Toban Black

 

 

October 24th, 2008

More global warming



(Photo by Abdulla Alfoudry)

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Writing from Andy Rowell at his Oil Change blog -

Climate Change Happening Faster, Stronger, Sooner

( “Just as European leaders are faltering in their efforts to tackle climate change, a new survey of the science by WWF has found that the climate is changing much faster, stronger and sooner than even the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) forecast.” … )

On indications that people aren’t very concerned about global warming
(in a post titled “Talk to the birds …”) -

“The uncomfortable truth for climate campaigners is that despite the increasing urgency of the issue, and despite the huge political and media coverage global warming has received over the last two years, the public is becoming LESS concerned about it. Let’s quickly look at Britain. In 2005, polling by the authoritative polling company MORI found that 44 per cent of the British were very concerned about climate change. In 2008, that figure had dropped to 30 per cent.”

World CO2 at Record Levels” (in May)

“The concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has reached a record high, according to the latest figures.”

“The figures, published by NOAA confirm that CO2 is accumulating in the atmosphere faster than expected. From 1970 to 2000, the concentration rose by about 1.5ppm each year, but since 2000 the annual rise has leapt to an average 2.1ppm. Last year it was 2.14ppm.

Scientists say the shift could indicate that the Earth is losing its natural ability to soak up billions of tonnes of CO2 each year. Martin Parry, co-chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s working group on impacts, said: ‘Despite all the talk, the situation is getting worse.’”

(That writing in Andy Rowell’s “World CO2 at Record Levels” post all seems to be an exerpt from an article by David Adam in The Guardian.)





Categories: Ecology · Ecology: Energy and carbon · Political Economy

5 responses so far ↓

  • 1 roger // Oct 25, 2008 at 3:09 am

    I think political and industrial leaders are waiting for someone to come up with a way of becoming exceedingly rich without causing excess pollution. Then, and only then, will they switch from their current method of becoming exceedingly rich by causing excess pollution.

    When will our leaders LEAD? All they do is follow opinion polls. Who cares what the public thinks…there is an issue that needs to be addressed, so they should GET ON WITH IT.

  • 2 Toban // Oct 25, 2008 at 2:36 pm

    I assume you have in mind politicians, prominent bureaucrats, and executives when you mention “leaders.”

    In some ways, it’s true that they are leading. As you point out, they are (for example) leading society in a direction that brings profits to some, but not others. Most people wouldn’t express much support for that profit-seeking if it actually were mentioned in an opinion poll.

    Inasmuch as those politicians and so on actually are leading, they aren’t bringing humanity (and many other forms of life) in a direction we should want to go in if we to survive and prosper (without forms of barbarism, such as gang violence). There are bad leaders, of course — loads of them.

    Anyway, ultimately we are — at the moment — headed toward forms of devastation; that’s a prevailing direction of the predominant system and the principle ‘leaders’ (inasmuch as they do lead).

    It’s true that widespread public complacency and such is part of that direction (due to the consequences of previous history, in which the public as we know it was formed), but (as you implicitly note at the start of your comment) common people also currently are being driven in the direction that we’re heading in. The (supposed) leaders are led too — and certainly not just by what common people want. Like everyone else, they’re also led by big money (e.g. fossil fuel industries), mainstream media (e.g. standard journalism), and various other established systems — which people have constructed, and now continue to support and maintain.

    To go back to opinion polls, people willingly respond to them even though there are a very limited set of options on them; so they let others set the agenda.
    That’s part of the essence of liberal ‘democracy.’

  • 3 roger // Oct 25, 2008 at 2:51 pm

    Yes, quite so Toban. The only thing that bothers me about all this is that soon the only freedom our “democracy” may give us is the right to choke on our own muck.

    I want my daughter to live in a clean, peaceful world but it looks as if my best hope is writing to Santa about it.

  • 4 Toban // Oct 25, 2008 at 4:08 pm

    I’m glad that we can agree on that much. That all seems obvious to me, but how many people would actually agree up to this point? –
    after which there is a lot of room for disagreement about what to do and what not to do.

  • 5 Toban // Oct 26, 2008 at 12:09 pm

    By the way -

    My last comment was about everything but what you said about how “it looks as if my best hope is writing to Santa about it.”

    I figure that we have to do the best we can. There are huge obstacles out there, but pessimism can be part of our problems.

    Cheers.

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