Why has man-made climate change been allowed to get such a grip on the planet, to the extent that it is now in danger of being an unstoppable threat to the human race?
As discussed in my first post this seems to be partly down to the fact that we can't see the direct effects of climate change, we can only see the weather. This allows climate change denial and indifference to prosper and apathy to reign. The link between our weather and global climate needs to be undeniable and easy to see. However, this link is not something that the general public are currently having brought home to them with enough force.
And, what can we do? Even if we do acknowledge that things are changing and that it's primarily down to our continuing consumption and the carbon emissions it produces, we have a (convenient) tendency to think that the problem is "too big" for us to solve in our own communities and we are dependant on the politicians. This is a cop-out. There is plenty of information out there about reducing our own carbon impacts and coming together to make a difference and lobbying those politicians to do their jobs and act on our behalf. Too often business has taken the reins and influenced political direction to the detriment of society as a whole, and business leaders as individuals are notoriously sanguine about the threats of climate change, despite the WEF paying lipservice to the threat.
2016 was the year in which Brexit and the election of Donald Trump made it clear that the democratic process is capable of being "owned" by a majority that no longer respect main stream political process and the "experts" it employs, nor trusts it to act in the best interest of the many. There is a danger that this will derail attempts to mitigate the effects of climate change, but there is also the hope that it can override the corporate interests that have been making those attempts so hard to implement. It all depends on getting the right information out there, and making the case for the urgency of the situation.
The purpose of this blog is not to provide anything new in the way of facts and figures - there are plenty of very respected, reliable and authoritative resources available for that (see sidebar). However, we can all understand weather events because we can see them, what we cannot always appreciate, because it is seldom explained to us by the mainstream press, is what those weather event are telling us about the facts and graphs that are being held up for us by climate science. This blog is therefore intended to be a regular round up of weather around the world with the intention of demonstrating how this shows that the climate is changing now.
I will also be highlighting local (and global) activist news and events with links to sources of practical information on what individuals can do, and are doing (and this will include myself), to make a change from below.
Even the smallest drip of information can make a difference and I hope this blog will add to a growing tide. This is too important to be left to the scientists and politicians, we need to act as individuals, groups and nations and soon. It's getting very late.
Constructive discussion via comments is more than welcome.
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