Climate calamity
THESE are worrying times indeed. More worrying, I believe, than World War II. Humans have gone too far in upsetting the delicate balance of nature. Now we are facing its growing wrath.
Monday’s article (Climate smacks you in the face, Cape Argus, May 28) by Gwynne Dyer requires a change of awareness on our part.
It may very well be that global warming will precipitate an abrupt and extreme change in climate around the world. Frighteningly, once climate has change occurred, it will become the new norm. It will have a permanence about it. The consequences for human life will be disastrous.
Crime is exploding. The economy is still in the doldrums. Climate change is intensifying. We are moving to the tipping edge because of the failure of our politics. The drought we’ve been experiencing is only a foretaste of calamities still to come.
A visit to Monwabisi beach is revealing. The ocean is advancing. Sand is beginning to bury the infrastructure. Over in Strandfontein the sea eating away at the foundation of Fisherman’s Walk. It will soon be gone.
The most fearsome part, however, is that Baden Powell Drive may soon be under water.
In the council’s April meeting, I questioned mayor Patricia De Lille about creating new resorts along the False Bay which are integrated with residential developments to resemble Camps Bay, for example. She answered that these already existed at Monwabisi and Strandfontein.
De Lille, under your watch, the Monwabisi and Strandfontein resorts are already no more. Notwithstanding that these places have the largest tidal pools in Africa and could have enormous tourist appeal and economic benefit, they are being left to nature to devour. I have no argument with those who are focusing on unsustainable tariff increases or protesting to get land, but in the greater scheme of things all of these will be insignificant. The elephant in the room is climate change.
If Cope had the responsibility of politically managing the council, both the IDP and the budget would have substantially reflected the need to get proactive in respect of climate change.
All coastal areas of the world are affected. All are seeing the erosion of their beaches as the article on “Little Jamaica” or Costa Rica depicts.
We should act as though climate change had already intensified and our beaches were washing away. A stitch in time, as the adage goes, will save us nine. FAROUK CASSIM Milnerton