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How could 97% of the world's scientists agree that human activity is the primary driver of climate change and there not be an urgent response from world leaders?
Reason #1: There are many climate change "deniers" in key leadership positions.
Harrison Ford was in the news this week and weighed in on that topic:
"Our greatest threat is that we've got people in charge of important shit who don't believe in science...we are shit out of time."
Reason #2. Part of the confusion is because the scientific method rarely enables us to "prove" anything for certain. As such, scientists use phrases like "the data suggests" or "there is very strong correlation" but
rarely, if ever, make statements like these:
1. We know for certain that human activity is the primary cause of climate change.
2. Civilization will collapse if the global average temperature climbs to more than 3 degrees Celsius above the 1750 pre-industrial baseline.
Through no fault of their own, by being unable to issue definitive statements like these, scientists leave the door open for selfish politicians, world leaders and corporate executives to sow seeds of doubt or confusion among the populace in order to better promote their own agendas.
Reason #3. Hidden among all of this confusion is the fact that there are few, genuine, "big picture" scientists. As with doctors in the medical profession, the vast majority of scientists limit their research to narrow fields of study--and are reluctant to draw sweeping conclusions outside their chosen fields.
For example, one scientist might be the world's leading authority on "climate science" but can't tell us with any degree of confidence how a 2 degree C rise would affect our ability to feed the world's 7.7 billion people.
Connecting the Dots. We need to hear from scientists who focus on what's happening well beyond their own specialty and, based on that expanded research, draw conclusions relative to the most important topic in the history of humanity--our future as a species.
Since 2012, when I first became concerned about the
lack of progress we were making on slowing or stopping climate change, I have been searching for credible "big picture" scientists who have connected the dots and have drawn their own conclusions about the most significant trends that threaten our future survival. I have found 8 of them.
Eight Big Picture Scientists. The article below, that I posted on
scientistswarning.org
last week, covers the similar conclusions of eight straight-talking scientists who are not afraid of publicly sharing what their "connected dots" are telling them.
Three of those eight scientists are deceased (passing in 1997, 2010 and 2013), yet their conclusions are very much in synch with the five living scientists on my list of eight. The oldest one,
Dr. James Lovelock, turned 99 in July.
You can read about each of their independent conclusions in this article.
I encourage you to join Dr. Wadhams, Dr. Campbell and others in posting your own "comments" following my piece above.
The first "big picture" scientist on my list of eight is Jacques Cousteau, who died in 1997 at the age of 87. A few months before his death, he shared some chilling conclusions that he had drawn after over five decades of researching important global trends.
Bottom Line. The world needs to hear, understand and fully grasp what these eight scientists have been trying to tell us for more than twenty years: that our selfish, harmful and reckless lifestyles have exceeded Mother Nature's ability to support us for very much longer.
As more and more people learn these truths, they will join the groundswell of voices who are demanding that our world leaders begin urgently addressing the world's most serious sustainability issues--in hopes that humankind can survive and thrive indefinitely on planet Earth.
So what can you do? You can revisit the above "big picture scientists" piece and share it with journalists and thought leaders you respect. You can encourage them to help wake up the world to the urgent need for sustained action to ensure an enjoyable life--for all the children who follow us on this planet.
One of my favorite non-partisan, "big picture" journalists is 3-time Pulitzer winner Tom Friedman of the NY Times who has a reputation for addressing some of the world's thorniest issues.
Check out his recent piece (August 2018)
about Mother Nature on the ballot in 2020. I will be sending him a copy of this BSB.
You can also steer interested parties to the "Scientists Warning" website that is headed by my friend Stuart Scott in Honolulu. Click on the colorful logo below to visit the organization that is actively promoting an urgent change in direction for humanity, stated thusly:
Humanity is on a collision course with Nature.
A damaged Nature will survive. We may not.
We must change course to avert an ecological disaster.
Finally,
here are a few related "Bite-Size Blogs" (BSBs) from the past few weeks:
Be well,
J. Morris (Jim) Hicks
CEO, 4Leaf Global, LLC
Looking for Opportunities to Speak.
Since 2016, my research, writing and speaking has been focused on the sustainability of our ecosystem and our future as a species. With a primary emphasis on food choices, I call it the "most important topic in the history of humanity."
After all, what could possibly be more important to humans than the survival of our species?
(now contains 5-minute video of me speaking in Tucson)
To schedule a presentation at a venue near you, please contact me at
[email protected]
Promoting health, hope and harmony on planet Earth
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