Global warming has become a money spinner. You can build your career around this topic and make millions. Mr Al Gore, previous vice president of America under Clinton, is a good example. This may be the reason why some people are sceptical and suspect that this whole palawa is more about money and fame than about the principle.
Some debate has now been going on in the blogosphere on this subject as well. You can follow it for yourself on the Spike . The retaliation of Nick van der Leek is also available in the comments to that site.
The whole approach to the subject matter is however a bit comical which makes me suspect that the debate is taking place more on an emotional level than a rational one.
It reminds me of the the experiment we talked about as children which would serve to illustrate the difference between evolution and revolution. It was said that if you put a frog in a bowl of water and gradually and ever so slightly raise the temperature of the water, the frog does not register the temperature change. It will stay in the bowl and eventually die of the heat, never realizing that the water had become to hot to live in. On the other hand, if you heat the water so that it is luke-warm and you then put the frog in the bowl, it will immediately jump out because it can feel that the water is too hot. Maybe the Spike should try this experiment with himself in a hot bath tub!
The question whether the global climate is changing is one of scientific measurement and not philosophical reasoning. Scientists have already confirmed that the global temperature is heating up and it can be visually perceived by ordinary humans. Kilimanjaro has already lost its ice cap. The North Pole is loosing its ice. The equatorial belt between Capricorn and Cancer is extending and causing, for instance, birds to be seen in regions which are not generally their natural habitat. This happens because the atmosphere is warmer.
The only debatable aspect of this topic is whether this climate change is caused by or contributed to by human behaviour. That can not be ascertained without any doubt. Our planet goes through various cyclical changes and the short span of available scientific figures do not allow us to say whether this is just a cyclical change or whether it is caused by the way in which we as humans pollute the environment.
But to take the argument a bit further I do not really think that it matters whether we are the cause of the change or not. The fact is that we are the cause of enormous and catastrophic pollution and depletion of the environment. Thousands of living species have disappeared already and many more are on the point of extinction. Forests are being eradicated. Our natural resources are being depleted. Numerous other incidences of pollution and environmental depletion are threatening our habitat. In all this we do play a part and we are leaving a raped planet behind for the next generations.
I do not think that the Spike will have any problem with this reality. So, what then is the point? The fact is that we need to become much more environmentally sensitive, whether it is to slow down global warming or to stop our demolition job on the environment in general. The fact is that we are shitting in our own nest and arguments like these do nothing to address the problem.
It may not be us who are ‘turning up the heat under the bowl of water’ in which we find ourselves. We are however most definitely responsible for the pollution of the ‘water’ in which we find ourselves. Now, whether we aim to turn down the heat or to stop the pollution, it all requires the same measures and change of our behavioral patterns. In South Africa we had (and still have) the same debate in regard to AIDS. Is it real or is it just the manifestation of poverty? The result is that millions of people are dying whilst this country has the highest infestation rate in the world. Can we afford the same mistake in regard to the habitat we live in?
J.C.Grobler.
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December 31st, 2007 at 9:46 am
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