Last
month marked the anniversary of the day a President of the United States first
warned Congress of the with the words: “This generation has altered the
composition of the atmosphere on a global scale through radioactive materials
and a steady increase in carbon dioxide from the burning of fossil fuels”.
No it
wasn't Bill Clinton, it certainly was not President Obama; it was in fact
Lyndon B. Johnson, and last month marks the 50th anniversary of the
day the US Congress was warned about the environmental dangers of atmospheric
pollution, which followed advice from pioneering climate scientist, Roger
Revelle, who warned of global warming and sea-level rise.
A year
later Revelle chaired a subcommittee of the President's Science Advisory
Committee, which produced a report claiming that: “Man is unwittingly
conducting a vast geophysical experiment”, estimating that atmospheric
carbon dioxide levels would rise by between 14 and 30 percent by the year 2000.
In fact CO2 levels rose by 15.5%.
It would
be great to think that the US took note of that warning, and those of climate
scientists of the day, but it did not. In fact there has been 50 years of
virtual inaction on Climate Change in the US, despite its being one of the
countries worst hit by it.
The
current President has tried to act, but has been thwarted by his right-wing
opponents, and he too has issued an emphatic warning pointing out that: “We
are the first generation to feel the effects of climate change, and we are the
last generation that can do anything about it”.
The
Australian situation is even worse, with a Prime Minister who is on the record
as claiming climate change science is “crap”, and has done everything in his
power to close down government climate change initiatives. As a result, growth
in the renewable energy sector has stalled, and vast coal mines, and coal seam
gas projects are being brought on line by like-minded conservative State
governments across the country.
Remember,
we are the last generation that can do anything about climate change. We owe it
to future generations to act decisively NOW.
- John Edwards
