All things are negotiable, right? Well in most cases this is true, but in the case of climate change they shouldn’t be. I am so sick of hearing of this meeting and that summit where important “changes” are supposed to be happening, but in the end nothing on the issue has been resolved. Listen up leaders of nations everywhere! Do something NOW about the problem of climate change, or soon we won’t have a place to call home (not one where human life is habitable anyway).
“Climate change is, in theory, the perfect topic for an international environmental agreement. All countries are affected by, and contribute to, the build up of greenhouse gases, and should be willing to join in the effort to stop it. However, it is far from easy to agree what to do, and how to do it…. The challenge is to use far less fossil fuel energy while increasing standards of living in developing countries and avoiding the sort of cuts in standards of living in developed countries that would produce public backlash and political impasse.”
— Just a Lot of Hot Air?, A close look at the Climate Change Convention, PANOS, November 2000
Global climate change should be a concern for all, especially citizens of the US, since we are the greatest offenders on the planet. Unfortunately, the US has been trying since the discovery of the melting ice caps to negotiate their way out of the problem. Here are the US’s climate change strategies to date and why they have failed so miserably:
1. Deny It—When climate change became a big issue in the 90’s many US Scientists denied it’s existence, but many were later discovered to have been hired by big-business and their results were disproved by unbiased researchers.
2. Fight It—The next strategy became to blame someone else for the disaster we all created, but the US could not for long be the one pointing its finger, as the largest fossil fueling economy on the planet.
3. Dilute It—Since the US could no longer deny the problem and blaming someone else just wasn’t working, they then tried to water-down the crisis as if it really wasn’t that big of a deal after all, but all the evidence pointed to the fact that it is an issue which will have major affects if not taken seriously.
4. Delay It—The US finally accepted to accept climate change for what it is: a global catastrophe for our future generations, but they have put off taking extreme action for as long as possible.
Well folks, we have come to an impasse, if you will. The time has come where we have to taken action. The good news is that it is better late than never. Whether you’re an American or Chinese, Spanish or South African, EVERYONE IS RESPONSIBLE!!! The steps you take today, no matter how small, can improve the quality of life for generations to come…
What step are you taking to reduce your footprint on the planet?
George Carlin said it: “The planet will be fine, the people are f&*ked”
Climate Change risk is a tip of the iceberg, with people spending trillions trying to kill each other using evermore sophisticated tools, and spending hardly anything to defend (google Apophis 2029, Planetary Defence). What climate change is about to me is the one which is going inside of peoples heads. We need to be more acceptable of one another and dream big and do micro, but together.