By Ben CohenFor most of the people reading this post, climate change is something we hear about in the news and watch on tv. We are removed from the reality of it, because we don't really feel its effects. Asides from a bit of flooding and a hotter than average summer (or colder one for those in England), the devastating effects of global warming effect people we do not know.
Most of us also believe that climate change is something we can stop if we get our act together. But it looks like it is too late.
According to the U.N, the record number of floods, droughts and storms this year constitutes a 'Mega Disaster'.
"We are seeing the effects of climate change", said Sir John Holmes, the UN's under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs. "Any year can be a freak but the pattern looks pretty clear to be honest. That's why we're trying ... to say, of course you've got to deal with mitigation of emissions, but this is here and now, this is with us already".
Scary. It may now be time to completely rethink the way we live before we destroy our natural environment, and ourselves in the process. As environmental journalist George Monbiot said:
"We must work out how much it would cost to decarbonise its growing economy, and help to pay. We need a major diplomatic offensive - far more pressing than it has been so far - to persuade the United States to do what it did in 1941, and turn the economy around on a dime."
If we could do it then to fight the Germans, there is no reason we cannot do it now.END
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