While politicians question the reality of climate change, farmers and businesses act - Sensationalist Headlines

[quote=ABC News]David Bruer has been growing vines and making wine at his Temple Bruer vineyard in the Mount Lofty Ranges in South Australia since 1978. In his vineyard laboratory, weather records for every vintage for nearly 40 years are stacked in plastic folders. They clearly show a steady increase in maximum temperatures over that time of about 1 degree. It might seem like a relatively small change but the impact has been dramatic. Harvested fruit is turning up hotter. The sugar levels are higher and the vintage now has to be picked earlier. "Thirty-four years ago we used to pick in the middle of March," he said. "We're now picking in the middle of February." [b]Graziers, fruit growers on the front line of change[/b] The world is getting warmer and from the farm gate to the boardroom Australian businesses are no longer waiting for the politicians to decide if climate change is real. They're acting now. ... [b]Corporate Australia has been warned[/b] It's a shift being seen in boardrooms around the country. Corporate Australia has been warned. The changing climate is something they can no longer ignore. Last November, Geoff Summerhayes, an executive member of the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA), told businesses climate change posed a material risk to the entire financial system. His message was that boards and directors had a fiduciary duty to their shareholders to take it into account. He cited legal opinion that found company directors who failed to consider and disclose climate risk could be in breach of the Corporations Act. "Climate change and society's responses to it are starting to affect the global economy," he said. "Institutions that fail to adequately plan for this transition put their own futures in jeopardy, with subsequent consequences for their account holders, members or policy holders." That's a view that's now been backed by Reserve Bank governor Philip Lowe. On February 16, he told a sitting of the Federal Parliament's economics committee that the Council of Financial Regulators - a body he chairs - had established a working group to look at issues about disclosure.[/quote] Read the rest of the article at [url]http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-03-05/farmers-and-businesses-take-action-on-climate-change/9502320[/url]

Blows my mind that people will still say climate change is not real.

The week prior,here where I live,it has snowed so much that the last time it snowed like this was ten years ago.Then the day after the sun and its' warmth melted everything.Then the day after it snowed again,followed by a few days of heavy rain.Now today it is so hot that people are wearing short sleeved shirts out side. In a few months it's gonna be 40 degrees Celsius again. I have no idea what the fuck is happening with the weather,but I am sure as all hell that politicians who deny climate change and global warming are all liars that need to be put in jail.

Interesting how buisnesses are slowly starting to act to counter act global warming... mostly driven by a desire to secure profits, I imagine. I recommend people skim through the "Stern report", which encouraged this sort of behavior. It is quite an interesting read. It was published in 2006 and is notable because it is the first major report that outlines the economic consequences of global warming, as evaluated by some of the worlds best economists; that is to say, this report doesn't really "care" about extreme weather, extinction rates and all that nasty stuff... just what it means for the bottom line of the world economy. The conclusion? To summarize, the report points out that the consequences of global warming will eventually have to be dealt with, and if we act quickly, it will cost about 1% of the global GDP (in 2006, mind)... yes, the entire world collected GDP. But if we wait until we HAVE to deal with it? Until we have no choice but to evacuate coastal cities, until we lose important infrastructure to weather change, and so on? It will cost about 20% of global GDP! 20% of the entire worlds collected wealth! Interesting times are ahead, that much is certain...

[QUOTE=MR-X;53178188]Blows my mind that people will still say climate change is not real.[/QUOTE] Their ability to bullshit about it is equally impressive. "It doesn't exist." "It exists, but it's natural. Humans have no control over it." "It exists, but it's not a bad thing. There's positive sides to it too." Etc. You don't need to have a PhD in climatology or anything really to understand the simple fact that it's impossible to have 7,400,000,000+ people living out their complex lives (operating industries, consuming natural resources, generating waste, etc.) on this planet and not see any consequences as a result of this. We influence the environment in extreme ways, it's that simple.

I've gotten in fights with my partner's mom because she's convinced this clearly unnatural weather is part of the "natural warm-up/cooldown cycle" the earth goes through over thousands of years :s:

Oh man I am absolutely loving this bizarre weather. It was snowing a few days ago, then it was sunny and hot like the middle of spring, and then this morning absolutely everything is frozen over worse than it was even in the middle of the winter; but now that the day has worn on, it's hot as balls. Again. And also raining. While hot as balls. In the first week of March. NOTHING OUT OF THE ORDINARY HERE, FOLKS

[QUOTE=LZTYBRN;53178927]I've gotten in fights with my partner's mom because she's convinced this clearly unnatural weather is part of the "natural warm-up/cooldown cycle" the earth goes through over thousands of years :s:[/QUOTE] That's the most common excuse deniers use since it's partially true except they're completely ignoring the fact that we are speeding up the process to dangerous levels, we are seeing changes scientists predicted should only happen 50 years, if not more, from now in Earth's natural cycle. Besides it's a really dumb fucking way to reason it too, even if it was completely natural, the fact is we have the ability to do something about it, "it's totally normal" is not a fucking excuse to let bad shit happen when we have the power to deal with it. "Oh diseases are totally normal, they're part of the natural cycle, let's not create vaccines."

The most common argument is indeed just "It happens on its own!" Just because something may happen on its own doesn't mean we shouldn't do something about it. Tornadoes are natural. Hurricanes are natural. Earthquakes are natural. Should we not build our cities and houses to be more resistant to being destroyed? Extremely hot and cold weather is also natural. Should we ditch air conditioning and heating systems?

[QUOTE=MR-X;53178188]Blows my mind that people will still say climate change is not real.[/QUOTE] B-but it's snowing when its not supposed to!!!! How is it global WARMING if its so cold?????? [sp]no matter how hard you try, someone who ironically says that can not be convinced otherwise. trust me, I've tried[/sp]

[QUOTE=MR-X;53178188]Blows my mind that people will still say climate change is not real.[/QUOTE] Ofc they will. Money is on the line for them. They don't give a shit.

[QUOTE=ShimTaco;53179466]B-but it's snowing when its not supposed to!!!! How is it global WARMING if its so cold?????? [sp]no matter how hard you try, someone who ironically says that can not be convinced otherwise. trust me, I've tried[/sp][/QUOTE] I just ate a sandwich, thus global hunger can't exist.

[QUOTE=MR-X;53178188]Blows my mind that people will still say climate change is not real.[/QUOTE] try to live with a spiteful right wingnut. He was going on and on about billy graham yesterday even though he probably had never heard of the guy till last week, then when I asked "yes the number of people he preached to is big but did he make the world a better place." he just starts rambling about how I'm the liberal. same goes with climate change, we get 6" of snow overnight and he tries to say its proof global warming doesn't exist, then we have the single hottest day ever recorded in February and he is thankful for global warming

The majority of us will only carry on as we are, until it's too late :frown: