Happy Earth Day! Then again, I have always thought that we lived on a misnamed planet. The word “earth” is a synonym for dirt while 71% of the planet is covered by water. Perhaps we should be saying Happy Ocean Day!
Whatever you choose to call the planet, it is changing. In the Carteret
Islands of Papua New Guinea in the South Pacific, the 1,500 residents are being forced from their homes by rising sea levels. Some believe the islands will be uninhabitable by 2015. The island residents are being referred to as the “world’s first climate change refugees.”
Recently the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has issued a series of landmark reports on the current state of consensus science on climate change. As reported by Eric Holthaus on Slate.com: “In a sentence, here’s what they found: On our current path, climate change could pose an irreversible, existential risk to civilization as we know it—but we can still fix it if we decide to work together.”
So bottom line, if we all cooperate in our common self interest, we may find ways to mitigate the worst effects of climate change. On the other hand, climate change may be just another excuse to slaughter each other.
Last month retired Navy Rear Adm. David Titley co-wrote an op-ed for Fox News:
“The parallels between the political decisions regarding climate change we have made and the decisions that led Europe to World War One are striking – and sobering. The decisions made in 1914 reflected political policies pursued for short-term gains and benefits, coupled with institutional hubris, and a failure to imagine and understand the risks or to learn from recent history.”
Holthaus comments, “In short, climate change could be the Archduke Franz Ferdinand of the 21st century.”
“Climate Change War” Is Not a Metaphor
So, happy Earth Day, or Ocean Day, or whatever you may wish to call it. It is a good day to think about the climate change refugees on the Carteret Islands and what we can do to limit the impact of climate change. It is also a good time to consider the consequences if we choose to do nothing.
Well said, Rick.
A convert? I never really believed in global warming until quite recently. Now it seems that a natural cycle such as the glaciers growing and retreating over a long period of time has been greatly speeded up. It seems fairly clear that increasing industrial human activity in the last hundred years has caused this speeding up of a natural cycle. How detrimental this is to the planet at large and how it may be corrected is open to question. The developed nations can do something about it but this is offset by undeveloped nations who cannot or could care less – China and Russia spring immediately to mind.
Good Watch.
Seem the island is sinking http://ianmott.blogspot.com/2007/03/rising-sea-levels-or-just-sinking.html
If sea levels were rising why would this be the only island effected?
The island may be sinking. There are conflicting views on that point. The sea level is rising, however, and they are not the only island effected. “According to the EPA, global sea level has risen by eight inches since 1870… The Intergovernmental Panel On Climate Change’s most conservative estimates suggest that global sea level will reach increase 8 to 16 inches above 1990 levels by 2090.”
11 Islands That Will Vanish When Sea Levels Rise