Sunday November 2, 2008
Politicians fiddle while the planet burns
Two elections dominate current media coverage. On November 15, BC holds municipal elections; on November 4, Americans elect their next administration.
Municipal elections won\’t rock the world\’s boat. The American election might. If McCain and Palin reach the White House, the rest of the world might have to start believing that the world is flat.
I thought of writing this column about John McCain and Sarah Palin. But Guardian columnist George Monbiot already wrote a far more vitriolic assessment of them (http://www.countercurrents.org/monbiot291008.htm=\”#000000\”>) than I could offer.
What\’s a columnist?
What\’s a columnist for, anyway? A columnist is not a reporter, offering fact. A columnist offers opinions. A columnist does with words what an editorial cartoonist does with pictures — present a perspective that resonates with selected readers.
I struggle with that question every week as I labour over another column. I ask it again whenever readers inform me that I\’ve omitted some crucial angle, got my facts wrong, missed the point, or simply don\’t understand the situation.
In truth, I am not an expert on the subjects that I write about. I can\’t possibly be an authority on everything from Asian history to nuclear physics to military strategy. Perhaps Gwynne Dyer can, but I can\’t.
I do research, of course. I have several shelves of reference books, and Internet search engines make information available at the click of a mouse.
Sometimes I think the point of being a columnist is NOT to be an expert on anything. I don\’t approach most subjects with preconceived opinions. I read; I get impressions; I search around to see if those impressions have any validity. Sometimes they do. Other times, previously unknown information forces me to change my ideas.
Derive carefully
Occasionally, when I step on toes, I get told that I should limit myself to writing on subjects I know something about.
Writing only about subjects for which I have professional expertise would limit me to words and their use. I\’m passionate about words. But when I start sounding off about the functions of a semi-colon, why subjunctive verbs require the past tense, or the abuse of humble personal pronouns, even close friends tend to roll their eyes and change the subject.
So I try to use my skills to articulate ideas that others might not have managed to put together yet.
I am not an original thinker. I may never have had a truly original thought. My inspiration comes from other people, other writers, other thinkers. Their input sloshes around in my brain until it latches onto some other random bit of trivia and starts to form a pattern. Those two connected notions search for company. And the seed of a column germinates…
I\’m fortunate if I have had personal experience with the subject. Since 1968, when I first started travelling as a journalist, I\’ve visited somewhere over 60 countries, and all ten provinces of Canada plus the Yukon territory.
I can\’t claim to be an authority on any of them. But I can recognize when the research confirms my experience. Or conflicts with it. Because that means that one of us has not thought things through thoroughly enough.
Overlooked factors
So I look for factors that other writers overlook or ignore. I look particularly for ideologies that others take for granted — the presumption that progress is inevitable, for example. That profit is the only human motivation. Or that religion should be a purely private matter.
So naturally I get upset during these days when I hear electoral candidates — both local and presidential — talking almost exclusively about jobs, taxes, and economics.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper introduced his new cabinet — and talked about jobs, taxes, and economics.
If the planet succumbs to runaway global warming, as looks increasingly possible, there will be no jobs, no taxes, no stock market. Yet I\’ve heard scarcely a word about the greatest single crisis facing the planet.
David Spratt, co-author with Philip Sutton of the book Climate Code Red, says flatly, “No more business as usual — this is an emergency!”
He cites arctic melting rates running “one hundred years ahead of schedule… The danger is that an ice-free state in the Arctic summer will kick the climate system into run-on warming… The Arctic sea-ice is the first domino and it is falling fast. Other dominos will inevitably fall…”
“It is no longer a matter of how much more we can heat the planet, but how quickly can we cool it.”
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If you want to order my books, you can call 1-800-663-2775 in Canada, 1-800-328-0200 in the U.S., or order them on-line at the Wood Lake Books website.
For a lighter look at ethics, faith, and life, I recommend Ralph Milton\’s weekly e-newsletter Rumors. You can subscribe to it at the Wood Lake Books home page in Ralph Milton\’s Site, or by sending a note directly to ralphmilton@woodlake.com.
It\’s also worth pursuing Charlene Fairchild\’s United Online site. Another site worth visiting is David Keating\’s \”SeemslikeGod\” page.
Naysayers will no doubt quote Bjorn Lomberg, the Danish professor of political science at Copenhagen\’s Business School who has created a profitable career for himself as a professional environmental sceptic.
I consider global warming long past intellectual debate. Climate change has already exceeded the forecasts of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), issued just a year ago. The IPCC has no axe to grind. It does not have to defend its own research; it bases its assessments on peer-reviewed and published scientific literature.
“Most of the public policy debate on climate is delusional,” Spratt fumes. It\’s based on “a fixed, false belief, resistant to reason or confrontation with actual fact.”
If the planet goes, so do we.
As a columnist, I much prefer being right to being wrong.
But on this issue, I sincerely hope that coming years will prove me wrong.
If I\’m wrong, I\’ll be very happy. So will my grandchildren. Because that means they will have a future.
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Copyright © 2007 by Jim Taylor. Non-profit use in congregations and study groups permitted; all other rights reserved.
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