Professor Lovelock, at the grand age of 90, delivered a stark statement of fact on the BBC Radio 4 Today programme this morning which exposes the "elephant in the room" about climate change.
The salient facts are these; We didn't deliberately cause the problems of global warming but have inadvertently pulled the trigger and like a flea riding on the back of a runaway giant mammoth we are unable to do very much about it and anything we do is small potatoes or inaffective. His ultimate message is enjoy life while you can - he estimates 7 in 8 people dying from the cumalative effects of global climate change through physical disaster or starvation. That writes the third world off and leaves (I suspect) with the wealthier nations/individuals spending for survival.
I have to agree with most of what he says including the bit about science becoming a career and consequently twisting the data to appease the paymasters and the "business" to which carbon offsetting has become (what a complete farce that is!) The other sad but true piece of news is that renewable energy doesn't really work, something I've suspected for some time. It's just not scalable for our current needs and the political willpower for a massive effort just doesn't exist. The reality of it all is that people feel better for trying to do something, for contributing to an effort to make things better but that effort is (as an outcome) worthless.
That is not to say I think we should abandon "being green", indeed it is a standard which should have been set many years ago. We should keep our environment clean and put back where ever we have taken from, this is just civilised behaviour. I do feel that as a species we should have considered this all a long time ago, that is the problem with human nature, no matter how you might try to "pretty" it up with moral values it is really quite ugly.
As the professor says it's really time to enjoy life whilst you can.
SiG
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