How sure do you need to be? Report after report such as the one just published by the IPCC shows human activity to be the cause of global temperature rises with all the ensuing chaos that will cause. And yet there are still those who deny climate change.
Why? First up there is of course money. There are individuals who are paid good money to write endless pseudo scientific articles mainly for right-wing newspapers and for astroturf campaign websites. Their paymasters almost inevitably tend to be those who make vast profits from the fossil fuel industries.Surely those at the top of these industries must rank as some of the most greedy individuals ever? Not content with being multimillionaires they have to risk the future of our species and the habitability of our planet just so they can be multibillionaires.
And the ideology of this denial? The two main denier constituencies seem to be the nationalist right and the corporate right. The nationalist right are wedded to the nation state and simply cannot tolerate the notion that there is a need for states to pool their sovereignty in order to reduce carbon emissions and that co-operation, rather than rivalry between countries is the only way forward when it comes to a sustainable future. And the corporate right? They cannot see beyond the hypnotic power of endless economic growth. That somehow we can go on forever on a finite planet digging, polluting and damaging and that to challenge this process is a brake on human potential.
Unfortunately both groups especially the corporate right have inordinate power within governments and the media and are able to bombard the Internet, TV, radio and newspapers with endless stalling tactics: 'there's no such thing as climate change' 'in reality there is a new ice age coming' 'renewable energy will never work' 'jobs will be lost because of green taxes' 'green schemes will ruin our countryside' etc etc.
But for every climate change denier there are a 100 people who realise we can't go on like this and for every mouthpiece paid for by a corporation there are a 1000 climate scientists who have been proved right time and time again.
Even the American Republican Party at one time the amen corner of all things climate denial has had to take on board it's existence following the extreme weather that has occurred in the US recently. Convincing the population that such a far reaching thing as climate change can be alleviated and will benefit them via a liveable planet and a green collar economy (that will help not only create a sustainable society with mass employment but enrich their lives as well) is no easy task given the opposition I've mentioned above but it something we can and must do if our survival as a species is to be assured...
Nigel Baker
For more information on this subject go to:www.greenpeace.org.uk/climate/about-climate-change
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