Madam, – While our weather can perhaps invite a whimsical treatment now and again, the state of our climate is not something to trivialise, as one letter writer sought to do (“Global warming?”, December 28th ).
The 25 to 30 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide emitted each year by human activity “is warming the planet” the World Bank concludes in a recent report, noting that “data for the past 150 years or so document a global temperature increase of nearly 1 degree Celsius since the pre-industrial period”.
The report, titled Development and Climate Change, argues that "warming much above 2 degrees Celsius is simply unacceptable. But stabilising at 2 degrees will require major shifts in lifestyle, a veritable energy revolution, and a transformation in how we manage land and forests".
We can shirk away in the face of this challenge, and take refuge in a jocular approach, but amusing ourselves will do nothing to achieve a shift away from the carbon dioxide released by burning fossil fuels, and other emissions that slowly but steadily warm our atmosphere.
In terms of the consequences, the World Bank report doesn’t mince its words. The fallout of climate change will fall disproportionately upon developing countries, which will, it estimates, bear 75-80 per cent of the damage. This will manifest itself in water shortages, affecting around 80 million people in South America alone, and more severe flooding, with some 170 million people in China and Vietnam particularly vulnerable, ultimately costing lives.
In Ireland over the past year we have got an idea of how much we take for granted the supply of drinking water. For the millions set to be affected if we keep polluting as we do, the prognosis is of a different magnitude to our difficulties over the past 12 months: picture a situation with little or no supply, no standpipes, no neighbours in a position to help out, and without the wherewithal to buy water.
Maybe it’s time to stop joking about what we are doing to the climate – and change our ways.
– Yours, etc,