Climate mis-information

In depressing (but expected) news this week, it seems that it's highly unlikely we'll be able to constrain global warming to 1.5C, and that we're on a path of irreversible damage to the climate which may well lead to catastrophic failure of the climate and likely extinction of vast numbers of species including humanity. It may not happen in my lifetime, but I do worry for the future young people today.

I've been following the actions of climate protest groups in the UK. You will have likely seen the articles in the news about the Just Stop Oil protestors who've been attacking artwork with tins of tomato soup, or glueing themselves to roads, or splashing orange paint over the retail outlets of luxury brands. It's difficult to know what to think about these protests - whether they help or hinder the cause, but they're being subject to misinformation campaigns against them.

The Just Stop Oil protest is against the further approval of fossil fuel projects by the UK government. This makes total sense to me. We can't be digging ourselves further into the climate hole by extracting more fossil fuel from the ground. But the group is being misrepresented by people claiming that they want an end to all oil use. That is obviously (at the moment) an impossible goal to achieve (and one unlikely to be achieved by their current tactics).

People are being driven to desperation by the inaction or negative actions of governments, especially in the light of windfall profits made by fossil fuel companies, to the tune of about $3 billion dollars a day for the last 50 years. As they say - “follow the money” - that buys a lot of political power.

We certainly have the technical capability to vastly reduce our CO2 emissions but inertia by governments, lobbied by powerful interests to retain the status quo is hampering efforts. And, of course, disinformation campaigns keep ordinary people misinformed. I'm amazed by how many people are still in the category of denying the reality of climate change.