I was watching CNN a day or so after the IPCC summary report on climate change came out. Rob Marciano had gotten a professor to comment on the results of the report and the implications for species extinction. I'm sorry I don't recall the name of the professor or his school. I hope he keeps his job. The professor repeated that the report indicates that 20 to 30 percent of species on the planet face extinction due to climate change. Marciano said something to the effect that there were things we could still do to prevent that from happening and the professor, after a pause said that it was too late. Marciano was beside himself! He couldn't believe what he was hearing. He acted for all the world like a kid who has been told he can't have a "do over" in a game. Unfortunately folks climate change isn't a game and we don't get a "do over".
I'd like to think that most of us aren't so foolish... that it is only that the media has been criminally negligent about keeping us honestly informed about what is arguably the most critical issue (along with population control) facing us in this century. I'd like to think that, but I'm not sure it is true. I've known for years that the clock is running down on the climate, and I haven't been out in the streets protesting. I've done the civilized and easy things that I can do to limit my impact, but I have not been especially vocal. I volunteered for five years with an organization that is highly aware of the implications of climate change but as docents we were encouraged to be "politically correct" and not engage in "politically charged" issues. The media of course is complicit in lulling us into a false sense of security. Even though 99.9999% of peer reviewed scientists are alarmed at the current climate trends, the .0001% on non peer reviewed scientists who hold opposing views are given equal air time. Even though logically we know their views are in the extreme minority, we hear their views as often or more often than those of the peer reviewed scientists. We internalize what we hear. We somehow believe that there is never a too late. That once we turn our attention to the problem we will be able to solve it in time to save our species and the species that we need to survive. That is simply not true. I hate doing a gloom and doom diary but folks the clock is running down on the climate and it may already be too late to stop it. What we do in the next year or two may well determine the survival or extinction of the remaining species our own included and there are no "do overs"