An Indicator of Madness

Warnings were issued in the UK over the last two days about the high level of pollution in the air. Those with heart and lung problems were cautioned to 'take extra care; don’t stay outside in it too long and don’t over-exert yourself. Those suffering with asthma might need to make more use of their inhaler' etc.
London’s air pollution is already above the World Health Organisation safety levels, and what is permitted by the European Union. This was compounded apparently by fine Saharan desert sand dust blown in our direction, along with what the prevailing wind picked up from other European cities. In short, we were dumped on.
Seriously, have you ever really thought about what global warming/climate change may mean for you at a personal level? It’s time to ask the question: what does the decimation and deterioration of the environment mean for me personally, here now, not 50 or 100 years Hence. And if you have thought about it, what can you personally do about it? Thats a question each one of us should ask and answer.
Apparently the tipping point for global climate change is arriving more rapidly than even climate scientists anticipated. At this point the uppermost concern should be how best to protect human life from the national disasters that are now occurring with such frequency.
As someone with an underlying health condition, I am surprised that the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is only now paying attention, and in a somewhat half-baked fashion, to the human health dimensions of global warming. This is a concern as urgent as food shortages and population displacement.
     A warming planet provides the conditions for new disease to proliferate, for which medical science can make no response at the current time; it also allows long defeated diseases to resurface.
          The most urgent question we face today is not will the planet survive, but how long do we have to continue denying and refusing to take responsibility for what we have created. Rather than trying to thwart something we cannot control, perhaps a better solution would be to simply shift our way of thinking, and work with the forces of change by re-engineering and restructuring the way we live away from ‘business as usual’.
        One indicator of madness is to keep repeating the same behaviour while expecting a different outcome.

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