by Fraser Los

I can say with the utmost confidence that some in the media sphere are being hoodwinked by a well organized and well funded attempt to deny what amounts to basic science. If you look to the scientists, and their major associations, they ALL recognize the reality of climate change.

The greenhouse effect (and global warming) is caused by increased levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, and since the industrial revolution, that CO2 concentration has gone from about 260 parts per million to about 387 ppm today. To put that in perspective, scientists have cited 350 ppm as the safe limit of atmospheric CO2 to avoid major warming and possible runaway greenhouse effect – i.e. the planet Venus. This is scary stuff, I’m not going to lie.

Yes, there is plenty of uncertainty in all this – but that is generally about the results of climate change, not the causes. Yes, it is unclear how it will play out on a planetary scale, mainly because it’s complex and unprecedented. But it is not some well-orchestrated fiction created by international scientists, as many in the blogosphere are suggesting.

It’s important to recognize that no major world science organization denies anthropogenic global warming – they ALL recognize it fully – from world meteorological associations to Scientific American to NASA to the Royal Society.

But don’t take my word for it. If you want to decide for yourself, here are two important links:

This is for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which is by definition an organization created to determine if there is scientific consensus (they don’t do primary science – they only assess all the science out there being done independently by scientists).

And this is just a really good synopsis of the science of climate change by the Union of Concerned Scientists, which is a non-profit put together by many prominent scientists around the world. They offer a good primer on their site, called Global Warming 101, which basically lays all the science behind the issue.

Fraser Los is the editor-in-chief of thegreenpages.ca

There’s been much sturm-und-drang around Copenhagen – Canada’s role as “fossil”, climategate, peaceful protests that turn out to not be so peaceful…
It’s all getting so tiresome.
Sure, I get that international agreements take time. And I understand, at least at a rudimentary level, the jockeying and semantic manoeuvering that occurs…but honestly, I’m dozing off.
Just DO something already.
I’m heartened by the media coverage because at least climate change is increasingly on everyone’s radar. But the to-ing and fro-ing is just making my neck ache.
So, please. If the world decides our planet is worth saving, wake me up and let me know. Otherwise, just let me snooze.

I’m often incredulous at the gall shown by corporations attempting to green their image. (And yes, I do sometimes answer to the name “Pollyanna”.)
And, in The Virtuous Consumer, I included a feature dubbed “What they hell were they thinking?” to highlight the stupidity shown by some companies in an effort to dupe consumers. And have a giggle or two at their expense.
But the examples here take greenwashing to the max. Read them…and weep.

My uniform is jeans and t-shirts. Dressed thusly (how often does one get to string those two words together. I think I’m channeling Jane Austen), I feel most like…me. I particularly love t-shirts that say something, whether funny, provocative, clever, pithy. Ideally something that gives people pause to stop and think.
Which is why I love my WWF “Hotter Than I Should Be” collector T. And Revenge Is tees. And greenisblack tees.

Other fave?

When I Grow Up I Will…

The climate change science was in in 1988…and climate concern was at its height. Then a calculated campaign by fossil fuel industry and the auto industry worked to convince people it was “junk science”. Consider this: According to Mother Jones magazines roundup of the Dirty Dozen deniers, ExxonMobil unleashed the power of $8 billion into think tanks and media to debunk climate science. And, of course, there have been others spreading their demon seeds of discontent.

What’s astonishing is that those who believe in the unanimous conclusions by the world’s top climate scientists – that would be the conclusion that climate change is indeed happening…and that we’re largely to blame – is hovering around 51%.

Al Gore was recently on CBC radio, sounding calm and mildly amused by all this insanity with the climate deniers. He pointed out that 15% or Americans believe the moon landing was staged on a set in the desert. Yet we don’t read articles in mainstream newspapers or have news reporters giving them much air time. What is it about climate change that inspires such dismissal?

I don’t have the answer, but speculate that it’s fear. Who wants to believe that climate change is real? That our lifestyles are unsustainable and that we either make drastic changes now or endure Mother Nature’s drastic changes later? Frankly, I’d love to discover that James Hansen and Bill McKibben, Al Gore and David Suzuki concocted some conspiracy to get us all to…seal our drafty windows or, ummmm, insulate our water heaters. But I can’t.

Instead, I accept the peer-reviewed science that tells me we’re teetering on a precipice and that Copenhagen had better produce some global plan of action.