Well, I thought that was a very good radio programme. But this should not surprise you if you've read this blog before, eh? I was expecting Nigel Lawson to get a mention (he didn't) since his lecture to which I alluded in a previous post , here, is in line with the "Adaptation" (see below) approach.
This half an hour was a breath of very fresh air indeed. I detect a subtle but big shift in media coverage emerging in just the last few months. The view that we should focus entirely on the reduction of the "carbon footprint" simply needs to change. Let's all agree that Climate Change is a reality (although not proven to be anthropogenic in origin). Well, big news everyone, the climate does change over time, and please don't fall into the trap of assuming that correlation necessarily indicates causation. This is lazy thinking.
The two words punctuating the programme were "adaptation" and "mitigation". Our entire emphasis has been, up until now at least, on mitigation. We will save the planet by changing the entire globe's weather systems simply by changing our behaviour. That would be good, wouldn't it? That Man shall control the planet, that Man shall have this power. What we fear the most is our own impotency in this changing physical climate! As stated on the programme, if there were no, that's right, NO CO2 emissions from tomorrow in this country we would still be looking at decades of change.
The poor countries cannot adapt as well as we can, we were told, because they don't have the money to finance schemes such as those in Holland in response to possible sea level increase. Well, let's help them. Again, let's help them? Shall we? This is something that can be done and Nigel Lawson made this point very clear in the lecture linked to above.
OK, enough for now, but I am genuinely encouraged with the changing emphasis in the debate. I watch and wait in anticipation of common sense winning through in the end.
Good night :-)
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