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The Forum > Article Comments > Acting on climate change - now > Comments

Acting on climate change - now : Comments

By Kasy Chambers, published 21/2/2008

Our convenience and self-indulgence come at a cost that most of us, by choice or indifference, casually ignore.

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Another way to look at this is:

Most people appear to accept that global warming (GW)is occuring - the evidence is too great in the changes in the physical world around us. What is argued, even among the scientists, is the extent to which GW is attributed to human activity. Personally I feel man has contributed and continues to make poor choices in regard to the future (eg. GM foods) but I understand not everyone agrees with this view.

Even the most hard-line sceptic has to accept that man has caused great environmental problems through land clearing, pollution, lack of water management etc. Surely this in itself is enough to encourage us to mend our ways to a more sustainable existence.

Who cares in 50 years time if one side of the debate gets to say "...see told you so we were right". The fact of the matter is if we don't become more environmentally focussed with our ever increasing populations we will all feel the detrimental effects of complacency.
Posted by pelican, Thursday, 21 February 2008 1:24:56 PM
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“our convenience and self-indulgence come at the cost of a natural despoilment that most of us, by choice or indifference, casually ignore.”

What Kasy Chambers defines as “self-indulgent” is up to her, what I might consider is “self-indulgent” is likely something completely different.

“Or that this is in large part a result of human activity.”

I see criticism to the activity of humans, I see nothing which suggests the benefits to be derived from limiting the number of humans.

Like most of the half baked environmental threads, the author attacks the symptom instead of the cause.

As for the plight of “poorer Australians”: since it is the richer Australians who pay more of the taxes (community net contributors), on which the poorer Australians draw a greater part of their gross income (community net neutral or net beneficiaries), I fail to see how it is a meaningful argument to presume the less-poor are less-disadvantaged by any environmental issue.

This is just another pleading for national and international leveling, where an individual is denied the right to benefit from his own effort and is economically “leveled” in the name of the defunct philosophy of socialism.

Leigh “Fear is the key, and it is being used more and more by politicians for whom democracy is becoming a nuisance.”

Absolutely right, fear and self-righteousness

Until the socialist levelers accept that ever increasing world population numbers work against all theories of sustainability for any given set of life quality expectations, the debate to who should pay for GW is going to go no where.

As for all this “bad” developed nations versus the “virtuous” under-developed nations.

One of the primary beneficiaries of the productivity of the “bad” developed nations are the under-developed nations, through the organs of international aid, debt interest relief, debt forgiveness, technical and governmental support and the bounties of modern medicines, modern production methods as well as direct capital investment of the developed nations into the less developed nations.
Posted by Col Rouge, Thursday, 21 February 2008 2:05:10 PM
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Global Warming...evidenced by both droughts and floods, more storms and less storms...more ice and less ice. Why...it's the new wonderdrug!

http://www.numberwatch.co.uk/warmlist.htm

Never mind we have just had our coldest year since the early 90's. Global warming is still upon us! Repent yeah capitalist sinners.

Why, we certainly need thousands of people to fly private jets to Bali to discuss climate change...never mind the green house gases that causes!

Never mind that most of the computer models use different forcings for CO2, but still all manage to correctly model the past...I'm sure that at least one of them MUST have them right.

Never mind that most of the old data comes from proxies that have proven to be completely unreliable and the new temperature data comes from badly corrupted data sources, the trends are undeniable!

Never mind that more people die of cold than from heat, we need to make sure that we only mention the extra heat deaths because that way people will feel bad.

Never mind that the cost of drastic green house gas reduction far outstrips the cost of global warming, we have to stop it now, and all those struggling developing countries can continue to have massive deaths from poverty. We'll just not mention that.

Global Warming is a joke people. It was the last time it was trumpeted as a doomsday scenario and it is today.
Posted by Grey, Thursday, 21 February 2008 4:02:05 PM
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*Across the world it is the poor who live in areas of greatest environmental degradation: from the slums built on rubbish tips in South America and the Philippines*

Perhaps its time that those poor were offered family planning
and abortion services, so that they can limit how many kids
they are forced to raise. Kasy should tap her Catholic
comrades on the shoulder and ask them, why they still resist
these changes.

Its pointless going on about the poor, if they are poor, due
to the efforts of the Catholic Church, in the name of Vatican
ideology.
Posted by Yabby, Thursday, 21 February 2008 4:35:36 PM
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People in South Australia, look at their backyards and see their backyard Gardens dying.

Trees that have grown over many decades, are in distress, established fruit trees are bear, of foliage and fruit.

What better indicator is there, than the flora in your home, to indicate; Something is not right!
Posted by Kipp, Thursday, 21 February 2008 5:42:58 PM
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Gee willikins, it didn't take long for the climate change deniers to raise their heads did it.

I must say that for the most part, I agree with what Kasy has had to say. There were a couple of omissions however which perhaps have been overlooked. The poor, in general seem to have larger families, for various reasons which I will leave others to enumerate. This means that the disadvantages which they will suffer under an energy deficient regime will generally be exacerbated.

The other is undoubtedly the fact that the ever increasing world population is the main reason why we have reached this situation. Unless very serious steps are taken universally to reverse this, we really are only putting off the inevitable, no matter on what other remedies we embark.
Posted by VK3AUU, Thursday, 21 February 2008 8:05:34 PM
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