In The Burning Question documentary shown on RTE recently presenter, Duncan Stewart, explored the gap between public perceptions of climate change, what the scientists are trying to tell us and what role the media are playing.
Climate change has been hailed as “the biggest challenge to mankind in human history” and has also been called “the biggest swindle”. Today many people are confused as to what climate change is and what consequences lie ahead for Ireland in the near and distant future.
Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon stressed the urgency of dealing with climate change. “It’s the top most important priority issue, not only for the UN but for the whole international community, even for humanity,” he said.
Jean-Pascal van Ypersele, vice-chairperson of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, said, “Copenhagen didn’t solve the problems but still they agreed to put a number in terms of objectives, of targets, to keep global warming to less than two degrees Celsius. The IPCC, in its latest report, states very clearly that, to stay within the vicinity of two degrees Celsius, by the end of this century global emissions would have to be reduced to zero.”
James Hansen of the Earth and Environmental Sciences department at Columbia University, said, “What we don’t want to happen is to pass tipping points where irreversible things happen, like the disintegration of ice sheets, because it takes thousands of year to build an ice sheet. Or the extermination of species, of animal or plant species: once they’re gone, we have a much more desolate planet.”
“Absolute certainty, it seems, will not be there to guide us as we make tricky personal and political decisions on this issue.
Heap concludes, “It is a question of risk. You do not expect to crash your car – but you have plenty of expensive safety features fitted just in case you do.”
The Burning Question, RTE
In The Burning Question documentary shown on RTE recently presenter, Duncan Stewart, explored the gap between public perceptions of climate change, what the scientists are trying to tell us and what role the media are playing.
Climate change has been hailed as “the biggest challenge to mankind in human history” and has also been called “the biggest swindle”. Today many people are confused as to what climate change is and what consequences lie ahead for Ireland in the near and distant future.
Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon stressed the urgency of dealing with climate change. “It’s the top most important priority issue, not only for the UN but for the whole international community, even for humanity,” he said.
Jean-Pascal van Ypersele, vice-chairperson of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, said, “Copenhagen didn’t solve the problems but still they agreed to put a number in terms of objectives, of targets, to keep global warming to less than two degrees Celsius. The IPCC, in its latest report, states very clearly that, to stay within the vicinity of two degrees Celsius, by the end of this century global emissions would have to be reduced to zero.”
James Hansen of the Earth and Environmental Sciences department at Columbia University, said, “What we don’t want to happen is to pass tipping points where irreversible things happen, like the disintegration of ice sheets, because it takes thousands of year to build an ice sheet. Or the extermination of species, of animal or plant species: once they’re gone, we have a much more desolate planet.”
Mary Robinson, President of Realising Rights: The Ethical Globalisation Initiative, explained why public confusion still exists and who is responsible. “It is people who are suffering far more than is being appreciated,” she said. “Deep in my heart I’m a grandmother and I feel really concerned about what the world will be like in 2050 for everybody’s grandchildren …. Many scientists would say the tipping point is coming sooner, the risk is greater …. The implications are enormous, partly because also there is going to be the population increase, so between now and 2050 we’re expecting at least 2.6 billion more people, going up to at least 9 billion people. The prediction is that by 2050 we could have at least 250 million [climate] refugees and they are going to move to Europe, and I don’t know how we would possibly stop them.
“The poorest countries must be able to develop, which means they must be able to have the transfer of green technologies rapidly because they are going to develop anyway. And if China continues on the carbon path its on at the moment, and India and other countries that are emerging today, then we will have no safe world by 2050. We will have a world where it will be catastrophic.”
“Ireland has everything to gain from being part of this discussion; it’s time to change our whole mindset about how we will live and about how our children and grandchildren will live in years to come. It’s also, for Ireland, an opportunity to renew ourselves and that’s why I believe there’s great potential in this and great hope.”
Paleoclimatologist Professor Jennifer McElwain looked at the earth’s history, using evidence found in fossilised plants, and showed that climates have changed before.
Kieran Hickey of University College Galway said, “Ireland is going to be a much more hostile place … something we are not very used to, or prepared for.”
Mary Robinson, President of Realising Rights: The Ethical Globalisation Initiative, explained why public confusion still exists and who is responsible. “It is people who are suffering far more than is being appreciated,” she said. “Deep in my heart I’m a grandmother and I feel really concerned about what the world will be like in 2050 for everybody’s grandchildren …. Many scientists would say the tipping point is coming sooner, the risk is greater …. The implications are enormous, partly because also there is going to be the population increase, so between now and 2050 we’re expecting at least 2.6 billion more people, going up to at least 9 billion people. The prediction is that by 2050 we could have at least 250 million [climate] refugees and they are going to move to Europe, and I don’t know how we would possibly stop them.
“The poorest countries must be able to develop, which means they must be able to have the transfer of green technologies rapidly because they are going to develop anyway. And if China continues on the carbon path its on at the moment, and India and other countries that are emerging today, then we will have no safe world by 2050. We will have a world where it will be catastrophic.”
“Ireland has everything to gain from being part of this discussion; it’s time to change our whole mindset about how we will live and about how our children and grandchildren will live in years to come. It’s also, for Ireland, an opportunity to renew ourselves and that’s why I believe there’s great potential in this and great hope.”
Paleoclimatologist Professor Jennifer McElwain looked at the earth’s history, using evidence found in fossilised plants, and showed that climates have changed before.
Kieran Hickey of University College Galway said, “Ireland is going to be a much more hostile place … something we are not very used to, or prepared for.”