green103

Green 103

Global warming

Is global warming, as we have come to understand it, actually true? Many authorities on the matter tell us that it is, but some tell us that it is 'all a conspiracy'. Is global warming set to worsen? Many authorities on the matter tell us that it will, but some tell us that it won't. Is global warming due to human influence over the planet's climate? Many authorities on the matter tell us that it is, whereas some authorities, most celebratedly the US Bush administration, have told us for years that it is not. How can I, how can anyone, make sense of all these, and other, contradictions? How can I know what is true?

I can experience the changing seasons for myself, generalise, draw conclusions, and convince myself one way or another. In reality my own observations constitute merely anecdotal evidence. I can read about the retreat of glaciers, the thinning of the Greenland icecap, and the collapse of antarctic ice shelves, but how do I assess their significance? I do not find it hard to frighten myself with prospects of the last stands of Amazon rainforest going up in flames, of vast reservoirs of methane hydrate bubbling up from the ocean beds, of tempestuous weather conditions laying waste to villages, towns and even cities, but are these doomsday images little more than ephemeral nightmares?

Why does every other comment in the UK media regarding global warming appear to criticise either air travel or 4 x 4s, the so-called 'Chelsea tractors'? I think that reason might involve the fact that they are, for several reasons, popular targets, and also that these targets serve to distract from addressing more sensitive issues.

[To be continued...]

I do not know how to distinguish truth from falsehood, fact from fiction, reality from fantasy. However, regardless of the truth about global warming, there is something I can do: I can live in a manner that has a lower impact on the planet.