In the Independent Letters of August 25, Geoffrey Bond mentioned a comment made by Professor Tim Flannery. Prof. Flannery is quoted as saying “even if the whole world signs up, there will be no effect on the world’s climate for a thousand years”.
This seems to imply what is the point in taking action on climate change if nothing will happen for a thousand years anyway. I’m not suggesting Mr Bond is deliberately misrepresenting Prof. Flannery. The good Professor clarifies this statement by going on to say the carbon we are putting into the atmosphere today will not dissipate for a thousand years. But what we need to do is stop putting more and more carbon and other greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.
If we do not take any action, as Drusilla Megget says in the same “Your Letters” column, the earth’s mean temperature could rise by 6 degrees centigrade by the turn of the century. If this happens then life as we currently know it will change dramatically. The ramifications are well documented by the CSIRO and other reputable climate science bodies throughout the world. Of course we will all be dead, and this mess will be confronted by our grandchildren’s children and future generations.
Professor Flannery’s comments were similarly picked up by Mr Allan Jones of Radio 2GB, and misrepresented by reporting only part of what the Professor had to say on this same topic. Jones was shot down in flames and rightly so.
Fred South
