Let me first say that I’m by no means a member of the environmental movement. I don’t spend a lot of time thinking about “green” issues and I take part in many activities that would probably shock the extreme environmentalist (for example, eating food that has been flown halfway around the world at great carbon cost). Having said all of this, neither am I one of the world’s great polluters or Jeremy Clarksons. For one thing, I don’t drive and I at least try to recycle as much as I possibly can.

The issue of climate change, or “global warming”, is surrounded with hyperbole, hysteria and histrionics. On one side you have the so-called “deniers”, who reject the conclusion that climate change is anthropogenic and say that it is just part of our planet’s natural cycle, and on the other side you have the eco-warriors, who fight day-in and day-out to save us from supposed doom. Neither side particularly appeals to me.

A large proportion of the “green” movement has taken on many of the characteristics of the apocalyptic cultists, with a belief that man is essentially evil, that the End Times are coming and that certain propitiations have to be made to save us. The practice of offsetting your carbon emissions can be compared with the sale of indulgences in the Catholic Church that so offended Martin Luther when he initiated the Protestant Reformation. And too much of the “denial” camp seems to be solely concerned with self-interest and a desire to maintain the status quo.

Personally, I would place myself in-between these two warring factions. Not being a scientist myself, I cannot competently question the veracity of the scientific community’s conclusions that climate change is indeed man-made. But whatever the truth is, I firmly believe that prudence is the best course of action. Make that the only course of action.

Much like Blaise Pascal’s Wager (in which he says that even though the existence of God cannot be determined through reason, a person should wager as though God exists, because living life accordingly has everything to gain and nothing to lose*), I believe we should assume that climate change is our responsibility and that there’s something we can do about it.

*Not to undermine my point but, when it comes to God, I believe he/she/it would prefer honesty.

If we reject the idea that climate change is mankind’s fault and deny responsibility, we may find ourselves in very grave circumstances indeed if this proves to be an incorrect belief. However, if we assume that climate change is our responsibility, and live our lives according to this belief, then we have nothing to lose. If our influence on climate change is non-existent, we would have at least succeeded in recycling a little bit more and polluting the world a little bit less. And if we are proven right – well, we would have saved the world.

Put simply, the risks of not doing something about climate change far outweigh the risks of doing something about it.

This video made by Greg Craven explains this reasoning in far more detail.

The second point to make is that this is not our planet to spoil. We share this planet with an extraordinary abundance of animal and plant life – life that would suffer too if our actions are as damaging as many scientists say they are.

Whether you think I am shamefully hedging my bets or not, the risk of damaging our planet irreparably is too important to ignore and is an issue on which none of us can remain neutral.

You can read this blog post here: Betting on a Change

Author: Dominic Stapleton
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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