Conclusion

Climate change is caused by our carbon emissions, rampant consumption and ecologically damaging development in a relentless quest for growth, much of which is unsustainable. It is exacerbated by population growth. The problems causing climate change are deeply entrenched and quite enormous. It will take wise management to engineer ourselves through these challenges but we already have much of the knowledge to do this. Do we have the political will to listen to scientists, or is it more convenient to mock them as loonies, like Galileo, who was actually imprisoned. President Obama is leading by example on climate change, saying he does not want to belong to the flat earth society. Will the changes interfere with big corporate profits? The simple question we have to ask ourselves is what world do we want to leave our children – one with a natural heritage or one without?

‘Can we remain indifferent before the problems associated with such realities as climate change, desertification, the deterioration and loss of productivity in vast agricultural areas, the pollution of rivers and aquifers, the loss of bio diversity, the increase in natural catastrophes and the deforestation of equatorial and tropical regions? ’ (49)

There are positive signs. Germany has managed to reduce her CO² emissions by 20% since Kyoto, and reductions have also been achieved in other countries. That is cause for celebration and shows that a green revolution is indeed possible. Following the world wide climate change marches on 21 September 2014 which was organised by the Avaaz network, the Rockefeller Foundation announced it was going to divest from fossil fuels and reinvest in renewables. Viva! Oil has had its century! Full credit is due to Ricken Patel for his leadership here.

The World Wide Climate March - We are not alone!

One of the easiest ways to fix many of our environmental problems would be for polluters to pay for the damage they do. A properly administered carbon tax system would help us to change our behaviour. Many countries already have such a system.

Education is fundamental to heighten awareness among the youth that protecting nature means sustaining life; to lift the poor out of poverty; and to make the affluent aware of the scale of their consumerism and its impact on the environment. If there is money for weapons, placing satellites on comets and orbiting Mars, and for conducting extravagant experiments into fundamental particles such as the Higgs-boson; then there is money to tackle poverty and to clean up our energy and transport needs. We all need to live more simply, consume less, a lot less, buy green, do business ethically, travel wisely, use energy with consideration, tread gently on the good earth and watch our waste. And learn to appreciate nature.

The 10 Green Commitments are an attempt to aid understanding and to suggest a comprehensive yet simple guide to halt climate change trends. If we start to stand and work together, we can avert disaster. Through our combined efforts, good example, patient determination and gentle persuasion, we must seek to influence our families, friends and colleagues; churches and other institutes; councillors, MPs and governments. Paul Gilding saliently compares the lack of urgency on climate change now to the weak response of the Allies to the danger of Hitler in the 1930s (2). Bolder reaction earlier would have saved countless lives, misery and destruction. The dangers of climate change and more than a 1-2˚C rise in global temperatures are similarly apocalyptic. We need to act with the wisdom, understanding, leadership, resolve and strategic action of a Winston Churchill on climate change.

We must now take the initiatives that will make the difference, because climate change is one of the biggest moral issues today.