There are some who know the world is flat
And the moon is made of cheese
And most of us say “fancy that”
And things are as you please
A madman on the railway track
Believes the train will stop
While those who stand by watching
Know that it will not
It’s hard to face the things we fear
And truth is rarely clear
But the reality that we deny
Is to others crystal clear
The climate change locomotive is bearing down while we stand
frozen on the tracks. Those with sight have
seen it coming for a while. Those with hearing can hear it. They cry out in
vain. “Please stop the train, we are frozen on the tracks and we cannot move.” The
politicians and business owners driving the train reply. “We will not the stop
this train, it is taking us to a good place where we will all be rich.” “But
the train will kill us all.” “Now you are being alarmist.”
Greed and self-interest can only take you so far. We all want a comfortable life and in
Australia most of us have everything we need. We have peace, prosperity and
security and we take it for granted that we will always be fed, clothed and
sheltered and looked after when we are sick. We have compassion for those
experiencing droughts, floods and fires but most of us are not directly
affected. We are sad for the flying foxes dying in their thousands in a heat
wave but a bat is a bat. It is inconceivable that it will be us dying in our
thousands as vast areas of the planet become uninhabitable. The right winged
shock jocks contend that you would need to be off with the fairies or a greenie
alarmist to believe that there is genuine peril on the horizon. And yet that is what 97.2% of the published
papers on climate science are forecasting https://thebulletin.org/2019/08/millions-of-times-later-97-percent-climate-consensus-still-faces-denial/.
But what about the other 3% the deniers
shrilly cry? These so-called scientists
cannot agree on anything. But here’s
the interesting thing. There is no
credible 3% alternate view. https://qz.com/1069298/the-3-of-scientific-papers-that-deny-climate-change-are-all-flawed/.
The other 3% are shonky papers that do not pass scrutiny. They cherry pick,
they misinterpret and their data is not reproducible. They are also invariably funded by those who
believe that their business interests are threatened by action on climate
change. There is no credible alternate
view. None! Don’t believe me! Well, have a go a finding one like I did. Each
and every alternate view Paper will have been pulled apart by a multitude of credible
scientists and exposed for what it is. A fraud. And yet the newspapers are full
of “alternate views” by uncredentialed people living in some kind of alternate reality
or by outright liars. And they are believed by many because it is easy to believe
what is convenient. The people that write this stuff, the trolls on social
media and the self-interested politicians with their populist agenda are evil
and by their efforts they have managed to move the doomsday clock 40 seconds
closer to midnight https://www.npr.org/2020/01/23/799047659/the-end-may-be-nearer-doomsday-clock-moves-within-100-seconds-of-midnight
. The social media trolls frequently call those advocating for urgent action on
climate change alarmists. Well, anyone who is not alarmed by what is happening
must be truly mad.
·
Glaciers and polar ice in rapid retreat.
·
Pacific nations disappearing beneath the waves
from sea level rise.
·
Great Barrier Reef bleaching and dying.
·
Flying foxes dying in their thousands in summer heat
waves.
·
Unprecedented floods, droughts, fires and
cyclones.
·
Collapsing ecosystems and particularly in the
oceans.
·
Disease, war, famine and the displacement of
millions of people as a consequence of unprecedented drought and food shortages.
And all this with a 1 degree above normal increase. What’s
it going to be like at 2 degrees, 3 degrees or more. Or perhaps a runaway greenhouse
effect that will create a lifeless earth with rivers of molten lead like Venus!
Now I am being alarmist.
The damage already done by climate change is incalculable. Perhaps
already sufficient to destroy our civilisation and much of our biodiversity
once things equilibrate. But it could get much worse. The mythical 2oC
safe level rise is not and never was any kind of safe level but it may be one
our civilisation might tolerate and much of our biodiversity might remain. We
can still achieve this if we have the will. The first priority is to take on
the liars. When people repeat lies that they have read in the newspaper or
heard from their learned friends in the pub call them out. The same goes for
politicians. We need zero tolerance for the mythical alternate view.