Global warming the real terror

These figures prompt the question: is the terrorism drum being banged too loudly? Especially, when other hazards are mammoth in comparison?

Take for example, the dangers of climate change, the watered down name for “global warning”. Scientists around the world have been telling us that the danger is real enough. And that although hopefully something still in the future, action to minimise its effects needs to be undertaken immediately. To do that of course, we first have to debate and discuss.

However, recently a senate committee was informed that the former minister for science, Peter McGauran, had tried to influence the CSIRO to sever ties with the Wentworth Group of Respected Scientists who are concerned about the environment (Sydney Morning Herald, February 17, 2006).

The CSIRO's chief executive, Geoff Garrett, has denied that his organisation "gagged" scientists after a Labor senator, Peggy Wong, questioned him on allegations that scientists, including CSIRO’s Professor Mike Young, a member of the Wentworth Group, and former CSIRO scientist Dr Graeme Pearman, who advocated government involvement in reducing greenhouse gases, had been prevented from speaking about climate change. Dr Pearman told ABC Four Corners (February 13, 2006) that CSIRO scientists were muzzled and he had at times been censored. He said, “Just before I was made redundant I was actually head of CSIRO’s climate program. This is a multi divisional program that tries to bring together the researchers in 14 of CSIRO’s 20 divisions that have relationships to the climate change issue.” In other words, he knows what he is talking about.

To look again at some facts and figures: recent natural disasters have included the earthquake and resulting Boxing Day 2004 tsunami when about 275,000 people died in Sumatra, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, South India, Thailand, and other countries including the east coast of Africa. The furthest recorded death occurred at Port Elizabeth, South Africa, 8,000kms away from the epicentre.

There was the earlier Papua New Guinea earthquake in 1998 which killed at least 3,000; Hurricane Katrina, which hit US New Orleans, killed about 1,300 in January 2006 and the current Philippines mud slide is believed to have claimed about 1,800.

Global warming has been mooted as the likely cause of Hurricane Katrina. To claim global warning as the cause for all natural disasters mentioned would be to initiate a scientific bun fight, but people died just the same. So perhaps we (and the government) should start to listen to the scientists more carefully. The first warnings about global warming could be heard in the 1980s but most of us did not grasp the significance.

Is Nature in revolt? Or are we really doing it to ourselves? And what should we and governments do about it? This is the really urgent matter.

We need to pull the heads of the government out of our communication garbage bins and instead, persuade them to face up to the most important threat of the century. We need to get them to really listen to the scientists, both here and overseas, for they are warning about a much greater terror.