Political heads in the sand: Denial and inaction as the planet burns

You've no doubt heard about how the ostrich will stick its head in the sand when it's in danger, thinking that it can't be seen? It turns out that it's not true. Ostriches aren't that stupid. They'd suffocate. It can't happen in the real world. Only in politics.

Only political parties could be so deluded as to think that they can refuse to engage with reality and yet, somehow, improve their odds of survival. The remarkable truth, however, is that they can. Australian politics is a leading example.

Read the story from The Age by Peter Hartcher  - “Political heads in the sand: Denial and inaction as the planet burns.”

Three Things We Don’t Want To Understand About Climate Change

Thinking about climate change is not something that comes naturally to humans — or ‘consumers’ as we have called ourselves for decades. It is not only emotionally unpleasant but mentally extremely challenging.

I argue that most of us do not grasp how immediate this situation has become, how fast it is progressing and what the scale of change needed is to reach the stabilization targets of the Paris Agreement.

I also argue that after individuals, nations, and corporations understand the urgency and the rate, they should be honest about what the scale of action needed is to avoid the collapse of the biosphere and thus civilization.

Read the Medium story by Aarne Granlund - “Three Things We Don’t Want To Understand About Climate Change.”

Is Christie serious, or is it polltical gamesmanship?

P

ossible U.S. presidential candidate, Chris Christie, “thinks” climate change is real.

 

However, he is unsure as to what degree humans are responsible.

Chris Christie - is he serious or
is it political gamesmanship?

 

Although there has been some celebration about this apparent change of heart, his caveat about being unsure about humans being responsible, plunges him right back among the deniers.

 

A ClimateProject story - “Chris Christie Makes Big Admission On Climate Change” – illustrates the confusion in Christie’s thinking.

 

It says: “New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie admitted that he thinks climate change is real and that humans contribute to it at an event in New Hampshire last week.

 

“But Christie, a likely 2016 Republican presidential candidate, also added that he thinks the degree to which humans contribute is questionable, according to MSNBC.

 

“I think global warming is real. I don’t think that’s deniable,” he said. “And I do think human activity contributes to it.”

 

He says climate change is real, lays the blame at the feet of humans and then qualifies that observation.

 

It appears he is playing political games with the facts.