Climate Change: Accomplish the Impossible or Experience the Unthinkable
Posted May 8, 2008 by Colleen
Here is an incredibly powerful and informative 15 minute speech on climate change byElizabeth May, leader of
the Green Party of Canada at the second Global Greens Conference in San Paulo , Brazil
If you don't watch another video all year, watch this one!
Click here for video
Summary below from Green Party site news (click here for link)
"I have been asked to review impact of climate change on communities, economies, peace and international security. This is impossible to do in fifteen minutes. Even simply listing the impacts of climate change on communities around the world -- without discussing or analysing each point -- would be more than the allotted time. So, let me share the impacts inCanada
InCanada alone, the
glaciers in the Rocky Mountains, and all the way to the Yukon
Great Lakes levels have fallen below any historic level, to the point that ships have been stranded in the St. Lawrence Seaway.
Climate change has caused an insect epidemic with severe impacts in interiorBritish Columbia British Columbia British
Columbia Sweden
In Canada, we now see increased severe weather events from flooding, to crippling ice storms, to the first full force tropical hurricane to hit Canada, (that hit Nova Scotia in 2003) to severe heat waves that cripple cities. These events are now the new normal.
But it is in our Far North that the impacts are most dramatic.
In theArctic , 2,000,000 square kilometers of
sea ice have disappeared. That is a 10-20% decline in summer sea ice over the
last 30 years.. As well, the remaining ice is thinner, placing Inuit hunters at
risk and threatening their traditional way of life.
Last summer, for the first time, the legendary North West Passage was open. Ironically, there is glee from those that see the economic opportunity for new shipping routes and the potential to develop the oil and gas that lies below the Arctic ice..
The Inuit are experiencing unheard of weather events. When the little village of Sachs HarbourEdmonton Banks
Island ." But the Inuit has seen it . They witnessed the first
ever Arctic thunder and lightning storm. There is no word for this in
Inuktitut. There are no words for new species of birds and other forms of life
that they are seeing in the Arctic for the
first time. (article)
The ground around them is collapsing. Permafrost is melting and the ground collapses. In another feedback loop, the melting permafrost releases vast quantities of methane, a powerful GHG. Inuit villages will have to relocate due to loss of permafrost.
Looking globally, I do not need to persuade a gathering of global Greens that the current levels of Ghg -- at more than 30% above what has ever been on this planet in the last million years -- represents a clear and present danger.
Twenty years ago, I worked on the first international scientific conference on the climate crisis. It was called "Our changing atmosphere – implications for global security." It took place inToronto Sao Paulo
"Humanity is conducting an unintended, uncontrolled, globally pervasive experiment whose ultimate consequences are second only to global nuclear war."
There is no set end point for this experiment. Where we end up in this potentially suicidal, indeed geo-cidal, experiment depends on when governments around the world act decisively to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
If all use of fossil fuels and all deforestation globally were to end tomorrow, we would still be coping with destabilized climate for at least a century due to what we have already emitted.
But, with adequate planning and resources (none of which have been adequately started) we could adapt to a changing climate.
But if Greenhouse gas levels continue to rise, we could face "tipping point events" -- "points of no return" that threaten levels of climate crisis to which we can not adapt – levels of climatic disruption that threaten our civilization and millions of species.. .
There are three such tipping point events which are often discussed.
The study concluded that the impact of that, with colder temperatures inEurope , changing rainfall patterns, causing increased
drought, food insecurity, increased numbers of environmental refugees, would
constitute a great threat to global security than terrorism.
What has been the response of governments to this threat? I am ashamed to admit the Canadian government is now the worst in the world. The Stephen Harper government has repudiated our legally bindingKyoto
If we take all the commitments of all the governments of the world, the impact is disastrous. According to the World Energy Outlook, published by the International Energy Agency, if all governments maintain current commitments, by 2030 emissions will be 27% higher than in 2005…Carbon concentrations in the atmosphere will double over pre-Industrial Revolution levels at 550 ppm, making it inevitable that global average temperatures will increase by 3 degrees Celcius. And it only goes up from there -- 3 degrees inevitably becomes 4, and 4 degrees triggers 5 degrees and so on in a run-away greenhouse effect.
We must avoid allowing levels to reach 550 ppm. To do this, according to the IEA, we must ensure that the year 2015 is the last year in which GHG emissions rise. They must peak and drop sharply from there.
The World Energy Outlook concluded with this warning: "The primary scarcity facing the planet is not natural resources or money, but time."
Addressing this threat must become the central organizing principle of all governments.
Some say it is impossible to make this transition in time.
I must believe it is possible. In the words of the founder of the German Green Party, Petra Kelly, a woman I was honoured to know, "We must in our generation accomplish the impossible. Otherwise we are condemned to experience the unthinkable."
To do the impossible is our task as Greens. Let other parties embrace politics as the art of the possible.
We must accept the challenge of doing the impossible. The alternative is unthinkable.
In the words of Ingrid Betancourt, "The future is Green." It must be and it will be!"
Related Links
The Green Issue, New York Times, April 20, 2008
Rethinking the Meat Guzzler, New York Times, January 28, 2008
Related Blog Entries
New Report on Industrial Farm Animal Production in America: Industry has to Change, May 6, 2008
Palm Oil: A Slippery Slope to Destruction, April 22, 2008
Documentary: The World According to Monsanto, April 20 2008
Palm Oil: Unhealthy for you, deadly for asian elephants, other wildlife and the earth, Nov. 13, 2007
Here is an incredibly powerful and informative 15 minute speech on climate change by
If you don't watch another video all year, watch this one!
Click here for video
Summary below from Green Party site news (click here for link)
"I have been asked to review impact of climate change on communities, economies, peace and international security. This is impossible to do in fifteen minutes. Even simply listing the impacts of climate change on communities around the world -- without discussing or analysing each point -- would be more than the allotted time. So, let me share the impacts in
In
Great Lakes levels have fallen below any historic level, to the point that ships have been stranded in the St. Lawrence Seaway.
Climate change has caused an insect epidemic with severe impacts in interior
In Canada, we now see increased severe weather events from flooding, to crippling ice storms, to the first full force tropical hurricane to hit Canada, (that hit Nova Scotia in 2003) to severe heat waves that cripple cities. These events are now the new normal.
But it is in our Far North that the impacts are most dramatic.
In the
Last summer, for the first time, the legendary North West Passage was open. Ironically, there is glee from those that see the economic opportunity for new shipping routes and the potential to develop the oil and gas that lies below the Arctic ice..
The Inuit are experiencing unheard of weather events. When the little village of Sachs Harbour
The ground around them is collapsing. Permafrost is melting and the ground collapses. In another feedback loop, the melting permafrost releases vast quantities of methane, a powerful GHG. Inuit villages will have to relocate due to loss of permafrost.
Looking globally, I do not need to persuade a gathering of global Greens that the current levels of Ghg -- at more than 30% above what has ever been on this planet in the last million years -- represents a clear and present danger.
Twenty years ago, I worked on the first international scientific conference on the climate crisis. It was called "Our changing atmosphere – implications for global security." It took place in
"Humanity is conducting an unintended, uncontrolled, globally pervasive experiment whose ultimate consequences are second only to global nuclear war."
There is no set end point for this experiment. Where we end up in this potentially suicidal, indeed geo-cidal, experiment depends on when governments around the world act decisively to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
If all use of fossil fuels and all deforestation globally were to end tomorrow, we would still be coping with destabilized climate for at least a century due to what we have already emitted.
But, with adequate planning and resources (none of which have been adequately started) we could adapt to a changing climate.
But if Greenhouse gas levels continue to rise, we could face "tipping point events" -- "points of no return" that threaten levels of climate crisis to which we can not adapt – levels of climatic disruption that threaten our civilization and millions of species.. .
There are three such tipping point events which are often discussed.
- The potential for the collapse of Western Antarctic
ice sheet. An extraordinary volume of 3.2 million cubic kilometres of ice
is being destabilized with warmer water at its base.
- The
- The third is related. The threat of the
The study concluded that the impact of that, with colder temperatures in
What has been the response of governments to this threat? I am ashamed to admit the Canadian government is now the worst in the world. The Stephen Harper government has repudiated our legally binding
If we take all the commitments of all the governments of the world, the impact is disastrous. According to the World Energy Outlook, published by the International Energy Agency, if all governments maintain current commitments, by 2030 emissions will be 27% higher than in 2005…Carbon concentrations in the atmosphere will double over pre-Industrial Revolution levels at 550 ppm, making it inevitable that global average temperatures will increase by 3 degrees Celcius. And it only goes up from there -- 3 degrees inevitably becomes 4, and 4 degrees triggers 5 degrees and so on in a run-away greenhouse effect.
We must avoid allowing levels to reach 550 ppm. To do this, according to the IEA, we must ensure that the year 2015 is the last year in which GHG emissions rise. They must peak and drop sharply from there.
The World Energy Outlook concluded with this warning: "The primary scarcity facing the planet is not natural resources or money, but time."
Addressing this threat must become the central organizing principle of all governments.
Some say it is impossible to make this transition in time.
I must believe it is possible. In the words of the founder of the German Green Party, Petra Kelly, a woman I was honoured to know, "We must in our generation accomplish the impossible. Otherwise we are condemned to experience the unthinkable."
To do the impossible is our task as Greens. Let other parties embrace politics as the art of the possible.
We must accept the challenge of doing the impossible. The alternative is unthinkable.
In the words of Ingrid Betancourt, "The future is Green." It must be and it will be!"
Related Links
The Green Issue, New York Times, April 20, 2008
Rethinking the Meat Guzzler, New York Times, January 28, 2008
Related Blog Entries
New Report on Industrial Farm Animal Production in America: Industry has to Change, May 6, 2008
Palm Oil: A Slippery Slope to Destruction, April 22, 2008
Documentary: The World According to Monsanto, April 20 2008
Palm Oil: Unhealthy for you, deadly for asian elephants, other wildlife and the earth, Nov. 13, 2007
I agrre whole heartedly. The evidence is clear to those who choose to see. Here in the North, our Polar Bears are starving to death due to early melts, not having the ice to hunt from. Bears have been found washed ashore,drowned due to having to swim greater distances to find ice from which to hunt. Only recently a mother and two young cubs were shot in Deline, they had travelled over 400 km from their normal hunting grounds in search of food. Autopsy showed the three were starving. Remote communities have RCMP detachments that do not have tranquilizer guns at the ready, which they should have in order to relocate these animals when they come into towns, an easier solution is to shoot. Winters in my area produce less snow that in years past,warmer temps etc. I do not find them as severe as back in Ontario my place of origin. It is time Canada started to live up to it's commitments.
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