farmdoc's blog post number 411

I’m half-way through Gwynne Dyer’s 2008 book Climate Wars. It’s about the geopolitical consequences of climate change. And it’s very scary. Though not, I add, without hope. One important point Dyer makes is that though it’s fine for individuals and families to use compact fluorescent lights and drive hybrid cars, the changes needed to stop global warming and thus climate change reaching a critical and probably irreversible level, are so major they can only be achieved by governments. I agree. With atmospheric CO2 now 382 parts per million [ppm] and the consensus critical level 450 ppm, there’s no time to waste. I’ve previously wondered about the usefulness of Earth Hour and Earth Day. The same goes for World Environment Day [WED] – which is today. Wikipedia says WED was established by the UN General Assembly in 1972, and each year a different city hosts it (2009: Mexico City) and it has a different theme (2009: Your Planet Needs You - UNite to Combat Climate Change). Cute. It’s aim is ‘to stimulate awareness of the environment and enhance political attention and public action’. WED’s lovely in theory, and I can’t argue with the process. But I’m too old to reinvent the wheel, so I can but say again: ‘Rousing stuff, but useless unless every single world leader assigns global warming and climate change the highest policy priority. If they haven’t done so by now, they never will’.

farmdoc's blog post number 367

Last 28 March was Earth Hour. Yawn. Today’s Earth Day. Yawn x 24. Though 2009 is its 39th annual iteration, I know next to nothing about Earth Day. The website says today’s the beginning of The Green Generation Campaign^TM which will also be the focus of the 40th Earth Day, in 2010. With negotiations for a new global climate agreement coming up next December, Earth Day 2009 is a day of action and civic participation, to defend The Green Generation^TM’s three core principles: first, carbon-free future based on renewable energy that will end our common dependency on fossil fuels, including coal; second, an individual’s commitment to responsible, sustainable consumption; and third, creation of a new green economy that lifts people out of poverty by creating millions of quality green jobs and transforms the global education system into a green one. Verily motherhood and apple pie principles. Judging by the 13 directors of the Earth Day Network, it’s an entirely US outfit. But, as a trickle, it’s percolated Down Under, because keying ‘Australia’ into the events search box returns a few tiny events – none in major cities. Me? I think that at this precarious point on the global warming/climate change apocalyptic pathway, there are 365 Earth Days per year. That is, environmental consciousness raising’s gratuitous. But in the spirit of good global citizenship, I do wish you Happy Earth Day.