Introduction

Our world is in meltdown and the cause is Homo sapiens. Let us consider the evidence.

More than 97% of climate researchers accept that climate change is due to man-made emissions of carbon dioxide (CO²) and other gases as well as other man-made activities. (2)

The Keeling curve

CO² in the atmosphere is now some 400 parts per million (ppm) – see graph above; in 1950 it was 310 ppm (3). Quite simply CO² is a gas which allows sunlight to pass through it because it has a higher frequency / shorter wavelength, but reflects heat (or infrared radiation) from the earth because it has a longer wavelength / lower frequency. A greenhouse uses the same principle and hence the term greenhouse gas.

We can see the effects of higher temperatures in the following examples: the Arctic ice volume has reduced by 3% per decade from 1948 to 1999 (4); ‘Greenland and Arctic ice sheets are losing 475 billion tonnes of ice into the sea per year ... causing the release of significant quantities of methane from the Arctic ocean’ (5); the average annual temperature in the South Pole has risen 2.4˚ Centigrade (C) since the 1950s, three times the world average (6); the Tasman glacier in New Zealand has retreated by an accelerating rate currently 500 to 800 metres per year, causing a lake to form which was not there in 1973 (4); in Tuvalu rising sea levels have caused seawater to run into freshwater wells (7); and the United States set a heat record in 2012: ‘a brutal combination of widespread drought and a mostly absent winter pushed the average temperature in 2012 to 13˚C – 0.6˚C hotter than the previous record in 1998’ (8).

With climate change, weather becomes more unstable: witness the damaging effects of hurricanes Katrina (2005) and Sandy (2012) in the US, and typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines in 2013. Thirteen years of the 21st century have been the warmest on record with 2013 being the 37th year in a row with higher than average global temperatures (9). The seven hottest days out of 20 in Australia since 1950 were recorded in 2013! (10). Yes, an extended heat wave, but when Hobart hits 42˚C (January 2013) ‘something is seriously wrong’ (10). In NZ, 2013 was the second hottest year on record (since records began in 1863) with temperatures an average 1˚C warmer (11). Climatologist Professor Mojib Latif, describes climate change as a loaded dice: normal weather conditions are still possible but extreme conditions (super storms, drought, flooding, mild winters and hotter summers) become more frequent. He calculates that the total warming of the earth in the last century was 0.8˚ C with 0.6˚ C attributed to man and cites a sea level rise of 20 centimetres because of the melting of Polar ice (12).

How much evidence do we need before wake up?

The danger of climate change is that once certain temperature thresholds are crossed, climate change will accelerate. One example is that ice at the poles helps to reflect light back into space, reducing heating. Less ice means less reflection and more heating because blue water absorbs more heat. Also, once the permafrost in Alaska and Siberia melts, it will release vast amounts of trapped methane, which is 25 times worse in terms of retaining heat than CO².

In Conversations with God, Neale Walsch recorded in 1998: (1.1)

God: ‘Most other civilisations are far ahead of you’.

Neale: In what way?

God: ‘Okay, the weather. You don’t seem able to control it. The beings on other planets can control the local temperature’.

Neale: I thought temperature on a planet was a product of its distance from its sun, its atmosphere.

God: ‘By controlling the environment. By creating or failing to create, certain conditions in the atmosphere . . . You have placed the most dangerous things in your atmosphere – and taken out some of the most important. Yet you are in denial about this. . . Even when the finest minds amongst you prove beyond doubt the damage you are doing, you will not acknowledge it. . . You call them crazed... And your chief interest is yourself. Every evidence, no matter how scientific, no matter how demonstrable or compelling will be denied if it violates your self- interest’.

Denialists, such as those who believed the earth was flat, will try to divert us, especially when conditions sometimes appear normal. President Obama does not want to belong to the flat earth society and his drive to address climate change in the United States may be his most important legacy. Jim Consedine poses the question: ‘Is Climate Change Our Biggest Moral Issue?’ (13). He argues affirmatively because it is universal, with negative effects that appear to be everywhere, even though they will not affect everyone in the same way.

The debate must move on. The key issue is what must we do to correct these trends? The 10 Green Commitments are an attempt to aid understanding and to suggest solutions to our environmental problems. It is important to realise that this is not about finger-pointing or blaming anyone for climate change. The fact is we are all responsible to a greater or lesser degree. The intention is not to be prescriptive, rather to make us think of how our behaviour could change to alleviate these causes. Then hopefully we will commit to making a positive change where we can in our lives. Our positive change will make a difference and be an example to inspire others. Every little bit is important and makes a contribution.

A more detailed explanation of each of these Commitments follows.