Thursday, September 07, 2006

Inconvenient Truth That Can't be Ignored


It's not just Environmentalists anymore, who recognize that this planet is dying, because we are killing it.


Inconvenient Truth That Can't be Ignored:

When a film about climate change featuring Al Gore, An Inconvenient Truth, was shown in Parliament House in Canberra on Monday night, even the enviro-sceptics and climate change flat-earthers were shocked. Climate change requires determined government action and a change in the way we live that goes well beyond the next electoral cycle.

The film examines some of the effects of climate change: extreme weather - droughts, floods, cyclones; the potential displacement of millions of environmental refugees as water levels rise; extinction of plant and animal species. It shows that last year was the hottest year on record, and the 10 hottest years have been in the past 14. Category 4 and 5 cyclones and hurricanes have doubled in the past 30 years.

Gore's film focuses mostly on US science, but the Australian context is just as scary. By 2030, the CSIRO says, Sydney's water supply will drop by 25 per cent, as will rainfall in the Murray-Darling Basin. Domestic food supply and agricultural exports will be affected. NSW is experiencing its worst drought ever. Wetlands such as Kakadu face permanent change and warmer oceans threaten the coral that builds our Great Barrier Reef.

No comments: