Findings that the
world is poorly prepared for climate change are far from surprising, well not
at least for those advocating that the world take action.
Climate change itself will be a surprise to many for while the
reality of what we are doing to earth’s atmosphere has been clearly spelt out
by the world’s scientists for more than a decade now, few people have been
listening.
Not only have they not been listening, but most, it seems,
thought it was a distant problem of little concern to them and about which they
could do little.
The idea of doing little was discussed by Tatura’s Terry Court
just last week at a climate change/community health forum Shepparton at which
he quoted the Irish author, philosopher and statesman, Edmund Burke who said: “Nobody
made a greater mistake than he who did nothing because he could do only a
little”.
However, doing what little he can, environmental editor with
The Age, Tom Arup, has alerted that newspaper’s readers to the fact that “Climate change is here and the world is taking a turn for the worse”.
In discussing the prognosis of the Intergovernmental Panel
on Climate Change (IPCC), Arup wrote, “It will be a less certain and more
dangerous world, particularly for the world’s poor. Nor one we should look
forward to.”
