BODHI AUSTRALIA
  • About
    • Our People >
      • The Dalai Lama: our patron
      • Our Advisors >
        • Shelley Anderson
        • Solomon Benatar
        • Senator Bob Brown
        • Sister Mila de Gimeno
        • Prof John Guillebaud
        • Dh Lokamitra
        • Prof Chris Queen
        • Prof David Rapport
        • Sulak Sivaraksa
    • Latest news!
    • Our Finances
    • President's report
    • From the Medical Director's Desk
    • Media
  • Projects
    • Nishtha
    • Aryaloka Computer Education >
      • Update April 2024
      • Covid in Nagpur update: November 2021
    • Past projects - complete >
      • Bahujan Hitay, Pune, India >
        • Karunadeepa
      • Moanoghar, Bangladesh >
        • Moanoghar student support
      • Denis Wright Scholarships, Bangladesh
      • Barefoot teachers
      • SNEHA schools Arunachal Pradesh, India
  • How to help
    • Supporters, partners, helpers
    • Bequests
    • Shopping
    • Posters
    • Other ways to help
  • Meetings, reports, newsletters, more!
    • Meetings and Reports >
      • 2025
      • From the past >
        • 2024
        • 2023
        • 2022
        • 2021
        • 2020
        • 2019
        • 2018
        • 2017
        • 2016
        • 2015
      • Constitution
      • For committee >
        • Register of Members
        • References
      • partner details >
        • Aryaloka_reports
    • Editorials >
      • Rwanda
    • Newsletter (latest) >
      • BT61 supplement
    • Newsletters (recent)
    • BODHI Times (newsletter archive)
    • Blog
    • Justice >
      • Caste
    • Climate change
    • Nature
  • Remembering
    • Roshi Robert Aitken
    • Dr Ambedkar: an inspiration
    • Eric Avebury
    • Vanya Kewley
    • Dr Maurice King
    • Halfdan Mahler
    • Abdus Salam
    • Frank Schofield
    • Susan Woldenberg Butler
    • Denis Wright
    • BODHI's history
    • Old websites
    • Archives
  • Contact us
  • About
    • Our People >
      • The Dalai Lama: our patron
      • Our Advisors >
        • Shelley Anderson
        • Solomon Benatar
        • Senator Bob Brown
        • Sister Mila de Gimeno
        • Prof John Guillebaud
        • Dh Lokamitra
        • Prof Chris Queen
        • Prof David Rapport
        • Sulak Sivaraksa
    • Latest news!
    • Our Finances
    • President's report
    • From the Medical Director's Desk
    • Media
  • Projects
    • Nishtha
    • Aryaloka Computer Education >
      • Update April 2024
      • Covid in Nagpur update: November 2021
    • Past projects - complete >
      • Bahujan Hitay, Pune, India >
        • Karunadeepa
      • Moanoghar, Bangladesh >
        • Moanoghar student support
      • Denis Wright Scholarships, Bangladesh
      • Barefoot teachers
      • SNEHA schools Arunachal Pradesh, India
  • How to help
    • Supporters, partners, helpers
    • Bequests
    • Shopping
    • Posters
    • Other ways to help
  • Meetings, reports, newsletters, more!
    • Meetings and Reports >
      • 2025
      • From the past >
        • 2024
        • 2023
        • 2022
        • 2021
        • 2020
        • 2019
        • 2018
        • 2017
        • 2016
        • 2015
      • Constitution
      • For committee >
        • Register of Members
        • References
      • partner details >
        • Aryaloka_reports
    • Editorials >
      • Rwanda
    • Newsletter (latest) >
      • BT61 supplement
    • Newsletters (recent)
    • BODHI Times (newsletter archive)
    • Blog
    • Justice >
      • Caste
    • Climate change
    • Nature
  • Remembering
    • Roshi Robert Aitken
    • Dr Ambedkar: an inspiration
    • Eric Avebury
    • Vanya Kewley
    • Dr Maurice King
    • Halfdan Mahler
    • Abdus Salam
    • Frank Schofield
    • Susan Woldenberg Butler
    • Denis Wright
    • BODHI's history
    • Old websites
    • Archives
  • Contact us

Blog

‘Sleep walking into catastrophe’

25/4/2016

1 Comment

 
I'm quoted in the New Daily in an article called "Hot March breaks temperature records"
University of Canberra’s Professor Colin Butler, a researcher on the social impact of climate change, said he was dismayed by the stream of broken temperature records, as he had tried and failed to warn of the problem for 25 years.

“It’s accelerating faster than most conservative scientists expected,” Prof Butler told The New Daily.

“I’ve almost given up. What can you do?”

The expert predicted global “social collapse” through war, sea level rise and population displacement within 50 years if the problem persisted. He pointed to the Syrian civil war and mass migration in western Africa as examples of this potentially climate-caused conflict.

“If we keep going the way we’re going, I don’t know if we’re going to have civilisation in 50 years,” Prof Butler said.

“I don’t think there’s any point keeping my thoughts to myself or burying them in journal articles.”
---------
I would modify this mainly to say: the Syrian civil war and mass migration in western Africa are examples of this climate-aggravated effects. This is not an example of so called environmental determinism.

In 2014 I became the first Australian contributor to the IPCC to be arrested over the issue of climate change; even that has had little effect. Mainstream media largely ignored it.
 
The late Frank Fenner, also shared these concerns. His work was so well-known that Tony Abbott knew his name. When Frank did speak like this he was sometimes dismissed as being senile.

Prof Andy Pitman, director of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Climate System Science. at UNSW is quoted in the same article as saying "world governments must react as if the planet was being invaded to prevent further harm.",
1 Comment
John Allan
2/5/2016 06:15:07

Unfortunately A D Hope's line "If from deserts prophets come." now has to be amended to "Its of deserts that prophets have come." Cracking the armor of Cognitive Dissonance is a real problem. The magnitude of the problem brings the behaviour of Cult followers to mind. The believers go up the mountain to await the prophesied appearance of their deity or some rapture at the end of the world.

The time for the fulfilment of the prophesy passes. Instead of seeing the leader as a false prophet many will increase the fervour of there belief because they cannot stand the discomfort of the cognitive dissonance. Saying; Its our fault the lord didn't come, our faith was not strong enough, we need to believe more fervently.

We see exactly the same processes at work in the desperate last hurrahs for the Adani Coal mine in Qld. And the nonsensical beyond belief mantra of Abbott that 'Coal is good for humanity." The cultic adherence to 'trickle down economics' is another symptom of this when all the evidence is that right wing inspired economics 'trickles up' wealth to increasingly fewer people who export the 'idea' not the cash of the wealth to offshore tax havens. This predatory form of capitalism linked to militarism is the main driver of climate change. It is a religion and when its sacred sites were launched into cyberspace about 20 years ago the 'divine' 'Wall street", 'Hang Sen' , 'Dow' etc. are now every where and never sleep. Climate change from our air pollution is the MAIN refutation of the cultic belief in 'Growth' and the 'Goodness of the Market' so of course the notion of climate change has had to be resisted with fervour as it questions wealth as the highest good. Its just another form of extremism which has taken a useful tool like buying and selling stuff and turned it into the slayer of worlds through the 'simple' idea that their are no limits. Well death was always their as the limit, we are not immortal and now the machinations of stupid politicians and rapacious Corporate Man have pissed off the Lord of Death big time and he is sharpening the reaping hook and is already taking a few practice swipes. What a tragedy already unfolding. I hope some more rear guard actions are mobilised to mitigate some effects and suffering as clearly we have lost the high ground through inaction. But action is still possible,

Reply

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    Author

    Colin Butler

    Archives

    January 2019
    December 2017
    September 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    August 2015

    Categories

    All