King Canute, Don Quixote and climate change

The opinions of pessimists who find their natural home in the various ‘green’organisations I find repulsive. I enjoyed Don Aitkin’s OLO posting (September 9). He quotes the author of many IPCC reports, Stephen Schneider: “We need to get some broad based support, to capture the public’s imagination…So we have to offer up scary scenarios, make simplified, dramatic statements and make little mention of any doubts…Each of us has to decide what the right balance is between being effective and being honest.”That statement speaks for itself.

Nor do I support the solution proposed by many - the reduction of the world’s population from billions to millions by allowing, even encouraging people to die. Fewer people would indeed reduce our demands on the planet, but might better be achieved by education and the improvement of living standards.

As Aitkin concludes: “…there is very little about climate science, global warming or saving the environment. Climate change appears to be an instrument to other ends.”

Protest marches to stop climate change contribute little. Environmental sustainability is not about stopping climate change. It’s about learning to live sensibly, and if that’s our goal problems might be seen in a different light. Sources of energy might be evaluated on their appropriateness - wind farms, for example, so expensive and ineffective in a country like Australia, may be just the shot for many island economies where electricity is usually supplied by diesel generators.

One rarely perceives any solutions on offer in protest marches. It’s a lot harder to come up with solutions than it is to find fault with the way things are. Gandhi’s exhortation to ‘be the change’meets with no acceptance. Hit the streets, sign petitions, post on social media, insist that other people be the change.

“Everything is changing,”to quote Will Rogers. “People are taking their comedians seriously and the politicians as a joke.”To update Will, we should group ‘pop stars’with the comedians.

Leonardo DiCaprio has no credible qualifications on climate change, nor do others in his profession to my knowledge. Their job is to help us escape reality, not deal with it.

Teenagers flock to concerts and listen to Sir Bob and Bono, as do our leaders. They may have good intentions, but the money they raise and the actions they recommend are, in the opinion of many, doing more harm than good. Read “Dead Aid”by Dambisa Moyo, an economist who has the advantage of being a native of one of the countries they seeks to rescue. Perhaps it’s time to listen to the locals, and stop imposing our own cultural preconceptions on them!

Attending such concerts allows us to have a good time while pretending  we’re doing some good, as does joining other like-minded individuals on a protest march.

We can reasonably assert:

1. We can not stop climate change.
2. Changing the system is no short-term, even mid term solution. History suggests that it would be a retrograde step. However, we’re certainly stuck with the system we have for the foreseeable future. Live with it.
3. There are better people to trust in these situations than politicians, their hangers-on and the stars of stage, screen and radio.
4. The road to hell is paved with good intentions. Take Gandhi’s advice.
5. The least the marchers should do to make a difference is to clean up after themselves.