I don’t normally talk much about climate change.
I don’t enjoy debating with people over whether the climate is really changing or not, or whether humans bear any responsibility for the change, or even whether the change will be a bad thing. It’s a polarising subject, and I don’t want to put people off my sustainability message just because they don’t share my views on anthropogenic climate change.
To me, the whole climate thing is just a side-effect of the way we’ve been pillaging this planet. The real issue is to get back to living sustainably and respecting our environment.
That said, it’s worth having a look at the facts occasionally.
Australia’s two lead climate science agencies – the CSIRO and Bureau of Meteorology – have produced a snapshot of the state of the climate (790 KB PDF) to update Australians about how their climate has changed and what it means.
It’s only a short document and definitely worth a read to get the latest info, but if you’re pushed for time you can access a summary here.
I’m the same. I don’t debate climate change with anyone. It’s an emotional subject and like you said, it’s polarising. Instead I focus on things that we are obviously doing wrong, like pumping toxins into the air, waterways and our bodies; polluting the oceans with plastic; wastefully depleting our finite water and and arable soil.
@Mia: Well said. I’d rather be out there doing practical stuff than getting bogged down in endless debate. I’m not saying climate science is a bad thing or a waste of time, and the facts speak for themselves, it’s just not an argument I’m interested in entering. I’m glad there are people more knowledgeable and qualified than me who are working to get this stuff into the public’s awareness and the houses of parliament though.
:> To me, the whole climate thing is just a side-effect of the way we’ve been pillaging this planet.
I spent a while trying to think about to properly express this with enough affirmation, but in the end had to give up and go with good old-fashion simplicity: I couldn’t agree with you more.
@Greg: I agree, and I also find it hard to express what I mean on this topic. It’s not that I’m unconcerned about climate change, I would just rather be working on the root causes within my small sphere of influence. I’m happy to leave the scientific monitoring and debate to the experts.