Diminishing Numbers, Believe It or Not

Every post I write about global warming, climate change, is treated to at least one, often a running barrage of, snide and contrarian comment. So it is no surprise to me that a recent poll shows a lot of our citizens remain unconvinced of the reality and urgency of this phenomenon. Poll results are here, Beliefs About Climate Change Hold Steady, but can be summarized thusly: The survey found that 56 percent believed that global warming is occurring, whereas 40 percent said they were not convinced. Only 39 percent think that the two recent major hurricanes were caused by climate change, and 54 percent thought they were just random happenings. Almost half think climate change needs further study, whereas 41 percent think it requires immediate government action.

Perhaps the scariest figure is that 23 percent saw the hurricanes as "deliberate acts of God," though only 8 percent of those folks thought they were to punish sinners; the others saw them as "warnings" or "tests of faith." That's nearly a quarter of those interviewed, still operating within a framework of magical thinking.

If the near-half of American citizens who find global warming unbelievable would read articles like this one from yesterday's The Independent/UK, Melting Planet: Species are Dying Out Faster Than We Have Dared Recognize, Scientists Will Warn This Week, would they be any less contrarian and doubting? Can they bear the thought of living in a world, of bringing up children in a world, where climate change is threatening the survival of thousands of species?

The vast majority, scientists will warn this week, are migratory animals - sperm whales, polar bears, gazelles, garden birds and turtles - whose survival depends on the intricate web of habitats, food supplies and weather conditions which, for some species, can stretch for 6,500 miles. Every link of that chain is slowly but perceptibly altering.

To lose red knots and seals, turtles and penguins, dolphins and antelope, to imagine this fact: "The science magazine Nature predicted last year that up to 37 per cent of terrestrial species could become extinct by 2050," is for me a constant source of anguish. And to anyone who knows why they send canaries down into mines, it should be a tremendous warning. We two-leggeds are but one more species that will eventually become critically endangered as our liveable habitat disappears.

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