A Whisper Becomes a Shout
EXCEPT for a few activists publicity about the environment, global warming and climate change for many years was a whisper in most people’s hearing, not listened to but we were aware it was there amongst the background aural clutter.
Back in the 70s people were becoming evermore environmentally aware, but apart from worries for our own health through breathing in the smog in the major cities, we were little worried about the future. Suddenly concerns about pollution and its longer term affects grew.
Rain forest depletion came to the fore, receding ice-caps and glaciers began to get our attention, but little else happened for the majority.
In Europe the environmental movement began to get a head of steam with revelations about holes in the Ozone layer and the affects of CFCs. In the States the concerns were still on the fringe of main stream society, regarded as treehuggers and hippies!
The development of evidence of global warming, evolving in to the broader climate change concerns, despite efforts of some to treat it with disdain started to come to the fore further afield than Europe.
In Asia more and more delicate environments began to suffer the consequences of climate change with rising sea levels and extreme weather - still most of the major Asian states seemed to ignore the problem - we have seen this week how China want to raise awareness of energy efficiency and climate change.
I remember talking to Enigin Distributor’s from Malaysia about a year ago and they stated then that climate change was just being heard about in their country - previously it was unknown to most of the populace, although many coastal Malaysian inhabitants were suffering.
Now news is released regularly on how Malaysia, and most other Asian states, is not only raising awareness but taking serious measures to combat harmful emissions through energy efficiency.
China, so much the center of concerns over combating climate change, is very much leading the way by taking serious action and upping the ante as far as energy efficiency measures are concerned, they still have a lot to do, but at least they are doing it. India, too, has recently been prominent in making great strides in combating climate change.
The only place where the issue of climate change remained very much on the debating table as to whether something should be done was in the most advanced country of the world, the United States.
In the past decade they certainly had major figures fighting for action, which elsewhere would have swung the balance for most people, but it very much became a political hot potato and that has held up the progress they could have made.
Fortunately under the latest administration great strides have been taken and above all there is great optimism as America’s young seem to be far more aware of what is happening to their environment, and their futures and are keen to act.
The recent proposal in the American Power act has had to be watered down but events happent hat can begin to produce a sea change - in this case it happened at sea, or rather under it.
The BP oil well leak in the Gulf of Mexico has added to President Barak Obama’s wish to evolve the State’s energy environment - it has focused the consciousness of Americans, it has obliquely made people think about energy use and their reliance on fossil fuels.
The environmental impact in the Gulf of Mexico will be great, it is real and it is on the U.S.’s news channels everyday and strangely I hope this will allow main street America to start to consider energy efficiency seriously and as something that has to be acted upon, then indirectly reducing CO2 emissions and combating climate change.
Hence, through fossil fuels a major environmental disaster has struck not only wildlife but the lives of potentially hundreds of thousands of people, mirroring in miniature the results of climate change. Although a disaster through the effects of the oil spill the whisper is turning into a louder, more strident voice around the globe, notably in the U.S.
Here at Enigin we have been shouting for awhile, adding our voice to a growing chorus globally. We are delighted to see evermore concern for the future of the planet and wish to see energy saving become a greater concern for all governments.