Author Of "The Weather Makers" Warns Of Irreversible Climate Shift - SLT

[hatrack]

Tim Flannery isn't one to paint a hopeless picture of climate change. By taking personal responsibility for the dilemma and forcing a shift in government policies and regulations, the noted Australian scientist and author says there is still time to stave off the most egregious impacts of global warming.

But the clock is running, Flannery warned a Salt Lake City audience on Friday night. And if we don't get our act together in the next couple of decades or so, the planet - and its inhabitants - may reach a tipping point from which there will be no turning back. Flannery spoke at the downtown library at the invitation of Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson. The author's new book, The Weather Makers, chronicles his journey from onetime climate change skeptic to impassioned advocate for action to stave off what he now calls "the great global dying."

"Ask an Eskimo and they'll say has already occurred," Flannery told the capacity crowd at the library's auditorium, citing the shriveling polar ice cap. "Life has already changed beyond recognition for them." Flannery cited example after example of climate change evidence, from the great, ongoing die-off of coral - due to the Pacific Ocean's warming waters - to the breakoff of the massive Larsen B ice shelf in Antarctica and the increasing occurrence of severe weather events around the globe.

"This is the most serious issue facing the planet," Flannery said, noting that just about everything else, including overpopulation, pales in comparison. Flannery, who has published 90 papers and written several books, including The Future Eaters: an Ecological History of the Australian Lands and People, calls global warming primarily "a pollution problem," brought on by 150 years of fossil fuel use to power our factories, households and automobiles."

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http://www.sltrib.com/utah/ci_3690138

[leftchick]

1. I heard him on Fresh Air, NPR two weeks ago

he scared the shit out of me. One thing I learned that I didn't know before was Australia's bad actor element in this. WTF? Can''t they See the demise of the Great Barrier Reef? Apparently the coal lobby wins there as well as here.

:(

[Delphinus]

3. Do you know if that

interview would be on their site so I could listen to it?

[Maestro]

2. I simply don't understand why so many want to ignore this.

The ice caps are melting are unprecedented rates. If we are not careful, the Earth will fix the warming trend by sending us into an Ice Age disrupting the gulf streams because of all the fresh water entering the oceans.

[ramapo]

4. Out of sight, out of mind

Climate change and its effects are very easy to ignore because there is no impact on any but a few people at this point. Most people equate global warming to the day-to-day weather. Get an unseasonable hot spell and common folks might remark that it's because of global warming. On the other hand, a cold snap or unseasonably cool weather, or perhaps a couple of big snowstorms, will have the common folk scoffing at the idea of global warming.

Melting ice caps, rising sea level, disruption of food chains and ocean currents are all out-of-sight events. Sure most people think it's sad if the polar bears and penguins are all going to die because their habitats are melting from under them, but hey, you can still go see them in a zoo. More importantly, the TV works, the AC works, and there is gas for the car to drive to the mall, so basically all is right with the world.

You are probably right that the Earth will eventually fix this mess by enacting changes that will be noticeable to all. The question is when and at what cost?