BBC NEWS | Programmes | Panorama | Climate chaos: Bush’s climate of fearBBC NEWS | Programmes | Panorama | Climate chaos: Bush’s climate of fear

BBC NEWS | Programmes | Panorama | Climate chaos: Bush’s climate of fear

I just caught this documentary on CBC tonight, and I quite enjoyed it. I must admit I didn’t come to the subject with an open mind … it’s been pretty clear to me for some time now that human activity CAN affect climate, and climate is changing. We owe it to future generations not to gamble their future on our greed.

In the interest of full disclosure, I should mention that the reporter for this documentary is an old acquaintance of mine. While I was in Lagos in the 90’s, she worked the BBC bureau there, reporting on coup’s and fuel lines. While we didn’t know each other all that well, we did spend a very enjoyable day together deep sea fishing with a mutual friend. More than anything though, I saw in her reports the reality of the place she was reporting from.

That may sound odd, but very little of the reporting I saw from Nigeria caught the true flavour of the country. Nearly all local news sources were cowed by the government into non-political news, and very few international news organizations had any real idea what was going on. But Hilary’s reports were always spot on.

This current report on global warming seems very muc the same to me. Se does have an agenda, but its a documentary and an opinion is expected. What struck me most was her usual thoroughness in the details and background of a story.

I recommend it to anyone interested in climate change. Its a pretty scary look, but scary is accurate right now, IMO. There is a final point I’d like to make about the relationship between hurricanes and global warming. Warm water is the food that hurricanes eat … the warmer the water, the more energy a growing hurricane can gather. That isn’t speculation, its not a guess, and its not opinion … its simple fact on the way hurricanes work.

We can argue all we like about what is causing the changes in temperature, what is causing the arctic to melt. It may or it may not be affected by human action … I tend to think the evidence is there to say we do affect it, but the facts ARE there to say we MIGHT affect it. And given that chance being the cause, its worth trying to curb our behaviour. People ask if its worth the trouble, especially if it might not be true. I ask it in a different way … can we afford to ignore the possibility that global warming is our fault? I say no … but as I said at the start, I am not unbiased.