Peter M Howard ::

Pollution != Global Warming

07Oct2005 [myth]

Article in the Guardian on a new World Bank report, with the disturbing note: "Almost a fifth of all ill health in poor countries and millions of deaths can be attributed to environmental factors". Some worrying statistics in there, and the World Bank can hardly be labelled reactionary hippies...

But, (and it's a big BUT) the Guardian headlines this article "Climate change and pollution are killing millions"... Why can't we just do away with the "climate change" buzzword and focus on pollution?! The problem with the debate is that the media uses the buzzword "climate change" to refer to environmental problems caused by industrial pollution, when "climate change" should refer _specifically_ to Climate and Change. Fluctuations in temperature are _natural_, and it still hasn't been proven that there have been dramatic temperature changes since the Industrial Revolution. But then of course, people discard "climate change" as a bogeyman, and with it, ignore industrial pollution! Pollution _is_ causing serious problems, and if we don't change our practices, it _will_ get worse (the emergence of new and larger industrial nations before the current ones have solved the problem is very worrying). But we need to stop bandying buzzwords and scifi fantasies about and work on the here and now.

Source: Guardian Unlimited 6Oct2005

(Reminds me of my Day After Tomorrow conspiracy theory: that the makers deliberately came up with an _absurd_ telling of 'climate change' so that people would discount the whole environmental issue all at once; the film certainly makes the theory look pretty ridiculous)

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