No Exit: Ecological Limits and Climate Change.

“Ice caps melting”, “CO2 levels causing global temperature rise”, “In the last decade or so we have really started seeing our world as being on the brink of destruction due to everyday human activity and its impacts on climate and ecological change” [1]

These are all phrases with which we are now completely familiar with and I doubt there is a single person in the developed world who is not aware of global warming issues whether or not they believe in them. I’m not going to name any of the statistics or arguments for or against, as I am sure you are all aware of most of them.

The sad truth of the matter is that many people become desensitized to issues when they are repeatedly bombarded with them no matter how serious those issues are. As Jo points out in a previous entry “Apparently 53% of the public press is sceptical about the issue of climate change and global warming, whether they’re talking about the exact effects, the timescale or the magnitude of the causes.”
A nail in the coffin for all those stragglers who are still not sure whether or not to take action is aptly provided by Greg Craven. See the video below.
He argues the case of risk management. We are already in the ‘test tube’ of the global warming experiment there is no exit. Even if we are not the cause of global warming the risk of the consequences that arrive with inaction far outweigh any of the risks of action.

The problem we face now is not just asking what we can do to stop global warming but what can we do to change peoples attitudes. At the moment I live with three other people and we all try and take responsibility in keeping the place tidy (to varying degrees of success!) When living with more people though I know it is very easy to assume or hope that somebody else will take responsibility as it becomes harder to identify who created what mess.
Obviously equating the state of the planet to the state of my washing up is a gross exaggeration but it serves to make a point! Apathy can be a vary dangerous thing.
People generally don’t like to be guilted into doing things or told what to do. For action against climate change to really succeed we need to somehow change peoples perceptions so that ‘the greener way’ is not a chore but rather the more natural and easier way.

[1] - Dave
Image - 'earth is da bomb' found on Google images