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Why Scotland must get real on climate crisis: The time has passed for protecting the public from reality.

The story that still dominates now – even as temperatures (and fires) roar
out of control in the Atlantic, in Canada, in Hawaii, in Rhodes – is one
that government, citizens, and even scientists have created together: a
story where there’s always “just enough time” to fix things.

We’ve been on a “last warning” to avert climate disaster for 20 years – but in
reality, time is up. Anonymous polls show that climate scientists
overwhelmingly now privately expect warming to exceed 1.5C, our
scientifically and politically agreed “safe” limit.

The question now is
not whether – but how much – chaos will be left to future generations. We
should not be so naive as to think that climate isn’t an urgent problem for
us, here – that we in the UK might somehow be exempt by way of geography.

Certainly the global South will experience worse impacts: but, just as
“developed” societies like Britain and the USA proved surprisingly
fragile in the face of Covid-19, so it may prove with climate. Societies
like ours that heavily depend on long supply chains can expect to feel
heavily the coming disruptions in world food production, for example.

Nor can there be any assumption that Scotland, by virtue of being further
north, is safer than the rest of Britain. Populations in cooler latitudes
might get off more lightly; but equally they may not. Huge levels of
ice-melt in the Arctic are causing unprecedented amounts of cold fresh
water to pour into the north Atlantic, threatening the Gulf Stream, and the
lesser-known, but even more important ‘Atlantic Meridian Overturning
Circulation’.

It is quite possible that the effects will be felt soon –
well within a generation – making Britain’s climate colder (and drier). If
this occurs – and if I were a betting man, I’d bet on it – then it will be
very bad indeed for agriculture. And especially bad for Scotland.

The time has passed for protecting the public from reality. Indeed, millions already
know that things are worse than governments admit: from 40C heatwaves to
droughts and flooded high streets, every year the weather brings the
vicious reality of climate breakdown home in a new way. In workplaces,
communities and wherever people have power they are taking climate action
into their own hands – from towns working towards net zero, to figures in
law, business and finance, lobbying for ambitious climate policy. It is
vital to acknowledge and encourage this process. Scotland as a nation has
already grasped this need and must urgently spread the word among its
cities, towns and villages. We must all now recognise ourselves as the
climate majority: the citizen energy that will demand unprecedented action
to protect our world.

Scotsman 26th Aug 2023

https://www.scotsman.com/news/opinion/columnists/why-scotland-must-get-real-on-climate-crisis-rupert-read-4268842

August 28, 2023 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | climate change, UK