By John Klein (aka Saskboy)
I find the current political and media climate in Canada to be insufferably stupid. Despite there being excellent, professional journalists everywhere, there are many more time/space fillers who skew the public’s perception of what is going on and what really matters. One thing the media has been terrible at is keeping the public’s focus on a threat to Canadian civilization greater than terrorism or even drunk drivers (drunks kill more Canadians each year than Jihadists or the fabled “eco-terrorist”). That threat is climate change.
If you recall last year, the airwaves were buzzing with the ridiculous prediction from a man named Harold Camping, that the world was set to end with a cataclysmic singular event wrought by God. Anyone reading these words knows that Camping is a fraud, yet he was given plenty of air time before and after his unfounded claim.
If you recall August 2005, (who doesn’t remember details from 7 years ago, right?), the journal Nature published a letter from Kerry Emanuel, that explained how tropical cyclone damage was on a trend to claim more lives and property due in part to climate change. As recently as this year, Emanuel was part of a team of scientists who predicted increased damage to coastal cities. New York City was explicitly mentioned as “highly vulnerable.”
Let us review using photos.
Predicted this:
(Courtesy MTA-Photos)
Clearly Emanuel has credibility, while Camping has none. Emanuel’s skill can guide our civilization to prepare for preventable threats to our existence. Camping’s skill is to convince people that threats are not preventable, and hope should be placed where he directs it. Who will the media and elected politicians give their attention to in the near and distant future? They can continue to give crackpots the attention they crave and need for their money gathering, or they can start planning for the future by using science and vindicated models. It’s only civilization at stake.