No more screwing around

The Earth's rapidly warming climate is will cause inevitable human suffering and the threat of species extinction if action isn't taken, warns a UN scientific panel's report.
(ctv.ca - Nov. 17, 2007)

And that’s the watered down version. That’s after bastards wrapped in their countries’ flags argued relentlessly to soften the language so that they can keep deceiving those they are appointed to protect in order that a very, very small percentage of their country’s population can profit.

For many of us, this latest IPCC report is no surprise. What we grapple with is how to get leaders to take this seriously so that we can meet the upcoming disasters in the best possible way for all human beings. Notice I am not saying “prevent climate change.” That opportunity passed us by long ago. We can still try to slow warming so that it is not as immediately devastating, and we definitely should do so, but the climate is changing, has been changing for some time due to human-driven global warming. Now it is on a roll and cutting all emissions may slow it, but will not stop it.

The report declares that the world's climate systems have already begun to change and that human activity is the driving factor.

"What's new is the clarity of the signal, how clear the scientific message is," said Yvo de Boer, the UN's top climate change official. "The politicians have no excuse not to act."

“No excuse to act.” They never had a valid excuse to begin with, but relied on falsified reports to provide doubt so that a very few could keep profiting from policies that are very antipathetic to a crowded, global community.

What can we do? Cutting back all our emissions won’t do shit if large corporations are allowed to keep crapping on our planet for their own profit. Recycling won’t do a damn thing if our government keeps allowing companies to bury toxic waste without taking responsibility for environmental damage or warning residents of dangers. (Yes, I’m mixing pollution concerns with warming ones, but the whole trash-the-earth for money agenda needs to be stopped).

What we can do, what we need to do and have a responsibility to do is put heavy pressure on government to take drastic action. Cleaning up lake Winnipeg is not drastic action. Few policies we put in place will matter much in the shadow of the devastation and effects of warming. Who the hell will care about the long gun registry, or Senate terms, or veiled voters, or gay marriage when these take place:

In terms of effects:

* The poor and the elderly will suffer most from climate change;
* Hunger and disease will be more common;
* By as early as 2020, 75 million to 250 million people in Africa will suffer water shortages;
* Asia's megacities will be at great risk of river and coastal flooding;
* More animal and plant species will vanish, particular in Europe; and
* North America will see longer and hotter heat waves and more competition for water

Now look at what the report says, quote directly above, but replace “will” with “is,” because these effects are already being felt. We have no time, no ten year buffer to get our shit together, to drain a few more dollars of profit, to lull in the false comfort of doubt and denial.

Dealing with climate change and slowing further global warming absolutely must be the priority world-wide. Not a priority to be examined over a few years, not one placated with vague, ineffectual plans, but a real one in which politicians will have the courage to put partisanship aside and take measures that many citizens will not like.

We must also demand truth from our politicians because it is only by informing the public that rapid change can occur.

How do we put pressure on politicians? There are only two things most of them give a damn about - power, and money. If they know they will not be re-elected unless they respect and act upon the will of voters, then they will act. We need to get organized, learn the pressure points, find out which issues to address first because simply screaming for change and threatening to vote Green won’t do it. Our demands need to be fairly specific, and that means getting off our collectives butts and learning as much as we can about how changes can be made, which are more critical, then harassing our parliamentarians into acting upon them. Yes, harassing - legally, but relentlessly.

What about those who think this is all a big hoax? Fuck ‘em. They don’t believe because they don’t want to change, and because seeing the truth is too damn scary. That’s their chicken-shit way of avoiding action and the pain of reality, a reality they will not be able to escape in any event. So, by-pass them, ignore them, don’t waste a moment arguing with them since it is pointless, and being diverted by them is what the companies and politicians who know the truth but don’t want change are counting on. As we argue pointlessly, we can’t press for action.

IPCC chairman Rajendra Pachauri said the consequences of not doing so could be "disastrous."

It’s a global problem requiring global action. Bush uses the bull-shit excuse that it’s pointless to reduce emissions unless all countries do so - China, in particular. That’s not even credible enough to be considered a feeble excuse. All countries need to act immediately, and convince the others as they go along. They will never convince them by holding back themselves. Which bring me to this:

Canada's Conservative government has said it will not meet its Kyoto target of a six per cent cut below 1990 levels by 2012.

That is not acceptable. That is not acceptable particularly since no effort has been made to even try coming close to any significant reduction, Kyoto targets aside. The CONs not acting because the Kyoto targets cannot be reached (true or not) is like Bush not acting because China won’t. Nor is it acceptable that we have an Environment minister who knows nothing about the environment taking orders from a man who does not believe climate change is a big problem. We should demand that such a portfolio be held by someone who is capable of understanding environmental issues and climate change in a national and global sense, and we should not sit back and settle for diversionary, band-aid projects such as cleaning up lake Winnipeg.