I’ve no desire to get political. This blog is supposed to be about cycling after all. But hey – one of the many reasons I ride a bike is because I give a hoot about the environment.
I watched the BBCs outstanding Frozen Planet last night. It’s the kind of program which restores one’s belief in the power of television. Attenburgh showed us that the rate of polar melting has accelerated at an astonishing rate over the last few decades. Watch it if you haven’t (This isn’t a debate about whether climate change is real or not, or man made or not. Anyone who still doubts that made made climate change is real and upon us really should get their head out of their behind and look at the evidence). If you’ve been following the climate change story at all this will not come as a surprise, but that makes it no less shocking and no less terrifying.
One of last week’s top news stories featured our Prime Minister visiting the Land Rover and Jaguar car plant, basking in the ‘good news for the economy’ that they were taking on 1000 workers to cope with demand. The week before that it was the same story from the UK’s Toyota plant. And nestled inbetween was the little story that the government wants to build more motorways. More motorways. Peak oil anyone?
My pet theory, that our species is prone to ‘Large Family Syndrome’ where we all make a mad dash grab for whatever resources we can and to hell with everyone else – whether it’s chocolate chip cookies or oil reserves – is going to leave our progeny and their progeny with nothing. Not even a planet they can call home if the worst case scenario predictions are true.
My school books in the seventies warned about the dangers of population growth. We did nothing about that either. I know that the story of the suicidal lemmings is bogus but the analogy can’t be beat. We really are, all of us, rushing headlong towards a precipice.
So to hear today’s news from the conference in South Africa that the US , the world’s biggest polluter, is trying to defer any action on climate change until 2020 just makes me want to weep.
What brought it home to me was the sight this morning of a jacked-up, macho-man Land Rover Defender 4×4 tearing through the village with the phrase ‘One life – Live it!’ stuck to his visor. So wrong, seven billion lives at last count.
A little less macho posturing and selfishness is required from each and every of us, individuals and countries alike, if our children are going to avoid being sent back to the dark ages. It beats me why the people who we elect to represent us cant see it.
Two of the children refered to in the article.
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Tags: climate change, pollution, usa
The image of “a jacked-up, macho-man Land Rover Defender 4×4 tearing through the village with the phrase ‘One life – Live it!’ stuck to his visor…” is frightfully symbolic of the gloating ignorance many people have.
I was especially pleased that you ended the the paragraph with the line, “So wrong, seven billion lives at last count.”
I must share this!
Thanks,
Cullen Carter
Appleton, WI
I take the realistic/pessimistic view that there’s nowt you can do to alter the behaviour of the stupid and suicidal masses.
What’s the worst that’s going to happen? As far as the universe is concerned, a tiny rock in the middle of bumble-truck nowhere ceases to have life on it. ‘Twill neither be the first nor the last such occurrence in the history of our vast universe.
Don’t worry about the other fools who co-habit the Earth too much, but do try to set a good example. Not much more you can do…
Thanks for your comment Cullen.
Georgy boy, my dear freind.
I have the strong feeling that far too many people share your pessimistic point of view. To which the obvious response is ‘Why don’t you 9155 off and find another planet to screw with’?
It’s our planet, we live here and we’d like to keep it nice.
Don’t get me wrong, I want to keep it nice too – I’ve just had a very hard time persuading anyone to make an effort and don’t want to have a massive headache from having failed to do so~ I do my bit~