GLOBAL WARMING: Heads in the sand

20 December 2011 - 02:34 By Crispian Olver
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Predictably after the recent climate negotiations the usual contingent of climate-change sceptics voiced their opinions.

The flat-earthers' questioning of the widely accepted science behind global warming is reminiscent of the first stage of grief. It is understandable, too, considering the shocking truth about the state of the planet, and what is required to avert the collision course that we find ourselves on. It is only natural that some will want to turn a blind eye.

While discussions raged in Durban around the solutions to a 3C to 6C increase in global temperatures, people like so-called scientist Nils-Axel Mörner and South African columnist David Gleason question why climate change needs to be taken seriously.

But climate change is real and it is happening, and South Africa is one of the countries that will feel its impact. South Africa also has some of the best long-term weather observations in the world.

We know that, as a consequence of climate change, the sea level around the South African coast is already rising by about 2mm a year, which will steadily erode our coastline and flood low-lying settlements.

The recently published National Climate Change Response White Paper predicts that in 40 years the South African coast will warm by around 1C to 2C, and the interior by around 2C to 3C.

This will accelerate after 2050, reaching 3C to 4C along the coast, and 6C to 7C in the interior. Life as we know it will change completely.

These changes will also affect the ability of nature to function, affecting plant and animal life, marine life, the provision of food and fresh water, and causing floods, famine and disease.

The real tragedy is that the poor, particularly in Africa, are at the front line of a problem to which they have contributed the least, being the smallest contributors to greenhouse gas emissions.

The global response to climate change is what Christiana Figueres, head of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, calls "the largest and most deeply rooted revolution that mankind has ever seen".

It is no wonder that delegations from 192 countries gather annually to incrementally plan a way towards more sustainable use of the planet.

All the while, there are still those who choose to bury their heads in the sand.

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