They`re often on, aren`t they the experts, telling us that if the greenhouse gases aren`t reduced by 2020 the world will heat up by 5 degrees, the polar ice-caps will melt and sea levels will rise by several feet. Funny a few years ago, it was by last year that snow would be a thing of the past, but, hey, you can`t be right all the time ... Some of their science seems to be a bit weird, though, one was saying a few weeks ago that the reason it had not heated as much as was thought was because the excess heat had sunk into the ocean and would leap out on us later. I was always told that heat RISES not sinks, but what do I, or my physics master know. We must put up lots of windmills and hope the wind doesn`t drop too often so we have to use all those diesel power plants to keep the current going, because we`ve closed most of the non-greenhouse-producing nuclear stations because we are afraid they`re too dangerous... Enough to give you the shivers.
Still, they may be right, maybe the globe will heat up. However, I think we`ve got hold of the wrong idea, that we can stop it by building fairly ineffective windmills. Even if we carpeted the countryside with them unfortunately it won`t make any difference. America, China, India and the rest of the developing world create at least 70 per cent of the greenhouse gases, and there is still the effect of vehicle, train and air traffic to consider. If we stopped modern civilisation in Europe entirely, we are not going to reduce the level and the countries I have mentioned are curiously reluctant to join he effort. I don`t thing we are going to be able to meet the target. Humans are basically rather selfish, and slow to give up their life-style. Would YOU give up your car to reduce the CO2 level? I thought not.... Besides, the warming may be due to natural causes, for example a change in the sun`s output or subtle variations in the earth`s orbit, in which case our efforts would be irrelevant.
So, I feel we should rather plan ahead to deal with the change, to make contingency plans to adapt to the new conditions. Who knows, it may turn out to be more favourable than we now imagine-- after all, during several prehistoric times when the climate was MUCH warmer than today, life on earth flourished to an extraordinary degree. Perhaps we should regard the warming as an opportunity, rather than a disaster, enabling us to colonise great areas of the globe which are now frozen tundra. We will need to move low-lying dwellings to higher ground or to consider coastal defenses. Look n the bright side, global cooling would be a FAR greater threat to humanity. Courage, mes vieux, the best is yet to come!
Bye for now, going to buy an ice-cream...
