It's too late to save the forest
When it's dead and gone
It's too late to say we're sorry
When it's no longer there
It's too late to say we're sorry
When the reef is dead and gone
It's too late to save the coral
When it's bleached beyond repair
We listen for the frog calls
But silence greets our ears
It's too late to say we're sorry
And our eyes are full of tears
I am finding it increasingly difficult to remain optimistic about our future. In Australia in particular there is a lack of political leadership to address the issue of climate change despite increasing community acceptance of climate science. The health of the Great Barrier Reef continues to deteriorate, we have unprecedented fires in rain-forest and, ongoing major fish kills in the Murray Darling Basin. When we visited Arkaroola in the northern Flinders Ranges in April it was heart-breaking to see the parched valleys littered with Euro and Yellow-footed Rock Wallaby bones. The Rock Wallabies rely on dew for water and there has been no dew in that area for 4 years. The wallabies are coming into the homesteads in the quest for survival. And yet, somehow, despite the evidence all around us we remain locked in a cycle of denial and inaction. There has, however, been a shift in the denial process. As the science becomes overwhelming the outright denial that there is an issue is becoming rarer. There is more stage 2; "Ok we accept that the climate is changing but it has nothing to do with human activity" or stage 3; "Yes we are contributing to the problem but the consequences are being greatly overstated by climate alarmists". Unfortunately the situation is worse than most people think. The death of a 400 km strip of coastal mangroves along the Gulf of Carpentaria last week gets a small mention in the news and is promptly forgotten. Thousands of heat stressed flying foxes dying in Cairns and Adelaide last summer barely rates a mention. We are in deep trouble and it's going to get worse. And our response to this as a nation was to reelect a Party of climate change denialists at the last election. We have no choice but to soldier on. We have lost much but we still have much to save and each of us can make a difference.
When it's dead and gone
It's too late to say we're sorry
When it's no longer there
It's too late to say we're sorry
When the reef is dead and gone
It's too late to save the coral
When it's bleached beyond repair
We listen for the frog calls
But silence greets our ears
It's too late to say we're sorry
And our eyes are full of tears
I am finding it increasingly difficult to remain optimistic about our future. In Australia in particular there is a lack of political leadership to address the issue of climate change despite increasing community acceptance of climate science. The health of the Great Barrier Reef continues to deteriorate, we have unprecedented fires in rain-forest and, ongoing major fish kills in the Murray Darling Basin. When we visited Arkaroola in the northern Flinders Ranges in April it was heart-breaking to see the parched valleys littered with Euro and Yellow-footed Rock Wallaby bones. The Rock Wallabies rely on dew for water and there has been no dew in that area for 4 years. The wallabies are coming into the homesteads in the quest for survival. And yet, somehow, despite the evidence all around us we remain locked in a cycle of denial and inaction. There has, however, been a shift in the denial process. As the science becomes overwhelming the outright denial that there is an issue is becoming rarer. There is more stage 2; "Ok we accept that the climate is changing but it has nothing to do with human activity" or stage 3; "Yes we are contributing to the problem but the consequences are being greatly overstated by climate alarmists". Unfortunately the situation is worse than most people think. The death of a 400 km strip of coastal mangroves along the Gulf of Carpentaria last week gets a small mention in the news and is promptly forgotten. Thousands of heat stressed flying foxes dying in Cairns and Adelaide last summer barely rates a mention. We are in deep trouble and it's going to get worse. And our response to this as a nation was to reelect a Party of climate change denialists at the last election. We have no choice but to soldier on. We have lost much but we still have much to save and each of us can make a difference.
What a timely poem for our beloved planet. Indeed we are already late noting that we are yet to see serious human efforts to effectively combat the causes and impacts of climate change. Despite the overwhelming evidences and nature cries that are telling us that we are destroying this planet, we as human beings have failed to carry out effective measures to combat the causes and effects of climate change. Indeed we are still destroying forests, carrying out massive commercial agriculture and using fossil fuels.
ReplyDeleteIf we want to salvage what is left then we must do more and manage to limit the global temperatures increases below 2 degrees Celsius.