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We saved the ozone layer; now it’s time to save the climate

We saved the ozone layer; now it’s time to save the climate Brisbane Times Ben Cubby March 26, 2009 ” …………………………

With Earth Hour being held tomorrow night, the story of the ozone layer is a reminder that when the world decides to act, it can solve problems that seem too big and bizarre to get to grips with, and solve them quickly.

Earth Hour is a brave initiative, because it brings the conflict between materialism and sustainability into people’s homes, where we are used to doing what we like and not feeling guilty about it. Our energy-hungry fridges and TVs are literally part of the furniture, and it is uncomfortable to think that they are also part of the problem.

Earth Hour risks turning people off along with their lights, especially when the act of flicking a switch is so trivial and the problems are so decidedly not.

But it is a problem that we might as well start to face at 8.30pm tomorrow, because it is only going to get harder the longer we wait.

The message from two scientific conferences this month is clear. They brought together state-of-the-art global climate change research to confirm: the world is heating up faster than we can handle; humans are making it happen; we have the tools to stop it happening, but not yet the political will………………………No one claims Earth Hour will solve climate change, but it is a key part of the public conversation…………………………It is important because, sooner or later, politicians tend to do what citizens tell them to, and Earth Hour’s rapid spread is unlikely to be ignored when leaders meet in December to nut out a global deal to cut emissions.

We saved the ozone layer; now it’s time to save the climate

March 27, 2009 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | Uncategorized