Our Responsibility As Humans

Survival is ingrained in each and every one of us. It is an instinct that we inherited from the very first form of life that came to be in our planet many billions of years ago. If the goal of life is to survive then we humans are very accomplished. We can manipulate and moderate whatever environment we find ourselves in to our needs. In just some thousands of years of working and sharing together as a species we have come up with amazing technologies up to where we can realistically contemplate colonising other planets. Factor in genetic engineering where we can tinker with nature even further and what is to come in the future is truly mind boggling.

Saying that we as a species have collectively become a force of nature is a sobering thought and it transfers upon us the heavy responsibility of deciding on the fate of other species. Thus far we have taken the power of nature to replenish herself for granted. We assumed that our planet was too big for us wee humans to cause any serious damage. However things started to change in the 70's when the first nature conservancy WWF for Nature took hold to save the biggest creatures on Earth, the whales and elephants from extinction. Save our Seas–one of WWF's initiative thought me a lot about the different types of whales in the sea and how vulnerable they were in spite of their size and strength when confronted with human technology.

Does it really matter if all the natural environments disappear and we are left with only animals and plants that are important to us for food and to keep as pets. We are heading toward this future. Perhaps a study of the how life evolved over billions of years on Earth and study of the various periods of mass extinction might impress upon us the size and scope of the responsibility of being the master of nature. I think it is easier and more fulfilling to be a steward of nature than lording over it.

2015 Trends as the Year of Ominous Weather Records

The state of global climate will make history in 2015... – WMO

The World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) has come out with a press release on its most current findings about the state of the global climate. It usually reserves its full report until data for an entire year has been collected however as fodder for the World Climate Summit in Paris next month it issued this most current report. I excerpt the most pertinent statements below. The full press release can be read here.

Temperatures have now risen 1 degree Celsius since pre-industrial times (1880-1899).

Levels of greenhouse gasses in the atmosphere reached new highs and in the Northern Hemisphere spring 2015 the three month average global concentration of CO2 crossed 400 ppm (parts per million) barrier for the first time.

The global average sea-surface temperature, which set a record last year, is likely to be met or beaten this year. 

The global air average temperature record has been "absolutely smashed in 2015." – Prof. Matthew England UNSW

This warming blows away the record breaking 1997-1998 El Nino by a massive 0.2 degrees Celsius.

These are significant changes for the climate system, with the likelihood that these are the warmest temperatures since the last ice age, and the highest levels of carbon dioxide in more than two-and-a-half-million years. 

The latest estimates of global sea level indicate that the global average sea level in the first half of 2015 was the highest since satellite observations became available in 1993.

Yemen suffered from unprecedented back to back cyclones in early November with Chapala becoming the first tropical cyclone to make landfall followed by Megh.

El Nino 2016 Should Inspire UNFCCC

I was drafting this article before the Paris terror attacks. Its always saddening to me when there is news like this. Whether it is terror by lonely narcissists or zealots inspired by religious madness or political megalomaniacs. Nevertheless it underscores just how dangerous taking our existence on this beautiful planet for granted. Human civilisation is precious and I hope that while not taking the Paris tragedy for granted the world forges ahead with serious strides toward combating climate change at the Paris Climate Summit (UNFCCC).

Environmentalism is now not only cool but a politically savvy philosophy. This year's climate change summit in Paris is going represent a major shift as national leaders jostle for a place to be the king of the podium as they state their unequivocal support for increased green technology. China and India are starting to change their chorus about their right to pollution that has been their drone for the past few decades. President Barack Obama has made climate change his no-holds-barred legacy stand. Hybrid if not electric car technology is set to become ubiquitous and the norm in the next 10 years. It seems we are heading the right direction to begin a serious effort to combat the cause of climate change. I am quite upbeat about all this change and I believe the 2020's is going to herald the era of sustainable development. It's not a moment too soon as the battering forces of El Nino 2016 exacerbates global climate.

Sumatran Rhino was officially declared extinct in Malaysia in 2015, less than 100 survive in Sumatra, a population that is unsustainable. 

Last month October 2016 saw millions of tons of carbon dioxide and other global warming gasses get released into the atmosphere as millions of acres of peat sink burn. Hurricane Koppu in the Philippines and Hurricane Patricia in the Pacific show just how much more devastating rain can become as the average sea temperature creep upward. As scientist mull the highly likely extinction of polar bears in the wild we have to come to terms that the beautiful and shy Sumatran Rhino is extinct because there simply isn't enough prestine rain forest inSouth East Asia to sustain even a small population. El Nino is also predicted to cause a mass tropical coral die-off. Coral cover has already reduced to 50% of its original cover pre world-industrialisation. Mass coral bleaching are sad events, so we have to brace ourself for the white death that will occur in the Pacific Ocean, most notably in Australia's Great Barrier Reef.

Lets hope the climate change summit this year does not get derailed by anti-terror rhetoric. We want to hear what global leaders are putting in place in their respective countries to stay average temperature rise from 2 degrees Celsius and not breach 400 ppm for carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. We are at the cusp of El Nino 2016 and extreme climate its causing should underscore the urgent need for serious macro measures to deal with the causes of climate change. It has to be as important if not more important the the fight against terror.