I was a bit cool on Global Warming, but since they renamed it Climate Change, I’ve become sceptical, which makes some people a bit hot under the collar.
I have no such reservations about the Greenhouse Effect, because I’d heard about the Glasshouse Effect: “People who live in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones.” The Greenhouse Effect seems much the same.
Personal gas emissions can empty a crowded room, so it’s not hard to think of the dramatic effect that wholesale gas emissions may have on an overcrowded planet. More of it comes from Canberra, though, than from cattle.
Are the polar icecaps really melting? Who knows? “They say” we should trust the experts, but I can’t help wondering why when scientists discard theories without as much as a “Sorry — we were wrong!” Or number-crunching politicians mouthing statistics with the sincerity of a ventriloquist.
So, yes, I’m a reluctant convert. Maybe because I was born down in Melbourne where you can get four seasons in one day and never in the same order as the previous one. (Melbournians seem actually proud of this.) I’ve never felt threatened by Melbourne’s weather, which seems a good example of continual Climate Change.
“The sea will rise by many centimeters,” ‘experts’ warn. So? Buy a pair of gumboots (wellies)! What is it with some people? If the good citizens of Venice have learned to live with slow but inevitable immersion — where’s the problem?
My view on Global Warming is bound to turn some necks red, so I’ll close with a short poem about the realities of life Down Under:
“Cyclones hit the tropical coast and bushfires turn trees into toast.
Sudden storms can ruin your day, and floods can sweep your house away.
The heat can slowly make you sick and deadly snakes can kill you quick.
Up north a croc can quickly take you, and out west a drought can slowly break you.”
Climate Change? Mate, that’s normal in Australia, and we’re over it.