Climate change sceptics must wake up

by Greg McDonald

As the Copenhagen climate summit begins today, our children will never forgive us if we fail to counter the greatest threat the human race has ever faced.

Yet energy secretary Ed Miliband is tragically right when he says there's still “a long way to go” just to persuade UK sceptics that climate change is man-made.

Those sceptics need to wake up, for the crux of the argument is this: the experts are agreed and unless you’ve got a degree or two in the field then, like me, you’re not qualified to dispute the evidence.

Imagine you’re on a plane, taking the kids away for a weekend somewhere hot, when, still over the UK, the pilot makes an announcement. She and her co-pilot are 99% sure - granted, not 100% sure, but 99% sure - that the wings are about to fall off and everyone’s going to die unless they try to land the plane.

But wait! Up speaks one of the passengers! Those wings, he says, look pretty sturdy to him! Sure, he hasn’t seen the wing data from the cockpit, and sure, he’s never trained as a pilot so he wouldn’t understand it even if he had - but all the same he’s certain he’s right, the pilots are wrong, and what’s more, maybe this whole thing is a conspiracy designed to ruin his holiday!

And what’s still more, he’s prepared to risk your children’s lives to prove it.

The experts are in almost total agreement that the impending climate crash requires urgent action. So as the Copenhagen summit gets underway, politicians must understand that we risk our children's futures by denying it.

Comments

[the realist]

and with that in mind ... G.M foods will soon become a neccessity in order to sustain the human population.
NOTHING else will suffice as apparently there are countries that are buying huge tracts of land in other countries to alleviate their own food shortages !!
AND THE BIGGEST JOKE IS ..... countries that ... at the moment... are sponging off the world for food and aid ARE THE VERY ONES SELLING OFF THEIR LAND TO OTHERS >>>>>..
ARE the lefty humanitarians missing something ????
realism is something most of them dont understand !!

[the realist]

absolutely brian!
reality is something that has been moved to the annals of history since "new labour " came to power.
just so as to give the "global warming/climate change lefties something to ponder .....
the ammount of water upon this planet has NEVER varied since time immemorial THUS dramatic rises in sea levels is complete and utter nonsense!!
what is and will happen soon is that water will be more important than any other resouce and as brian has stated wars WILL be started in order for those that have less to obtain more ........
the undeniable factor in this IS ....... TOO MANY HUMANS FOR THE WATER ... (AND EVERYTHING ELSE) ..RESOURCES !!

[Brian Wylie]

I have woken up to climate change -to find the government has authorised the building of a third runway at Heathrow plus one at Stansted or Gatwick. Now Eastern European counties are bickering about paying anything to help Eastern countries contribute to stopping climate change. The current government has, and never has had a coherent energy policy. Attenborough is the first man to publicly state the REAL and basic reason fro climate change, TOO MANY PEOPLE, forget cars or anything else, thats it. The next major war will not be about oil, it will be food and water shortages. It is already happening and we will not escape. I lived through the 1940's food shortages the current generation will suffer what their grandparents did it may give them a dose of reality

[Jameson]

Pollution clouds trapped in the upper atmosphere can trap heat over the tropics and reflect sunlight over the higher latitudes. I can recall
air flights across the Pacific N & S thirty years ago
with a clear atmosphere 40,000
feet up....but in more recent years very obviously extensive
bands of brown,purple and yellow pollution all the way across to Australia from the US and North to China...Coal fired power stations and Steel
mills produce a huge amount and need several stages of electro-static & water precipitators to deal with the dust and poison fumes.China
claims to be retrofitting these to all it`s plants to attain promised reductions.
In the UK we have many locations in Wales,Pennines,Cumbria and Scotland where reservoirs and hydro power could be constructed. Great for employment and future water supplies as well as the power.
What we need now is to sort out the Nimbys...most of the suitable locations are already National/Trust/country Park areas....Our Country needs these facilities and to contribute to sorting out pollution & possibly global warming....Nuclear is already very late starting !

[Peter Angry]

Well said, j.loups. I too have every faith in G.Brown & Co to use this as a marvellous opportunity to screw us and splash away the procedes on the undeserving.

[the realist]

i see my previous comment on the so - called "intelligence " of the clone invicta was so probing to his detriment he had to have it censored !!
lol ! the truth hurts people such as invicta ..... !!

[the realist]

even sir david attenborough has had the courage to say openly that humanity is the REAL DANGER to this fragile planet!!
global climatic change is an indigenous part of mother earths existence....... get used to it ....... the earth is getting forever closer to the sun so eventually mankind will be part of spacial history........ the only people that will be allowed to colonise another planet WILL NOT be your average human ....... BUT politicians and those that have enough money to get their place booked on such a voyage !!

[j.loups]

If G.Brown wants to use this
as a new stealth tax to pay off Developing Nations can we do it by sending out our unemployed to Africa to help with growing forests back & distributing more condoms & aids medicine....No CASH to dictators Please as the SWISS
already have far too much of British Development Aid in the Vaults !! Cheers to All !

[Invicta]

Two points: Firstly just because the Chinese and the Americans continue to pollute it doesn't mean that the rest of us should do nothing. For every TV that is not left on standby and for every journey that is made either by foot or bike, a difference is being made. A concerted effort is required and, to borrow the Tesco mantra; 'every little helps'.

Second. The uber - genetic desire to introduce compulsory sterilization is, of course, fanatical and Nazi. But I have an idea, why don't we steralize those who don't know how to employ the apostrophe correctly?

There are plenty of examples of ignorant misuse below.

[the realist]

that is the entire crux of this governments inability to come clean with the real issues that face this world in the 21st century peter !
if mother earth wishes to cleanse herself of the arrogant species called humanity then we have NO alternative but to cede to her wishes !
it is mankinds inability to accept that the human species is of NO more importance than the smallest insect that lives upon planet earth .... and that is because all other animals , insects , flora and fauna has its part to play in the delicate balance that this fabulous planet relies on !!
mankind has upset this balance KNOWINGLY..... because it aint rocket science to understand that once mankind has killed off all the species that make this planet habitable then this planet dies!!!
the only possible way to counter..... but NOT DEFEAT... mother earths intentions is to have compulsory bith control and / or sterilisation for those that contravene what makes for a sustainable human colony ............
now THIS ASPECT is what polititions are afraid of debating ..... and there are no prizes for guessing why!!!
which is why they have fudged the issue by creating "global warming/climate change "....... in order to divert the real truth of what is in store for planet earth !!

[Peter Angry]

Here’s the problem with climate change! Whatever tinkering measures are introduced, China will continue building a new coal fired power station every week, the former third world is hell bent on economic growth and Americans are still wedded to gas guzzlers. So a few wind turbines in Norfolk or extra loft lagging is going to have such a miniscule effect as to be a total waste of effort.

As for Ed Milliband trying to shift the blame on to “non-believers”, is a typical government ministerial cop-out getting his excuses in first and do f*** - all. Ever since this government has set “another” useless carbon reduction target, the UK’s energy usage has actually increased! Both Blair and Brown have ducked the only real measure to reduce carbon emissions which is nuclear power, additionally, the existing UK nuclear stations will be decommissioned early this century, with no replacements even planned!