As we worry about the environment and the human species’ effect on it, I find the debate is so easily derailed.
Yesterday, Raylene Ramsay talked with us in this show about the lack of sunscreen in Tuvalu, the Pacific Nation north of Fiji. Quoting from a Guardian story she repeated the old mantra that Tuvalu is sinking under the waves because of climate change. Tuvalu is often touted as the country most likely to disappear through sea level rise.
Well, that prompted a mad flurry of texts and emails from listeners claiming that was fake news used to promote the global conspiracy of human caused climate change.
Of course it is a fallacy. Firstly Tuvalu is not one island, it’s a collection of nine sparsely populated atolls. Being atolls they are barely above sea level, but they’re also dynamic evolving land masses. And the unfortunate fact is that they are growing because of organic accumulation.
A University of Auckland study examined changes in the geography of Tuvalu's nine atolls and 101 reef islands between 1971 and 2014, using aerial photographs and satellite imagery.
It found eight of the atolls and almost three-quarters of the islands actually grew during the study period, lifting Tuvalu's total land area by 2.9 percent, even though sea levels in the country rose at twice the global average. Tuvalu’s islands are growing faster than the sea is rising.
But the study does confirm that sea levels are rising. Which they are. Just not as much as the climate change activists would like.
The whole problem with the CO2 emission, Global Warming, Sea Rising Crisis is that most of us can see almost no real evidence of it with our own two eyes. Tuvalu is not sinking. If Wellington harbour was 10 centimetres higher than it was a generation ago I’m pretty sure we’d all be more freaked out than we are.
So, overnight we saw the most comprehensive report on the global state of biodiversity to date which found one million species are threatened with extinction. If comes from the UN which raises denier suspicion and people are cynical after the whole global warming shouting match. But once you get beyond the neat and tidy statements that were simplified for effect, it is a sobering document because you can actually see the changes it mentions with your own eyes.
It points out the rate of species extinctions is accelerating. Humans have significantly altered three-quarters of the land-based environment.  More than a third of the world's land surface and nearly three-quarters of freshwater resources are devoted to crop or livestock production. Our insatiable appetites are producing a mountain of waste. Plastic pollution has increased ten-fold since 1980.
Every year we dump 300-400 million tonnes of heavy metals, solvents, toxic sludge and other wastes into the waters of the world. It says this will have grave effects on us.
Let’s take the emotion out of it. Drive this country and see how we’ve altered it. We have created a new balance. If we pretend we haven’t then there’s trouble.
We are dirty polluting scavengers. Don’t worry about global warming and the seas rising. We’re already drowning in a sea of waste. If there’s a crisis it’s this one, not the fossil fuels. Sure ride a bike if you want, but for goodness sake, Be a Tidy Kiwi
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