Today, over 8000 blogs in 140 countries are taking part in Blog Action Day 2009 raising awareness and challenging people to act on climate change. This is my little part.
To be living in the year 2050 isn’t science fiction. In fact, it’s more than likely that anyone reading this now still be alive to see it. Our children certainly will.
But forget monorails, living on the moon and personal spaceships, the way we are going 2050 wont be utopian dream but a dystopian nightmare, as by 2050 there will be over 500,000 deaths a year attributed to climate change, 120 million people starving to death and 25 million refugees looking for a home.
By 2050, a large percentage of our planet will have become hazardous to live on.
And there will be no space ships to rescue us either. Living on the moon just won’t be economically feasible; think we are in a recession now? Just a 1 degree rise in temperature would cut world gross domestic product by 1% and the worst case scenario of temperatures rising by up to 7 degrees means that some small economies – let alone being flooded out, would be totally wiped out of existance.
Still think this doesn’t affect you? Our current recession has been brought on by a 0.5% loss in our gross domestic product. Try getting a job when we have lost 4%. That’s what might happen if there is just a 1 degree rise in average temperature.
This isn’t science fiction; this isn’t Baxter, Clarke or Wells. This is science fact.
But this doesn’t have to be our future; luckily this could all still be science fiction yet to be written. If we start now, we are still able to stop climate change happening. Today the concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere stands at 430 parts per million. To stop climate change impacting upon us in such a devastating way we need to keep this below 500 parts per million.
Today that should cost the government about 1% of our GDP. To put this in context, we annually spend 18% of our GDP on health care and 15% on welfare. Imagine the costs of health and welfare in the future if we don’t. In this context 1% is not much for our future.
Every day we wait, every day that politicians spend arguing in Copenhagen next month on delivering a solution to climate change, the more it will cost us. Not the governments, us. 1% right now might equal about £14bn, but next year it is predicted that this we will need to spend 2%, then 4% and at some point soon we wont be able to afford to stop the dystopian future from happening.
I for one prefer reading about it, not living in it.
So please take action:
Sign the Tck Tck Tck campaign’s “I am ready” pledge supporting an ambitious, fair and binding climate agreement in Copenhagen this Autumn.
Register for the 350.org International Day of Climate Action October 24
Join the UK Government’s “Act on Copenhagen” effort to promote a global deal on climate change
Kx
P.S you can also check out some of my favourite blogs have also given their tuppence worth too..
LizSara of If Music Be who points out that if climate change happens there will be NO MORE WINE. arghhh.
Paul at Blog on the Motorway writes a letter to his daughter
SoMi who posts 10 scary things about climate change and 12 steps she cant take…
The Solitary Panda talks about Buying Local
Crazy Brit Heaven talks about finding out more about climate change and what can be done about it
… go on, check them out!
(If you have also blogged about this please let me know!)
This has officially been a pretty shit start to the week.
So…last night, 12pm, i was all ready to crawl into bed after a night of uni work.
But, lifting up my duvet cover I was faced with a disgusting sight… there was literally shite everywhere.
Yes, the cats, the little bastard shite bags had decided over night (I was staying at the boy’s place, don’t judge me for leaving them on my own… they were well fed with tuna before I left and the next morning) that my bed was the best place for their new litter tray.
(retribution? I wonder…)
I obviously screamed the place down in horror, but shout at them I could not, the little shits have too short a memory to realise they had done anything wrong.
Yes, it was a lot of shit, a lot of yelling shit and a lot of scowling at the shits.
And pee.
Oh god the pee!
It was worse than the shit.
(yes i’m puking in my mouth just thinking about it)
(i guess i’m also making you puke too, not quite what you expect when you come to visit…)
So today, £50 later, I have a lovely new set of Egyptian cotton sheets (ok, its percale, but i wasn’t going to risking ruining the beautiful White Company ones i did have my eye on) and a seriously clean mattress so if the bastard shites come anywhere near my bed tonight…
Well, i wont tell you what ill do, but they certainly wont be getting any more tuna.
You got to love them….huh?
Don’t you?
Little shits.
Kx
P.s… last year i wrote this post – so i am just carrying on on a disgusting tradition…!
P.p.s… Its Daddy Smidge’s 65th birthday tomorrow – he officially becomes an OAP. I hope he likes his card with his money to buy his first OAP pint and nip! Happy Birthday Daddy Smidge (he who gave me my nickname btw!)
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P.p.s This thursday i am taking part in Blog Action Day 2009 – over 6000 bloggers in over 130 countries will be blogging to make a difference and raise awareness of Climate Change.
Come back on thursday to join in the debate… Oh and let me know if you have joined up (just click on the badge) so i can link to you…
This might be the fluffiest post i ever written and in the most part it’s strictly for girls. Although it might actually give my few male readers an insight to exactly how crazy women are.
I have a confession to make – I love my new handbag. In fact, to be more specific, i love my new handbag because it’s big.
There must be some kind of metaphorical or literal reference i can make here to justify waxing lyrical about a big handbag (and by the end of this post ill have thought of one) But, right now, in all honestly, i just like the fact i can get my umbrella, water, notebook, scarf, huge phone, fags, uni map (i keep getting lost), pretty much my entire make up bag, a hair brush, fruit, occasionally a bottle of wine, the kitten if she’d let me and a pair of flat shoes in there without any problem whatsoever apart from a little shoulder ache.
I’ve never been a handbag type of girl. I only had a handbag because i had to have somewhere to out my stuff (basically – my phone, purse, fags, passport, keys and that is it, I would put all in my pockets like a bloke if i could). But, for some reason i now need all this stuff. There was a time when i put a little mascara on in the morning and forgot about it. Now i know it needs a touch up. There was a time i brushed my hair once a day, never wore 4 inch heals, worried about an umbrella (i had a hood), or cared about fruit and water. But i care about all these things now.
And therefore i need a nice bad. A nice big bag.
I really don’t know how this happened. Plus today, to match the big beautiful brown leather bag i wore full make up, heals, skinny jeans, a floaty ghost top and my smart coat – to university!
What the hell has happened to me? Have i been possessed by a proper girl? And who can i blame? And can i be exorcised?
Kxx