The Reality of Climate Change

The Reality of Climate Change

You won’t find climate change skeptics among the Inuit. They watch in despair as their ice vanishes and the polar bears drown. You also won’t find climate change skeptics among the Pacific Islanders as they watch their atolls vanish beneath the waves and I too have witnessed this first hand. And, you won’t find climate change skeptics among marine biologists who get to see first hand the bleached coral, vanishing Tasmanian kelp beds and the rapid transformation of the marine ecology as tropical organisms move into the temperate zone. I have seen mosquitoes and malaria move into the mosquito free PNG highlands where I grew up back in the days when there was still snow on Mt Guluwe and Mt Wilhelm. No one can credibly argue that climate change is not happening. The evidence is everywhere and overwhelming and deep down all but the deeply deluded know this to be true. This is not some subtle and hard to measure thing, it is there for all to see. You only need to look at satellite pictures of Australia to see the transformation of the northern deserts into woodland and we all know that southern Australia is becoming drier which is why the Murray Darling River system is in such as mess. Why then are so many people skeptical and why is their orchestrated misinformation campaign being legitimized? I have some theories about this but suspect it is largely about selfishness. We are content and comfortable and should not and will not take any action that threatens our standard of living such as impose a carbon tax. This approach is of course folly. Climate change is real and we have to do something about it and the quicker we act the better. The first step is to acknowledge that the problem is real and then maybe we can find a solution. Like most scientists, I am not optimistic but we have to have a go.

The world heats with the folly of man

As hope fades like a dying ember

And we our green world remember

And regret the loss of snow and cooling rain

And wish we had our time again

To avoid greed and not to self interest surrender

And destroy the world in its living splendor

If only we were back where we began

To see once more the marvelous sight

Of coral reef and atolls, now long drowned

To see the snow fall brilliant white

On great green forests live with sound

Then our future was so bright

And our blessings were profound