Print

 

In two thought provoking pieces in the latest issue of Village magazine John Gibbons, former Environment correspondent with the Irish Times, suggests we should begin to consider the unthinkable. The human race is dying and we need to prepare for it. Using the framework of the classic 'On Death and Dying' by Elisabth Kubler-Ross, Gibbons maps out varying responses that currently characterise our response to the harsh realities that may face us in a few short decades. One of the pieces is available on the Climate Science blog Think or Swim.

 

Recent news from the Arctic is not reassuring. In an article entitled "Dramatic increase in methane in the Arctic in January 2013" details are emerging of a significant increase during January of this year in the amount of Methane being released into the atmosphere above the Arctic. Methane is over a hundred times as powerful as CO2 as a global warming agent in its first two years. If there is even an outside chance that human life is coming to an end in the next few decades as a result of these dramatic changes in climate then it would make sense to address that possibility and discuss the implications across all our communities.