Climate change

What is the best time to plant a tree?

20 years ago

So!

What is the next best time?

Today. (Old Chinese proverb)

let's talk ...

During an operation the patient should not die, is standard argument. The patient can either die before or after the operation. 

There is general consensus that climate change is a threat to the survival of human and other species on this planet if the world continues to do business as usual. Ergo, the patient in this scenario is commerce and profits.

It is easy enough to see how the powerful bosses and the privileged scoff at the idea of sustainable energy production because it requires investment and this tends to threaten profits and escalate prices. 

Not so long ago German villages on the border with Poland were destroyed to make way for strip mining of lignite or 'brown coal'. "The proposed resettlement of Horno's inhabitants to a purpose-built 'eco-village' within the Sorb region is not a constitutional violation." 

"Besides", points out Steffen Reiche, the Brandenburg minister for culture and science, "the same constitution also guarantees the creation of jobs. We need coal, we need to work. I'm not interested in creating a museum." (James Drake, SPECIAL TO THE SUN, July 14, 1998.)

While South Africa staggers under a string of ‘loading-shedding’ and power shortages, threatening economic recession on the one hand, and a public baying for blood and clamoring for consistent and regular supply of electricity, it is time take a pause. CO2, a product of the burning of fossil fuel is being conveniently overlooked as old disused coal-fired power plants are being revamped using cheap 'dirty' coal. "CO2 is one major environmental contaminant for which no study has ever found any indication of improvement as living standards rise,” avers Benjamin Friedman.

Enter the surgeon. South Africa in the person of President Zuma played a 'key' role in trying to forge global consensus on reducing carbon emissions into the

atmosphere in Copenhagen in December last year. In order to realise this commitment SA needs a loan. "But we dare not become an obstacle to mobilisation of funding to support the first power station in sub-Saharan Africa that meets the criteria of sustainable coal-fired power generation with wind and solar power generation components that lay the ground for long-term mitigation to reduce carbon emissions," argues Mamphele Ramphele. (Sunday Independent, March 7, 2010.)

I just can't find words violent enough to show that climate change debates fly above the concerns of ordinary people. People who live on the land and walk on the ground. The very people who stand to benefit most from green technologies; the 'boers', the benighted peasants and the redundant or access peoples who live on the margins of our society. People who live in far flung poisoned villages sprawls such as Penge for example.

The challenge then is, how to rally public support behind action on climate change, or indeed behind any progressive change? You can't, if the battle against climate change is about saving the planet. For the majority to buy into the fight against climate change, basic education on how to care for the immediate environment and the reasons why is needed.

"Admittedly, the effect of change on human health and mortality is difficult to quantify. There is no comparison group of people not exposed to climate change. Deaths are due to multiple causes. And while the probability of a particular event occurring under modified climate conditions can be estimated, no single event can be solely attributed to climate change." But, Dr Simon Lewis continues, "The precise relationship between greenhouse gas emissions and deaths should not be beyond scientists in the future." (Mail & Guardian Feb/March 2008.)

Santu Mofokeng