Foolhardy to deny global warning

COUNTRIES around the globe marked World Environment Day yesterday but, in truth, there was little to celebrate.

US President Donald Trump’s decision to abandon the Paris climate accord last week has left not only the environmentalists reeling.

Millions of citizens around the world, including those experiencing the impact of climate change first hand, find themselves equally dumbfounded.

Trump has previously said he believes global warming to be a hoax.

Despite overwhelming scientific evidence to the contrary, the hoax stand is unfortunately one that those with huge interests in the fossil fuel industry are mostly just as happy to perpetuate.

But to deny climate change in 2017 is nothing short of lunacy.

The polar ice caps and glaciers are melting, sea levels are rising, record temperatures are being observed, storms are worsening and crippling droughts are increasingly followed by catastrophic floods.

We’ve seen some of these effects ourselves here in South Africa. Such phenomena are very well documented and today most researchers agree global warming is real and greatly aggravated by human activity.

Life will eventually become unbearable and it is up to every nation, no matter how big or small, to educate its citizens without delay and find ways to become part of the solution. The biggest polluters have the most to answer for and that is why the Paris accord of 2015, though far from perfect, was such a breakthrough.

The fact that the dangers are now being repudiated by the so-called leader of the free world – who also happens to head the country responsible for the second highest emission of greenhouse gases globally – means we have much to fear.

South Africa is considered decades behind the US and is still heavily reliant on fossil fuels. But if we can acknowledge global warming and at least take some steps to lower greenhouse gas emissions – for instance by exploring renewable wind and solar energy as we have been doing in recent years – then the US should hang its head in shame.

No country or agreement can single-handedly solve the climate crisis and continued, committed international cooperation is vital.

The future of the planet is literally at stake.