global climate destabilization

“People Who Believe In Climate Change Should Have Their Heads Examined”

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The pronouncement above is what a friend just said to me after we bumped into each other while grocery shopping. I hadn’t seen him in a while, as he and his wife winter south of the border, and come home to Canada in the summer to run their fly-in fishing lodge business. He went on:

“We’ve just had the coldest Florida winter ever, and we’ve had two cold summers here in northern Ontario. Anybody who thinks global warming is happening is out to lunch.“

When I pointed out to him that “weather weirding” is exactly what climate scientists have been saying would happen if we continued to warm up the atmosphere with our burning of fossil fuels, he dismissed it out of hand. Tactfully, he then changed the subject and we chatted about other things.

So what is it that makes intelligent, competent people dismiss out-of-hand the predictions of over 90% of scientists who study this for a living? If nine out of ten pilots told you a plane you were about to board was going to crash, would you get on anyway? I think not! Yet this is our planet, our only home, that we are talking about changing irreversibly because we won’t listen to the experts! Is it because we can’t see the carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide, and methane gas in the air that we can dismiss these emissions as being insignificant? It is true, that based on our experience for the last 200 years since the beginning of the industrial revolution and our love affair with burning carbon began, we have gotten away without significant global consequences. Only when the air or water pollution in specific locations becomes a problem do we sit up and pay attention, at least if it’s close to us. However, tell the people in Chernobyl or the Love Canal that because you can’t see something it isn’t significant and can be dismissed!

Now, this friend has two daughters, just like I do, and I know he loves them just as much as I do mine. If only he – a pilot and businessman with no scientific training – would take the time to consider what their futures are going to be like if he is wrong and the scientists are right. The crazy thing is, humanity is up to this challenge. We are innovative, intelligent creatures who unfortunately have let the destructive side of our nature run rampant with the environment recently. But it doesn’t have to be this way – we don’t have to be this way. The solutions are myriad, and are not the same for every community, or country. But they are achievable – if we start before we reach the tipping point. As Kelly Blyn wrote recently on 350.org:

The truth is, there is no silver bullet to stopping the climate crisis, no single technological solution that can fix everything at once. We don’t just need solar power, or wind power, or efficiency. We need all of these things and more. What we need, in a word, is diversity.

For example:

Germany’s energy could be 100 % renewable by 2050

Cool roofs save money, save energy, cut pollution, and directly reduce global warming

New Mexico Village uses sun-power to help fight fires

How the world can (and will) stabilize at 350 to 450 ppm: The full global warming solution

Still not convinced that this issue is important? Maybe this will change your mind:

How hot is it? Masters reports that 9 countries smashed all-time temperature records, “making 2010 the year with the most national extreme heat records.”

Photos Reveal Receding Himalaya Glaciers

The New Normal? Average Global Temperatures Continue to Rise

And, because the town I live in has a thriving tourism industry based on hunting and fishing, here’s a new link I’ve found, Target Global Warming, for and by hunters and anglers confronting climate change.

For a more examples of how climate change is changing the world here and now, go to Father Theo’s recent blog posting, Climate Change Notebook, July 2010.

We can do this – let’s join together and build a better future for all our children. I’ll quote from 350.org again:

Looking over the list of campaigns above, it becomes clear: there actually is one silver bullet to solving the climate crisis, and it’s not solar power.  It’s people power.

We can’t do this without you. Let’s keep building this movement.




Humanitarian Aid Rushes to Haiti

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The global response to the devastating earthquake in Haiti has been swift and generous.  American President Obama has pledged $100 million in aid, and the international community has been sending planes and ships with supplies and emergency workers to help the devastated capital, Port-au-Prince. Individuals throughout the rest of the world have been reaching into their pockets and donating money to aid organizations.

It is an hour of dire need for the people of Port-au-Prince who are suffering from the devastation wrought in seconds by an earthquake, and the international response to this crisis is no less than what they deserve.

The response of the global community to the death and destruction in Haiti also says that our international priorities are to respond quickly, with money, supplies, and aid workers when people are dying in a natural disaster. This is a blog about climate change – and people need to know that natural disasters are going to be happening more and more often as our climate is destabilized, and that there are going to be more and more people dying around the world. Most of our leaders aren’t telling us the truth about the risks we are running by pretending that our ice caps and glaciers aren’t melting, and that the carbon dioxide we are spewing into the atmosphere isn’t changing our world.

Don’t take my word for it – EDUCATE yourself about what is happening.  Read Climate Cover-up: The Crusade to Deny Global Warming by James Hoggan and Richard Littlemore.  It is not an easy read.  It may well – and should – make you angry. It is written by a PR expert about the propaganda that corporations, who have become incredibly rich because of our society’s addiction to fossil fuels, have purposely generated to create public confusion about climate change.

When you are educating yourself, be hypervigilant about the sources you are reading. Keep in mind that the world’s Academies of Science agree that climate change is happening, and is caused by humans. So anybody who says otherwise needs to have very good scientific credentials.

Here are some other books that give an overview of the climate change issue:

Elizabeth Kolbert, a staff writer at the New Yorker Magazine, wrote a 3-part series called The Climate of Man, which is available on the New Yorker website. Kolbert followed up the series with a book, entitled Field Notes from a Catastrophe: Man, Nature, and Climate Change. If you really want to be alarmed, you can go to Gwynne Dyer’s series on CBC radio, The Climate Wars, or purchase the book of the same name.

You can also educate yourself by checking out what humanitarian organizations who work around the world say about the changes man-made warming of the atmosphere is already bringing about.  Oxfam International , Mennonite Central Committee , and World Vision all have information about how climate change is affecting people around the world.  On their website, World Vision states

The negative effects of climate change are becoming more evident for poor communities forced to live in marginalized locations, which are frequently in areas most vulnerable to natural disasters.

Tim Flanagan, scientist and author of  The Weathermakers says

Sometime this century, the day will arrive when the human influence on the climate will overwhelm all natural factors.

We can’t keep fiddling while Rome (our planet) burns.  Just as the world has responded to Haiti’s humanitarian crisis, so do we need to mobilize about the looming crisis of global climate destabilization caused by climate change. Get educated, and send a message to our elected leaders to deal with emission reduction NOW.  For more ideas on how to address climate change, go to 350.org and StopGlobalWarming.org.