Today, I’d like to deal with a topic of recent contention and debate, the claims of climate skeptics, who attempt to discredit the work of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), who have proven that climate change is happening and is human-induced. Let me begin by saying that skeptics who base their criticism on sound science and inference should be supported and that a scientific theory should never snowball to a point where no criticism can be leveled against it. But let us be realistic about what has occurred to date. That is, that the views of a few scientists who have found a couple of small errors in a 2500 page report, have been picked up by a few journalists and distorted. I recommend a website for those that are interested in these claims: http://www.realclimate.org/index.php/archives/2010/02/ipcc-errors-facts-and-spin/
For me, there is clearly no debate when we contemplate the following questions: Is the climate changing? Are people around the world suffering due to these climatic changes? Do we have the science to predict to an acceptable level of accuracy what the future has in store for us? Is the evidence solid enough to prove that humans have induced climate change? Do we know of ways to curb the effects and impacts? The answer to all these questions is a resounding YES! Those that live closest to the land would find denial atrocious. The evidence is there, the science supports it, it is not perfect, and it never will be. We are trying to predict what the weather will do 10, 50, 100 years into the future, when we battle to predict what will happen this afternoon. Conservative predictions from the IPCC on how the climate will change have been exceeded. How much longer will we continue to stall real action and who will be held accountable one day for these delays?
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Meggan Lewis is a climate change consultant working in the greater Durban area.