Yawn! Yawn ! Yesterdays News!

Just one day prior to April Fools Day there appeared another report from the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Someone facetiously wrote on TWITTER, 'it's an alarm on steroids'. And damn well it should be! This major report was the product of 1,729 experts and reviewers from 70 different countries. Men and women outstanding in their fields, some Nobel Prize winners. And still we don't demand our powerful leaders take these scientific reports seriously! The Times They are A-changin' sang Bob Dylan - in a way he never dreamed!

We all know climate change can come from natural internal or external processes such as volcanic eruptions, earth quakes or solar cycles. But the focus of the IPCC report is the change to climate that can be traced to human activity; activities that are altering our atmosphere.

I am no scientist, but I do remember from high school that our ecosystem is composed of plants, animals and microbes plus abiotic (non-living) components, such as air, water and minerals.  All these elements interact to form the system we call Earth. The energy to run this system comes primarily from the sun (photosynthesis). As humans we sometimes forget we are part of this system. We come under the heading 'animal', and all animals play an important role as well. It seems we are not cooperating with our earth partners! Poor old Mother Earth is losing her ability to nurture and provision her inhabitants! And it is likely our own damn fault!

I have heard various dates thrown around. Some say after 2025 it will be too late to turn things around!  The report is pretty scary and points out what is already being affected: our food supply, fresh water, ocean acidification, loss of various species, the global economy and human security. Of course the changes will differ in different geographical locations. The bloody battles over resources have yet to begin.

The large oil companies are rightfully critical of the report. We can slam the major polluters but are we willing to work hard to abandon our reliance on fossil fuels? Someone said gas, oil and coal should stay under the ground! Are we willing to help lift others out of poverty? Are we willing to lessen our assets and profits or to lower our standards of living? The politicians know we are not ready to make these big commitments, and they do not want their party to lose the next election either. Dictators don't want revolutionaries to take to the streets in protest. But - "Climate change is happening and no one in the world is immune." - THE INDEPENDENT. 

Although I understand the psychology behind recycling, I confess down deep I am no longer a big fan. It's too little too late. I have become cynical of the bromides like 'going Green', 'eco-friendly materials' and 'carbon footprints'. These small efforts may help us focus on the problem, but we no longer have a hundred years and infinite patience to clean our dirty nest!

We should be planning our food supplies now for the up-coming lean years ahead.  Because of climate change many countries are already beginning to experience food shortages. (Toronto Star - March 29, 2014) Notice the rise in food prices recently? Japan, after the 2011 tsunami caused unsafe levels of radiation in their crops, are quickly turning to hydroponics and indoor farming as their future supply of fresh  food. "Hydroponics and indoor farming are not just Japan's future, they are the world's future". Then there is the electric car TELSA Model S ($145,061.47!) - it comes with FREE charging solar stations in the US! Small moves, but important advances but not enough and far too late! Would it not be wonderful to say good-bye to bursting pipe lines and dirty destructive oil spills.......

Roy Woodbridge (Woodbridge and Associates,Vancouver) in his book THE NEXT WORLD WAR makes an interesting argument. If we make our human actions the enemy and blame environmental degradation on ourselves, it turns environmentalism into a type of religion or a political movement. We all know what happens in politics and religion, how we pit one against the other! He asks then: what is the one single unifying threat to the future of mankind ? Ecological decline over the long run has the potential to destroy us all, that is why it is becoming our common enemy! People all over the world rally together in times of war, so why not an appeal to human self-interest and declare war on the environment itself? There are no short cuts, we must honestly deal with poverty and over-population, and move quickly to develop new technologies and new patterns of social organizations.  I think the IPCC is telling us it is time to get serious about cleaning up our mess if we truly want our Earth to continue to provide the goods and services we need to survive.

I read somewhere recently 'how do we live in peace, when the environment we live in is a threat to our very existence.' Amen to that!

And that's Dick's View of the World this Week