Doctor analogy for climate change

It seems that most Australians are no longer concerned about climate change.

They have been led by politicians and shock jocks to think that it is all a scare campaign.

I find this difficult to understand.

Surely if your GP told you he was concerned by your symptoms and recommended you see a specialist, you would follow his advice.

If that specialist told you that you had lung cancer, you would be alarmed.

You might seek a second opinion, but surely from another thoracic specialist not from the orthopedic specialist who lives next door or from the veterinary specialist you know at the club.

You might look up lung cancer on the net, taking care about the sources of the information.

You might decide after all this to change your life style, to give up smoking, change your diet or even start an exercise program.

All of these things might be a nuisance and an effort, perhaps even very expensive.

An operation might be difficult and the results uncertain.

However, you would attempt all these things in the hope of a better, more extended life afterwards.

Why then do we doubt climate change scientists?

Why do we give more credence to some geologists or other deniers, many of them in the pay of the mining or oil industries?

Climate change is not like a religion or a change in fashion which you can accept or reject.

It is a sensible appraisal of a great collection of evidence, which scientists around the world view objectively.

Scientists tend to be rather conservative.

They are always coming up with a hypothesis which they then check and check and check.

Of course the planet has experienced much climate change in its long history but never while it carried such an enormous human population.

The collection of data today is becoming more and more sophisticated.

Today we collect information from the atmosphere as well as deep within the oceans.

There are 3000 Argo floats in the world's oceans, like bladders, which go down 2kms every few days and collect information on salinity and temperature.

This information is then shared with scientists globally.

Any ordinary bush walker or gardener would verify the fact that plants are blooming earlier and earlier.

Longer and longer ice cores taken from Antarctica, not only show previous climate changes but demonstrate very clearly that sustained CO2 in the atmosphere has increased dramatically since the industrial revolution.

I am talking here about climate and not weather, which fluctuates from day to day.

Records show that here in Australia temperatures are occurring on the upper limit of the anticipated trajectory.

Wet areas are getting wetter, dry areas drier and salty areas of water are getting saltier.

The information being collected shows repeatable patterns of change.

Are we really so selfish about our easy way of life that we will do nothing?

Are we so lazy or uncommitted that we cannot turn off our computers at the end of the working day, or turn off the lights as we leave a room?

Is it really too difficult to have a rug around our knees at a barbecue instead of heating up the atmosphere unnecessarily with a patio burner?

Could we not walk to the school or shops instead of driving, use electronic conferencing instead of flying everywhere?

We could use natural fertilizers on our land instead of using all those chemicals.

I feel sure that if people look at their bank accounts honestly they will be agreeably surprised to find that they have been over compensated for the carbon tax.

I also am certain that everyone would acknowledge that many businesses only make changes when forced to do so.

Woolworths for instance has anticipated the tax by working for the past three years to ensure that their electricity supplies and needs are more sustainable and efficient.

It may surprise some people to learn that Europeans are clamoring for an increase in the carbon tax as it gives businesses certainty and also would help the power firms to build greener more efficient generators.

Why can we Australians not be proud to be erring on the "goodies" side instead of heading the list of "baddies" in the world, with our enormous carbon footprint?

Email, 1 Jul 2012

Margaret Lund, Woy Woy Bay