Are humans headed for the same fate as fabled frogs in hot water?
There is no denying that global greenhouse gases have climbed faster than ever since the Industrial Revolution or that global climate is warming. The facts are there for all to see.
Yet the issue is full of controversy. The complicated science encourages skeptics. Few of us are equipped with the education to fully understand the hows and whys of climate change and greenhouse gas emissions.
Envisioning a world made chaotic and nearly uninhabitable from climate change is difficult to accept for many people. Religious beliefs allow people who may accept climate change to avoid the notion as this change may be the end of the world as promised in Scriptures.
A future world of chaotic climate and unbearable heat is unthinkable, especially when the solution could likely involve a reduction in our comfortable lifestyle. Disputes over climate change focus on two issues.
Did the Industrial Revolution and subsequent progress in development of fossil fuels cause the increased temperature and greenhouse gas emissions?
Are the predictions of dangerous heat increases realistic or are the computer models in error?
The common responses vary, depending on an individual’s point of view, often their wealth, and the industry in which they work.
While young people around the world suffer from depression and mental illness at the constant barrage of climate change messages, most adults pay lip service to this issue.
In Canada, response to measures to alleviate climate change have met opposition based on the fact that Canadian emissions are tiny compared to the rest of the world. That argument ignores the fact Canada is one of the top five per capita emitters in the world.
Tackling the global climate change issue will take a worldwide effort – an effort that is unlikely to occur.
Market forces are the main instrument of change in most countries. One market force that could convince voters and governments to take the severe action needed has started to impact people.
The insurance industry has been impacted by what most observers describe as climate change.
In California, wildfires have caused 30 per cent to 70 per cent increases in insurance rates charged by reinsurance companies. The insurance companies dump some of the risk on reinsurance companies. Given the increasing incidences of more violent storms and fires the insurance industry has no choice but to increases premiums sharply.
The global market system needs relatively cheap insurance to continue operating efficiently.
Will some market force such as ever rising insurance premiums force action on climate change?
Or will humanity function like the fable about frogs?
According to this fable, a frog sitting in water will remain sitting even as new water poured in is hotter and hotter until the frog boils to death.
Actually, frogs aren’t that dumb. Humans? Well… ___________
The Oct. 9 Trading Thoughts about the TCA crash and TV application should have said the last TV broadcast in Moose Jaw was in 1979. The station controls were still in Moose Jaw until 1983.
Ron Walter can be reached at ronjoy@ sasktel.net
The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the position of this publication.
Ron Walter can be reached at ronjoy@ sasktel.net