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| Professor David Karoly. |
Every day, we
make decisions based on risk assessments. When we get into a car, we put on a
safety belt. We take out insurance to avoid the possible costs of our home
burning down. What chances would you accept that our society and our planet
will experience dangerous climate change?
When we make life or death decisions for our family members,
we seek to minimise the risk. Would you put your children onto a plane if you
were told there was a one in a hundred chance that it was going to crash? What
chances do you want our government to take that will expose you and your
family, or other people around the world, to dangerous climate change?
“Australia has the
highest emissions of greenhouse gases per person of any developed country so it
is making a disproportionately large contribution to global warming.”
Governments from 195 countries are meeting this week in
Paris to reach a new global agreement to avoid dangerous climate change. They
know the science and they're are trying to agree on targets and processes for
reducing emissions of greenhouse gases from our activities that are causing
global warming. They are also trying to manage the unavoidable impacts of
climate change that have already occurred or are locked in place.
Read the comment in today’s Melbourne Age by University of Melbourne Atmospheric Scientist and member of
the Wentworth Group of Concerned Scientists, Professor David Karoly - “Global warming: what level of risk would you accept?”
