Clarence E Pilgrim

This can only be achieved if we allow nature to show us the warning signs, which are all around us. We must see them as clear and present dangers, and act with purpose and fortitude to bring about positive changes.

In this context it would be utter stupidity, for those who are serious about arresting the problem of global warming to ignore the new study by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), consisting of around 2,500 scientists from around the world. Their February 2 report stated that the average world temperatures would likely rise between 1.8 and 4.0 degrees Celsius (3.2 and 7.8 Fahrenheit) in the 21st century!

In other words, heat waves and sea level increases could continue for more than 1,000 years even if greenhouse gas emissions caused by burning fossil fuels in power plants, factories and cars were capped now! This is the state of affairs that we have found ourselves in on our “mother” earth.

The terrestrial wounds which have developed caused the United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to give the warning words of, "The world has reached a critical stage ... despite our best intentions, the degradation of the global environment continues unabated."

UN's International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (ISDR) secretariat gives further dire calculations which include the belief that typhoons and hurricanes were likely to increase as ocean temperatures increased. Equally, decreased precipitation would lead to more severe droughts, especially in areas such as parts of Africa.

How can we allow this situation to go unabated? Current estimated trends in population by the year 2050, will have some 6 billion people living in towns and cities, which are significant centers for polluting practices.

While the outcomes may vary from country-to-country, it is expected that some "broad consequences" as a result of climate change would affect the following areas adversely:

• Extreme weather patterns will increase.
• Poverty and malnutrition will increase as water insecurity increases.
• Agriculture and rural development.
• Shrinking glaciers and rising sea levels will diminish fresh   water reserves.
• Certain economic activity targets.

It is imperative that we take strong and decisive action to reduce the world’s population vulnerability to the associated hazards related to climate change.

A step to arrest this oncoming nightmare was adopted by 168 governments, meeting in Hyogo, Japan. The 2005 Hyogo Framework was formed.  This is a ten-year plan for action against floods, droughts and storms caused by extreme weather. It is such proactive developments which are needed, and should be supported in all sectors of our “global village.”

The director of the U.N.'s International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (ISDR), identified that there existed successful policies in the Caribbean, Vietnam and Bangladesh for surviving floods and tropical storms, which includes building houses, schools and other buildings away from regions susceptible to landslides, and the procurement and utilization of flood-resistant construction materials.

But these positives can only be meaningful if leaders around the world take the new findings of our impending climatic demise, as a matter of national and international priority.

But how can the international community as a whole, see the reality of positive intervention when some of the wealthiest nations are not making the effort?  China said it had no immediate plans to change its reliance on coal and other dirty fuels. For a country with the largest population on earth, this is indeed a disappointing attitude. Particularly since it has many regions which are not immune to the grip of environmental hazards.

Further disappointment came from the announcement by the Australian Prime Minister John Howard who recently said that his nation would not cut coal exports as part of the government's strategy to curb greenhouse gas emissions. In other words in his myopic view, the short term protection of jobs, in an environmentally and health-wise damaging industry, is his clear choice over investing in a new energy source that can protect the environment and offer healthier working opportunities.

With these prevailing attitudes, it is small wonder that economic slavery has reemerged in a new form.  Servitude to energy created from cheap, expendable, environmentally damaging sources, at the expense of the health and well being of humanity. In other words, to hell with the environment and up with the altar of profits for the wealthy few to benefit!

In a world needing strong leadership, the USA has abdicated its responsibilities. The US administration’s continual refusal to sign the 1997 negotiated Kyoto Protocol, which expires in 2012, and which sets ambitious targets for the reduction of greenhouse gases, has not helped the cause of alternative energy development.  This continues to be seen as a considerable set-back since the United States is responsible for about one-quarter of the world's emissions of carbon dioxide.

One country where there is a positive development, at least in one sector of its economy is Brazil. It is the world's largest producer of ethanol, which is derived from sugar cane. It indicates that it will invest $8.3 billion in renewable fuels over the next four years. The country’s President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva is encouraging wealthy countries to switch to non-fossil fuels, such as ethanol or biodiesel. This is indeed a welcomed voice, in an avalanche of business interests fighting to protect their fossil fuels cabals, through various economic and political means.

It is my hope that world leaders like Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, who pledged to take “tougher measures to curb global warming,” will develop realistic and urgent policies to make this a reality.

Immediate action is required! The sand in the hourglass is running out slowly but surely.

An advocate for social justice and human rights, Clarence E Pilgrim, as an educator and a senior officer in the Antigua & Barbuda civil service, is active in many voluntary organisations. He has passionately promoted the Caribbean Integration Movement, and is an ardent supporter of enviornmental protection, and the careful use of our natural resources. Among his collection of many articles, he has written on the subject of the crucial need to develop alternative energy resources in the Caribbean Community. Mr Pilgrim also provides advice on various social policy issues.