By Averthanus L. D’Souza
Mar. 09, 2007

A recent inter-governmental panel on climate change, which consisted of over a thousand scientists from all over the world, submitted its Report on “Climate Change 2007” which was formally approved at the 10th. Session of Working Group I of the IPCC in February 2007 in Paris. Although the final Report of the Inter-Governmental Panel is scheduled to be completed only by May, 2007, the Summary for Policymakers is already available.

The variations in the climate patterns of The Earth have natural causes. However, the recent changes in these climate patterns, according to this detailed and very carefully documented Study by the Inter-Governmental Panel, can be traced directly to human intervention – which is technically referred to as ‘anthropogenic’ interventions. According to the Report, “Warming of the climate system is unequivocal, as is now evident from observations of increase in global average air and ocean temperatures, widespread melting of snow and ice, and rising global average sea level.” The Report asserts that “The understanding of anthropogenic warming and cooling influences on climate has improved since the Third Assessment Report (TAR), leading to very high confidence that the globally averaged net effect of human activities since 1750 has been one of warming, with a radiative forcing of +1.6”

The Report further asserts that “Paleoclimate information supports the interpretation that the warmth of the last half century is unusual in at least the previous 1300 years. The last time the polar regions were significantly warmer than present for an extended period (about 125,000 years ago), reduction in polar ice volume led to 4 to 6 metres of sea level rise.”

There is a wealth of scientific information in this Report, some of which may not be intelligible to the average lay person, but the conclusion of the Study is incontrovertible. Unless all of us (and the Governments acting on our behalf) begin to take immediate corrective actions, the future for humanity on Planet Earth is going to be very uncomfortable indeed.

A close study of this Report of the Inter-Governmental Panel indicates that human beings have been systematically destroying the very environment which makes life possible on Earth. A scientific study (by its very nature) is not allowed to draw any ethical conclusions. It only determines the facts and predicts possible consequences. However, all human actions and human activities have social, economic and ecological consequences which are either conducive to human well-being or are detrimental to human welfare. This Report of the Inter-Governmental Panel on Climate Change deserves the attention not only of all the Governments in the world, but also of all local governments and all the citizens of the world. Local governments promote a lot of so-called “development” projects with a view to either earning more money, or to provide local employment, or to boost tourism. The problem with such an approach is that it has too narrow a perspective. It does not take into consideration the long-term impact of all these “development” projects. It does not study the social, cultural and anthropological effects of the economic decisions.

It is becoming increasingly clear that the economic decisions made by governments have social, cultural and ecological consequences. It follows, therefore, that such decisions made by governments MUST take into account ALL the consequences which might result from their decisions. What is true of the local level, is true, a fortiori, of the global level. The Inter-Governmental Panel on Climate Change indicates a clear causal connection between human decisions and the modifications which are occurring in climate.

To get somewhat of a perspective, let us recall that in April 1968 a group of thirty individuals from ten countries – scientists, educators, economists, humanists, industrialists, and national and international civil servants – gathered in the Accademia dei Lincei in Rome to discuss a subject of staggering scope – the present and future predicament of man. This group grew into The Club of Rome, which, eventually, published a Report which was titled “The Limits to Growth.” The study examined the five basic factors which determine, and therefore, ultimately limit, growth on this planet – population, agricultural production, natural resources, industrial production and pollution. Thereafter, in 1983 another Study was undertaken under the Chairmanship of Chancellor Willy Brandt to consider what was described as the “Common Crisis” The Brandt Commission strongly recommended international cooperation to overcome the Common Crisis. At about the same time, the Socialist International Committee on Economic Policy, chaired by Michael Manley studied the predicament facing humankind and came out with a Report called “Global Challenge” which was sub-titled “From Crisis to Cooperation: Breaking the North-South Stalemate”

In 1983 the General Assembly of the United Nations set up a World Commission on Environment and Development, and requested Gro Harlem Brundtland, Prime Minister of Norway to chair this Commission, to propose long-term environmental strategies for achieving sustainable development by the year 2000 and beyond. In her Report submitted in March 1987, Ms. Brundtland made very wide-ranging recommendations for ensuring that human progress will be sustained through development without bankrupting the resources of future generations. The Brundtland Report called “Our Common Future” serves notice that the time has come for a marriage of economy and ecology, so that governments and their people can take responsibility not just for environmental damage, but for the policies that cause the damage. Some of these policies threaten the survival of the human race.

As is evident, the landmark Studies of the Seventies and the Eighties concerned themselves with largely economic and political issues – the proper distribution of the world’s resources, the need for cooperation and the imperative for global planning of the use of the Earth’s limited resources.

Now, at the dawn of the Twenty-first Century, the world is becoming conscious that human activity –whether economic, political or social – also has an ecological consequence. The message is loud and clear: Humankind can no longer afford to shut its eyes on the global consequences of the policy decisions which are made by governments. It is not just a matter of sharing the natural resources of Mother Earth; it is a matter of preserving the very environment which makes it possible for Humankind to survive on this planet. If we continue to destroy the planet’s atmosphere at the rate at which we are now doing, it will not be long before we destroy humankind itself. We are in the face of a global crisis. The solution lies not just in economic, political or technological instruments, but, above all, in the moral and spiritual rejuvenation of humankind which should acknowledge its corporate responsibility for the state in which we find ourselves, and a resolution to pull back from the brink of disaster.

There is a reality known as Social Sin. This is as real as individual sin; and perhaps, of greater consequence. It is time that humanity recognize this reality and strive to re-arrange our personal and corporate lives to avoid the cataclysmic disaster which stares in the face. We might have (as we do have) ignorant politicians who are completely oblivious of the real issues confronting humankind, including their own citizens. It is up to us, citizens, to ensure that we elect only “educated” persons to govern us, who will formulate policies which are responsible and in conformity with Nature.

Averthanus L. D’Souza,
D-13, La Marvel Colony,
Dona Paula, Goa 403 004.