The climate - a source of worry

In light of news today that the climate conference in Bali is heading for a big flop, I think we should reflect on the fact that the WMO (World Metereological Organization) announced today that the past decade has been the hottest ever since the beginning of meteorological observations.

Since the beginning of the twentieth century the average temperature has gone up by 0.74 degrees centigrade. Opponents will venture that the rise has not been constant. Others will counter that the rise has doubled in the five last years, compared the 100 previous years. Sea levels continue to rise, and ice continues to melt.

So what does it all mean? To be frank, I don't know. I'm not a scientist. But I do worry about the state of earth, especially the earth on which our children and their children will have to grow up and carve out a life for themselves. We are fortunate to be living in the west (and not in the African continent, say).

It is rather sad then that 27 European leaders flew out to Lisbon today to sign the new EU treaty... with their private planes, only to fly back to Brussels tonight to hold an EU summit there tomorrow... on climate change. Interestingly enough, the leaders of the Benelux countries (Belgium, Luxembourg and The Netherlands) shared a plane.

So how do we go about minimizing our carbon and ecological footprint, if our leaders won't even set the example?




PS - the pic above is of the Jokulsarlon Glacier Lake in the east of Iceland. An unreal sight when you drive across the bridge... But I could have also put up a photo of Cape Cod and its eroding shores (something to which my SO can testify first-hand, as she sees the beach shrink, compared to the endless sand flats of her youth).