Why the Majority accept Man Made Climate Change, but take no action

 

Because it is a simple fact of physics, that the more carbon dioxide there is in the atmosphere, the hotter the world becomes, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, (IPCC) concluded it's latest report that, with very high confidence, Man Made Climate Change is

“a threat to human well being and planetary health. There is a rapidly closing window of opportunity to secure a livable and sustainable future for all.,,,,,,,  The choices and actions implemented in this decade will have impacts now and for thousands of years.” (paragraph C1 of headline statements IPCC AR6 Synthesis Report)  

So the worlds leading scientists, who have been studying our home planet all their lives, couldn't make it any clearer. Drastically and rapidly reduce green house gas emissions or we're F***ed.

What has been the response to this report and the news that we are messing up the planet for at least the next thousand years? ………..Well, here in the UK, not much actually. Man made climate change is not top of the political agenda. Yes, a few targets have been set, wind farms are being built (principally in the interests of national security) and crack downs made on young protesters disrupting our busy, important lives watching sport. But the Governments intention to open a new coal mine and oil field, shows its real colours with the main focus being to keep voters happy and contented with "cheap beer and circuses", and heading off what ever is deemed to be the latest crisis. Even the Opposition parties are scaling back their promises. Tackling man made climate change is just not a vote winner. A threat to human well being and planetary health is deemed un important compared to rising bills and no longer being able to afford a holiday to Disney World. Meanwhile, Global oil consumption continues to rise, CO2 levels continue to increase and the world gets hotter at rates faster than the scientists predicted. It's like that old comedy sketch were the news presenter says. “The Government has announced that due to an incoming asteroid, the world will end at 2pm next Thursday. Here are the football results. Arsenal 2 Man Utd…..”  

Why are the vast majority of people, governments and political parties, not taking man made climate change seriously? There are several factors and excuses, all of which are unjustifiable.

1) It's Historically Unprecedented Nothing like this, on such a large scale, has ever happened before. There is no text book, historical records,  or even any religious guidance on how to handle such a global  modern problem. But just because it has never happened before, doesn't  mean it isn't happening and we can ignore it;

2) The implications are so serious it's almost incomprehensible.  It is almost unbelievable that our civilization, which is currently based on cheap energy provided by fossil fuels, is about to wreck the world. Can it be true that every time we do such innocent and mundane things such as use our cars, cook our diners or heat our homes, it causes irreparable damage? Well individually it has very little effect , but when 7 billions of us continue to dump CO2 into the atmosphere and that CO2 will stay there for centuries, it will wreck the world.

3) It's so very inconvenient  Changing our highly enjoyable, comfortable, happy way of life is just such a pain. It will upset the great, high consuming, high emitting party we (especially in the developed western world) have been having. It's not something any of us wants to do, but to continue burning fossil fuels is irresponsible and will kill billions when vast areas of our planet ie the tropics are no longer habitable. We would be causing a global mass murder, a slow motion holocaust, a famine, a destruction of unprecedented scale. Think this is an exaggeration - last year the heatwave killed 62,000 in Europe alone, and this doesn't include heat waves in India or floods in Pakistan Libya, wildfires in Hawaii, Greece, US or storms all around the world. As matters will only get worse, or more likely, much worse, the excess deaths year on year will soon reach millions.   
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4) Carbon dioxide is invisible. Unlike smoke, litter, plastic in the oceans, sewage in rivers, you cannot see green house gases. It doesn't make a dramatic photo like black smoke, filth in rivers or piles of rubbish on a beach. Therefore emissions are much more difficult to witness and promote as something that we should take seriously - its easy to dismiss, as its not visible. We can’t see it on social media, so it easy to ignore it. However, in the long term it is as deadly as smoke, and will not clear when the fire is out. It will linger, and because planetary processes take centuries to scrub it out of the air, it will continue to warm the world.

5) Climate change proceeds at a slow pace that is difficult to perceive. Until recently climate change has only been visible in data, charts and graphs. It is impossible to experience climate change directly as events such as wild fires, heat waves and floods occur, but in far parts of the world, and  then pass and normal weather resumes. Only over decades can frequency trends be determined. Our memories are inaccurate, we remember only what we want to remember, so weird weather banished from our minds. Man made climate change is perceived as important, but not urgent and because it takes thinking and imagination, it's hard to comprehend. Also, why be bothered about the serious consequences, when they will only  arise after the next election or after your life time?

6) There has not been, and there is unlikely to be, a single massive disaster event. It is unlikely that there will be a Chernobyl, or  a Great Stink or Titanic event that will make the seriousness of inaction concerning man made climate change undeniable to all. The slowly worsening climate will creep up the temperature scale and one generation after another will look at old photos and films not really knowing when it started or how to get everyone to act. Perhaps if London and a few other cities flooded at the same time, or the Matterhorn collapsed or a world wide famine occurred, perhaps the majority would finally demand action. However no such cataclysm is likely to occur so its full steam ahead in our old mindset, thinking planet earth is unsinkable.

7) Technology will Solve the problem. "No need to act as someone has just invented…." These story's are common and provide the comfort, but the false assumption, that we can invent our way out of any problem. Carbon sequestration, fusion power, hydrogen fuel, geo engineering - none have been tested or developed at a global scale and who is going to pay for it? If there's no profit it wont happen. The easiest solution remains to stop burning fossil fuels and switch to renewables supported by nuclear. Why not just do that? 

8) Targets have been set. Great news, there's no need to act as in 2050 we will be at net zero, So we can all ignore the problem today and keep on emitting. It’s a pity CO2 levels will be rising until the year 2049 and  that the next generation will have an even hotter world and an almost impossible  problem  to solve.However don't worry as in 2049, the Government will set new targets so the problem will be solved! Perhaps someone might have realized by then that targets are not action and achieve nothing.

9) We can adapt. Here, man made climate change isn’t even a problem. We will adapt to the hotter world and crank up the air conditioning. However, those that cannot adapt will suffer and perish and continuing emissions means the world will just get hotter and hotter and hotter until we are fully adapted to a planet that is just a rock devoid of all life apart from ourselves. Science fiction? Well it's true that millions of years ago, in the Eocene and Permian, the earth was much warmer than today and despite mass extinction,s life continued. But whether today's ecosystems can cope the unprecedented rate of change caused by man made climate change is unknown and the risks of our scorched earth experiment are existential.  Why take the risk and isn't it more comfortable to live in today's world or tomorrows hot house?

10) Man made Climate Change isn't commercial. Newspapers, magazines, media must make money (or get clicks on phones) to survive, and most people don't want to know that we are trashing the planet let alone pay for this bad news. So this commercial reality means the seriousness of global warming is underplayed in the media and a bias emerges towards towards new tech solutions, a down playing of the data and more generally, a lack of acknowledgement that anything can be done,  There seems to be a mind set of "keep the readers happy" or people will go elsewhere. The historian Neil Oliver has recently called for the media to stop terrifying people with scare stories - ie we don't want to know! Therefore it is only "not for profit organisations" such as the United Nations that are presenting the true picture. 

11) Our selfish genes mean we act in our own self interest, rather than for the common good.  In the competition of life and our biological drive to pass on our genes, we delude ourselves that we are the most important thing in the universe and prioritize our own needs over those of others. Therefore as long as I’m doing great, what does it matter about others and future others? Co operating at a species level doesn't come naturally to us and so far there is no sign that our intelligence will conquer our nature . However evolution will teach us co operate or our population will collapse.

12) Why should I act when the Chinese aren’t. To stop climate Change everyone must act, now. This means taking personal responsibility and accepting you are part of the problem, but also part of the solution. Expecting others to solve the problem and doing nothing yourself is not going to work. Inactivity by others is not an excuse for not acting your self. If every one uses this excuse, nothing happens and we all burn (as the UN has pointed out).

13) Doomster dismissal. Those who are making a fuss can be dismissed as, emotional, on the spectrum, cranks or over exaggerating, It's the usual tactic that if you can't defeat the argument, rubbish the messenger. However you can't change the laws of physics, and more CO2 in the atmosphere means it just gets hotter and hotter and hotter, whoever is annoyingly banging on about it.

14 Environmental protesters are hypocrites as they use oil based products too. To accuse  protesters as hypocrites, ie someone who says you are doing something wrong, when they are doing exactly the same thing, does not change the fact that both you and them are doing a something wrong. It may give you an excuse, or comfort, for continuing your bad action, but it also shows that deep down you know it is morally wrong and both you and the protesters need to change their behavior. 

15) I refuse to be guilty for the way I live. Calling for action on climate change is not about making any one feel guilty. The past is the past and cannot be changed. Being a boomer I've racked up my carbon foot print with global travel and driving all over the country. Its about changing now for the future, of doing the right thing rather than the easy thing, about making the world better not worse.

16) Economics and democracies are not the best system to bring about swift change.  Our civilization needs energy and our economic systems are set up to always favour the cheapest option. Fossil fuels are cheap. They come out the ground almost ready to use, and because we can vent the waste produced after use into the atmosphere for zero cost, this form of highly concentrated energy is cheap. Therefore our economies have been build on cheap fossil fuels, as the future costs of dealing with the problems of global warming are all future costs for some else to pay. Economists are now saying that these hidden costs (externalities, because they are external to the market) should be paid for by introducing a carbon tax that can be used to pay for the transition to renewables (estimated at an Annual global bill of $2.7 trillion to reach net zero by 2050); but who will vote for this increase in tax, especially when climate change does not directly effect their lives? Only by educating the majority of the long term implications of man made climate change, and the need to act swiftly for the benefit of everyone, will a democracy embrace the transition to renewables. The earth is priceless, out side of economics and you can't buy another earth.

17) Whats the cost benefit analysis of tackling man made climate change - isn't it cheaper to do nothing? How do you put a cost on the world you live in, the lives wrecked or the damage caused by heat waves, fires, storms, floods and ecosystem collapse? The situation is so risky that we can't afford to wait for more data. What is obvious is that the longer you put off making a decision to solve a problem, it will get more and more expensive, Do you fix a roof at the first sign of a leak, or wait until all the timbers are rotten too? 

18 Man made global warming is a long term problem. The current UK Tory Government is opening up new oil fields and coal mines because their decisions are based on a 1 year time frame ie the 2024 general election. The UK Labour party, that will probably be elected, will have a 5 year decision making time horizon. Environmentalists have a 25 year mindset and scientist take a long term 75 - 1000 year time frame. With this in mind it can be understood why everyone is disagreeing. But which is the most intelligent perspective? As the issue is so serious, I'm with the scientists.

19 The green policies are being portrayed as infringements to civil Liberties. The introduction of the Ultra low emissions zone to all of London has been imposed on Londoners with high daily charges and little public debate. Resistance to this well meaning but clumsy, and for some punitive, policy, has been  seized upon by the political right, as a policy of  those in power reducing our freedom in order to reduce pollution and achieve net zero. This highlights that in a democracy, the majority of people must accept the need for change, and policy must be inline with the demands of the people. Therefore debate and education and general acceptance must proceed green policies. Green policies are not about infringing freedoms, they are about protecting our future and the planet in which we live.

20) it’s the economy Stupid. Because most lack the comprehension, imagination and intelligence to grasp the reality that climate change will, at a minimum radically alter, and at worst destroy our civilization, we continue to plough on full steam ahead with our same old policies head long into disaster. When it comes to man made climate change, there is a leadership vacuum and democracy is unlikely to deliver one. No wonder our young people are losing faith in politics.

For all of the above reasons we lack the moral courage to speak the truth about how we are living and its consequences. We lack the bravery to acknowledge reality and accept responsibility for what we are doing to our world.
    
To spare ourselves the mental discomfort, we adopt an intellectual blindness. We veil the unpleasant truths from view by half closing our eyes – and our minds. We make panicky excuses and shrug off undeniable facts  with words like adaption, net zero, and sequestration, knowing full well that the only answer is to change our highly damaging life styles and stop burning fossil fuels.  We steer around the subject and In order to live with ourselves, we have to smear the reality out of recognition with verbal camouflage and techno babble.* We fight to maintain our delusion.

Such a response is only human, but the sooner we all accept the consequences of inaction, and take meaningful steps to sustainability by drastically reducing our CO2 emission, the better for humanity, the planet and the future. 

I don't like it, I don't suppose you like it, but we have no other option.

 

*Adapted from the writings of Kravchenko, a perpetrator of the Holomodor. Please don't fall into the same mind set that killed 4 million people, by taking their food away.

PS if you come across "Its all a hoax designed to control us" - just ask who ever is saying it for their reasoning and evidence. It's then easy to point them in the direction of reality.. 

Burning fossil fuels is a Crime against humanity

 The UN definition of a ‘crime against humanity’ is inhumane acts intentionally causing great suffering, or serious injury to body or to mental or physical health.when committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack directed against any civilian population, with knowledge of the attack: 

 A simple internet search  within seconds gives the following stats - European 2022 heatwave causes 62,000 deaths, in 2021 Particulates kill 330,000 in India (BBC 26/10/22), Pakistan 2022 floods kill 1500. Such figures caused UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres to respond  man made “climate change is killing us”.

 With such large numbers of deaths already occurring, and because global consumption of oil and gas shows no sign of rapidly falling as required, the situation is at best, going to get worse, or more likely, get much worse, so as we now have the indisputable knowledge of the harm caused, isn’t it time to start calling the burning of fossil fuels a Crime against Humanity*?

The holomodor and holocaust occurred, because people deluded themselves that other people were less important than themselves, and invoked a mental blindness to justify their actions, or their decision to look the other way. Today, we rightly condemn those who perpetrated or failed to stop these darkest hours of humanity’s past. But are we not showing signs of the same mental blindness towards today's slow motion global holocaust? We know that more CO2 in the atmosphere causes death, and if we choose to ignore such facts, are we not complicit in the killing of fellow human beings?

Despite tensions, the US and China have held meetings  in order to work together on the control of emission. Hopefully they have recognised the seriousness of the situation. Why can’t the UK parties also have talks, so that there is a cross party consensus on policy?  Man made Climate change is far more serious than Politics and we all have a duty to work together to make the world better, not worst.

*We now have the knowledge that man made climate change is causing great harm and if we continue to make the situation worse  by choosing to ignore this knowledge, we are intentionally causing great suffering - a crime against humanity.

 

Less is More

 I’ve called my blog ‘Make the world a better place’ as I think all our actions should be for the benefit of all  others, living now or in the future. This gives human lives purpose, meaning, value and happiness. But if this is true, the exact opposite must also be true, so I’ve also toyed with the idea of renaming it ‘Stop ruining the world’ because, as the world is already wonderful, is there is any need to “make” anything? Maybe we only need to minimise our harmful actions in order to keep the world the paradise it is. Perhaps we should learn to do less, not more, especially concerning the environment.

I first learnt the value of inaction and the difficulty I have in doing nothing, on a walk, or rather a paddle, in New Zealand. The Inland Pack Track involves paddling down a spectacular river gorge in ankle deep warm tropical water that cuts through the limestone landscape. It takes a few days, so nights are spent sleeping in caves in the cliff sides, one of which is so large it’s called the ballroom. It’s all very idyllic, and after the first day of relaxing paddling (there’s no tiring up hill sections)  I set up camp under the huge overhang of the ballroom. After cooling  off under the waterfall, I went to sleep next to a camp fire whilst watching the glow worms on the roof of the cave. I was perfectly contented despite the rain that had start to fall.

However, the next morning it was still raining. The water level had risen alarmingly and the river was now a raging torrent. Above the noise of the waves, eddies and backflows, the sound of the boulders grinding together as they were tumbled down stream by the power of the water, meant carefree paddling was off the agenda. The water was at least a meter deep and fast flowing. No way was I getting into the water carrying a big rucksack. I was trapped.

By mid day the rain had stopped but the water flow remained high and fast. As something to do I had built a small cairn to mark the water level, laid out stones to spell SOS to any passing aircraft and thought of bad outcomes. I was on my own, know one knew where I was, and the car was parked off road so no one would notice it. It had stopped raining, but what if it started again? What if it was the start of the rainy season and the river would remain high until next summer. My map, warning of the dangers of rivers and the frequency of drowning, only made me feel more worried and isolated. No one would miss me or noticed my abandoned car, so hope of  outside help  was weeks away. I rationed out my three packs of noodles and concluded I had to do something.

Being a climber and mountaineer, I decided to tackle the gorge walls. If escape by the river was impossible, I would have to get out over land. However, as the cliffs where covered in thick tropical vegetation, and the eroded limestone landscape full of man trapping pot holes, this proved dangerous and impossible with a heavy back pack. There was no exposed rock to get hold of and everything was covered in deep soggy vegetation, most of which was extremely slippery, unstable and so rotten it  disintegrated when touched. What looked like solid wood, often proved to be rotten and just collapsed when touched and disappeared into some hole that was hidden by a covering of thick vegetation. After an hour of effort getting no where and several near falls into the river and slips into a hidden pot holes, I retreated back to the cave.

Dejected, I noticed the level of the river had dropped a few inches but was still flowing as strong as ever. I paced about. I couldn’t read. I was full of stress and energy but there was nothing to do but just sit and look at the water and listen to the grinding of the submerged boulders. I though of home.

That evening I cracked. I couldn’t just sit here doing nothing. I had to do something . The water had dropped a few more inches but at that rate it would be many days before it returned to paddling depth. I found two stout wooden sticks to aid my balance, donned my back pack and entered the water.

The power of the water against my legs  was surprising. I struggled to keep my footing.  When it reached my waist, both sticks snapped under the strain, and I was swept off into deeper water. This was a very dangerous moment If I lost my footing, my sack would have flipped me over and probably held me under. I would have either to jettison the pack (which would have been difficult whilst being swept downstream) or drown.

Fortunately neither of these things happened. When the sticks broke. I leaned back against the flow but was picked up by the water and swept down stream. My pack, however, which was full of plastic bags to keep things dry, acted as a float, and as I was not totally out of my depth, my occasional contact with the river bed meant I was able to prevent my self from rolling over. I sort of moon walked, barely in control, in giant hops or bounces rapidly downstream fighting to keep upright. There was no time to think, just survive. Go with the flow but fight to keep upright.

I have no idea of the distance I went or the time I was in the water, but eventually I was swept to the other side of the gorge and managed to grab hold of rocks on the far cliff and bring myself to a halt. Clinging to boulders and the cliff I managed to work my way further down stream until I could scramble up to a small cave well above the water level. Probably shocked by the experience, I don’t remember what I though at that moment other than to spending  the night in that cave was the only option.

The next morning, the sun was out, the water was back to ankle depth and I realised I had risked a drowning for nothing. In this limestone country the water levels go down as quickly as they come up and you should wait patiently rather than enter the fast flowing deep water. Doing nothing is the best option.

Ever since this experience I’ve been aware that western culture or the “Protestant Work Ethic” as its called means I and a lot of other white Anglo Saxons just can’t stop doing things, regardless of whether its for the better or not. This obsession to seize the day, get stuck in or find a solution is deep rooted and often creates more problems than it solves, especially when we don‘t fully understand reality.  From Robinson Crusoe who tirelessly constructs his new home on a desert island, to the film the Martian, where Matt Demon  Sciences the S**t out of being stuck on Mars, work followed by more work is always deemed to be the answer.

Years ago, I enrolled on a management  course, but when I inquired if any research had been done into the concept of over-management, (ie when too many cooks spoil the broth), I didn’t get a helpful response. When I was working, it was frowned upon if I knocked off early, turned off my phone or didn’t work weekends, even though every thing was under control. Even now, when I’m retired, when I says I’ve not been doing much and have no current plans, I get sorrowful looks as I’m deemed to be unhappy and wasting my life, of which little remains.

Governments find it almost impossible to do nothing and can’t help but interfere. They get criticised for not sorting out what ever is deem to be the latest crisis. In-action is dithering, a sign of indecisiveness, lack of confidence and  weakness, So a considered thoughtful response is out of the question, and a knee jerk, over reacting panic measure is  the norm. Keeping the hysterical fear spreading press (who must have an inflated story in order to boost sales) and ranting scared majority happy is the priority. Hence we get lockdowns, windfall taxes, company bail outs, hand outs, bad laws and economic policies and pointless targets rather than well thought out policy that addresses the real causes of the perceived problems which will probably sort themselves out given time.

Particularly, when it comes to the environment, doing nothing is especially important. I used to volunteer to work for a local conservation group, but all we seem to do was “manage” nature by cutting down trees, digging up shrubs and piling up the debris into large heaps that remained an eyesore for years to come. Fortunately when I wrote to them, explaining that the most beautiful places in the world I had visited, where the ones were humans had little or no impact, my idea that conservation should be about minimising the human impact on the land seem to take root, and they are now busying themselves buying up land, remodelling it to whatever they deem best and declaring themselves the saviours of nature. We just can’t get our heads round the fact that nature doesn’t need us and would be far better off with out us.  

With the implications of man made climate change now obvious, it is important that we learn to do nothing or a whole lot less, especially when it comes to burning fossil fuels. Unfortunately there is currently no sustainable way of fly off to all parts of the world, as I ignorantly did when younger. We will have to learn that we can still enjoy life without air miles. There is beauty and wonder wherever you look in this world and books and the computer can bring far off places to you with out the emissions. I acknowledge its not the same as visiting a honey pot tourist location for yourself, but every man destroys what he loves, and isn’t mass tourism destroying exactly what we are hoping to find when we travel? On my last visit to a Mediterranean Island, it was over run by cruise ship passengers, souvenir shops, massive soulless holiday developments, commercialised crowded beaches and noisy night time bars staffed and owned by non locals. Hell truly  is other people, if you want to experience the beauty of the world, and don‘t we just go to these place just to brag about them, rather than truly experience them?.

Its easy to forget that adventures and fun can be had closer to home and there’s isn’t a need to go far to fill our free time. Hopefully more will realise that the holiday industry is just selling us empty dreams and will, like me, learn that doing nothing is sometimes the best option, without nearly drowning on the other side of the world.