I went quiet for a while on Song For Friday as I lost inspiration. This one got my attention.
If you haven't heard about it, I strongly suggest you check out tcktck and timeforclimatejustice.org, the campaign for climate justice lead by Kofi Annan. The campaign's aim is to get people like you and me to show our support for climate justice. Basically, the environmental damage created by us in the developed world is hurting people in the emerging world most. With the Copenhagen Summit on December 7th, the aim is to send a message to world leaders that to affect change.
As part of the campaign they created a video a la "Feed The World" remaking Midnight Oil's Beds Are Burning. If you like this and believe that this is important, spread the word! So far close to 3.5 million have signed up.
Congratulations – one less person will be reading this blog from now on.
Climate Justice, my arse!
Ditto that. “Climate change” is a very shaky pseudo-scientific theory at best, and a shakedown scam at worst, and when you start talking about “climate justice,” that pretty well blows up any sort of benefit of the doubt there is. It’s just a scheme to give money to Third World nations without them having to earn it.
Stick to sailing talk, and leave the nonsense social politics elsewhere.
A smarter man than me (Voltaire) said it best: “I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.”
Sorry to lose any reader to his blog but I am bit disappointed by the nature of reaction. I am also pretty surprised that the naysayers are louder than supporters.
It seems like the skeptics have the upper hand
Adam, sorry to see you under attack from those who think we should do nothing about pollution because a causal link to climate change can’t be established with 100 percent certainty.
To me, this is the same logic the tobacco companies used for so many years to deny a link between smoking and cancer. I think the best tack is to get the word out about the scientific evidence that does exist – which many of us feel is already overwhelming – and let people make their own decisions.
Even if pollution and the destruction of natural resources did not contribute to climate change, is it conscionable to sit back and do nothing? And if sailors don’t take up the fight, then who?
At this point, I don’t think any rational person could deny that global climate change is happening.
There is the question about whether (or to what extent) human activity has caused it. If human activity is at least partly to blame, we can’t change the past, but we might be able to change our behavior in the future to reduce the impact that we have on the climate. This is a good thing, but I have serious doubts about how much we might really be able to accomplish — so much damage has already been done.
At this point, I think what we need to look at are ways to mitigate the harmful effects of climate change. Yes, we might be able to slow it, but we’re not going to be able to stop it, and we’re most definitely not going to be able to reverse it. We’re going to have to cope.