel to evermore exotic locations. Later in the same evening on the same station David Attenborough presented a programme on climate change in which it was argued that human activity is playing a significant part in the increase of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere which through the mechanism of global warming is posing a serious threat to all life on this planet. I cannot reconcile the agendas of these two programmes. Can anybody at the Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ help me to make sense of these different messages?
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Interesting angle on population and one with which I heartedly agree. Unfortunately, the politicians (and their policies) both here in the UK and elsewhere in Europe are actually designed to encourage larger families because of demography and an aging population.
Regarding the part played by air travel in global warning, it should also be remembered that the consumer society that exists in all western economies and which countries such as India and China are rapidly embracing is as much to blame as sun-seeking holiday makers and travellers. If you eat any exotic fruit or foods, if you eat summer fruit that's out of season, if you use equipment or wear clothing made outside Europe, then you are contributing in the same way as anyone who chooses to fly: virtually 90% of these consumer goods are air-freighted into the UK, with exotic food, often on a nightly basis.
So it would seem that the only way to ease the problem is to grow your own, weave and wear your own, avoid exotic foods and fruits, and practice contraception (or even abstinence).
A dull but environmentally responsible way of life.
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People are dieing because of this and some people just don't care do they? While some people try and conserve energy others use everything. Somebody should wake these people up and explain in great depth what the world is coming to! They jet off in planes to beaches abroad while others say 'no lets not go on holiday this year, lets have some picnics round about where we live'
Plus all the packaging that comes on food, gifts etc. Do we really need it could we live with half the packaging? Think about it!
Dulcie Skelton
Age 14, Scotland
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Somebody should tell all those scientists and reporters to stay at home and conserve energy instead of jetting off to countrys abroad to investigate global warming!
Sally Smith
46
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