So apparently, not only is catastrophic climate change coming sooner, it’s going to be even worse than we thought as well. And this is coming from a “conservative” paper on the subject:
The really chilling thing about the IPCC report is that it is the work of several thousand climate experts who have widely differing views about how greenhouse gases will have their effect. Some think they will have a major impact, others a lesser role. Each paragraph of this report was therefore argued over and scrutinised intensely. Only points that were considered indisputable survived this process. This is a very conservative document – that’s what makes it so scary,’ said one senior UK climate expert.
When I read these sorts of things 2 thoughts occur to me: 1) I want to curl up in a little ball on my bed and hide until its all over 2) I want the power to force change upon the population.
It’s these sort of reports that make me think that what it’s going to take to get Canada or the US to make the monstrous amount of painful changes is for someone to be elected with a majority government (or control of Senate & Congress), and then be willing to ram through insanely unpopular legislation to meet emission-reduction targets, and fines for polluters, and raise taxes for polluting goods, etc. Essentially, be willing to be a one-term ruler in order to get these things done. Because I think 4 years of activ(e/ist) legislation could do a lot. But you’d need control, and you’d need to realize that you’re probably NOT going to get re-elected, because virtually every industry lobby will be working against you.